Basil
The way some of the crops work on the farm is that once they arrive, you may see them fairly regularly, until all of a sudden you don’t see them again until the following year. That is the case with basil. Last year, during the 18 weeks of our warm season, from June to October, we put it in your CSA boxes 8 times. In 2013, as is the case this year, the basil started in May and was in the CSA boxes 9 times from May through September. We mention this, because it helps to provide a perspective on the feast of basil about to arrive: It is transient. If you have time, you can make some pesto and put it in the freezer for winter pasta dishes, as a way to stretch the season.
Basil is called the King of the Herbs and it is one of the herbs that has thousands of years of history from many cultures of the world in culinary and medicinal uses. It grows easily at Full Belly during warm weather and is one of the few aromatic herbs that does not need to be crushed to release its oils. When you walk through the field picking it, a cloud of fragrance follows you. We transplanted our first basil into beds on April 1st (now ready for harvest!) and our second basil went into the ground one month later. We expect these two plantings to last the whole summer.
–Judith Redmond
