Purple Thai Basil flower spikes in our kitchen garden.

“How can I possibly use an entire bunch of ____________? “

(Fill in the blank with fresh herb of choice)

This is a common query among farmer’s market shoppers and CSA participants.  For an herb lover like myself the simple question becomes complicated to answer, since so many possibilities spring to mind.  In our kitchen fresh herbs are employed on a daily basis, so we easily consume full bunches without much thought.  In addition to our farm bag we’re also blessed with a garden bed filled with aromatic basil, thyme, chives, parsley, oregano and more.  Clearly we jumped on the fresh herb bandwagon years ago.

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As many of you know, I’m into cookbooks.  Some people collect stamps or coins, shoes, stuffed animals, even cars – me, I hoard cookbooks.  Since adding more volumes to the collection not only eats up space, but also a chunk out of the paycheck, I try to frequent the library, to get my fix, as much as possible.  Still, I’m constantly on the prowl for a really great book – one that just begs to be added to my expansive library.

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I’m a spontaneous sort of cook.  Though I strive to plan out our family meals on a weekly basis, most of the time I’m more spur-of-the-moment:  open the fridge for a quick inventory of what’s languishing, then construct a meal around it.  This is actually my favorite way to cook, since the process calls for artistry in the kitchen.  Combining food ingredients in a soup pot or mixing bowl is a lot like blending paint hues on a canvas – a spoonful of this, a pinch of that, and you’ve constructed a masterpiece (not always museum-worthy, but art fair caliber is just fine) for the mouth.

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This valley is known throughout the world by its computer-oriented moniker, Silicon Valley, a name that has stuck, thanks to a thriving industry.  It wasn’t that long ago this same place was better known for a vastly different business venture:  fruit orchards.  You may have noticed vestiges of this agricultural history – the myriad unrelated local businesses bearing the name Orchard Valley thus and so.  Though computer development and manufacturing took the area over with gusto years ago, fruit production was a flourishing business, once upon a time.

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Tomato seedlings in late May. Foreground right planted two weeks after plants to the left.

If you’ve been a Freshness Farms participant since last summer, you may recall my musings on tomato gardening.  We ended the season with sweet, juicy Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, but the path to producing them was a roller coaster ride, one minute filled with the ecstasy of abundant red fruit, the next plunged us into the depths of despair as we fought off rodent intruders intent on pilfering our bounty.

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