O the HUMANITY!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2469510

seriously though, this weather is just too bizarre and it's happening everywhere you look :scared:

I was just reading that in GD. I have a bumper crop this year, far more than I can use fresh. I'm freezing a couple of batches this week in fact! Hey Shannon have you ever made a pesto parmesan bread? Just use a regular french bread recipe....roll flat....spread with pesto and lots of parm and roll up like a jelly roll. Heaven on earth. I don't eat bread anymore but god....I just love the stuff!

which he finally go around to telling me after about a month of me loving all the fresh basil in everything :banghead:

i may have to make it when my stepmom comes for Xmas though :bounce:

I'm still is shock with getting meat colored meat from the local butcher shop :evilgrin:

so I can relate to magnitude of this tragedy.

Since my conversion came during the summer, I have to admit that I'm naive about when the stores will cease to carry fresh basil?

I have some plants going in my yard, but I suspect they will die at some point?

Can I bring them in the house and nurture them through the winter, or are they just part-timers?

Oh! It's a cruel universe where basil is fresh during summer when it's too hot to turn the oven up to 500 degrees for pizza (not that it's stopped me -- I just wait until freakin' midnight to eat dinner)

Uprooting them will kill them, though.

Keep them in the sunniest, warmest place you can and trim constantly. Water frequently, and keep a weather eye out for any signs of weakness - aphids and fruit flies love basil, and at the first sign of stress, they converge on a basil plant like freepers on a Luby's.

I can usually keep a basil plant going until January or February, at which point, I haul out the heating mat and get the spring starts into starting pots. The thinning usually keeps me in leaves until I can get them out and in the ground.

You can keep cuttings in the fridge for a week, wrapped in a wet paper towel and sealed in a plastic baggie and if you're willing to play the frozen pizza game, you can build your pizzas now, freeze them and then bake and eat when the weather becomes a bit more salubrious. Of course, that requires freezer space....

To dry, place cleaned leaves on microwave safe flat plate, cover w/paper towel and Zap for 2 minutes, check it again, loosen and turn, zap again. Monitor what you are doing, this part can go too far quickly. You will see when it is dry. Careful not to over cook. Spread out on waxed paper to fully cool , then crush and bottle. To freeze, chop leaves slightly, crush into ice cube trays, fill each cube with water and freeze. Plop cubes out when frozen and place in a zip freezer bag. Will keep forever. We have a forest of basil this year, i'll be busy drying and freezing for friends and family. Nothing beats it!