Our Favorite Basil

We are big fans of basil at this house - we'll eat it fresh, in sauces, as pesto, on salads - you name it, we're game.  In past years, I've always grown the typical Genovese basil with its large leaves.  It's an easy grower and we always have more than we know what to do with by the end of the summer.

I had to do a second round of plantings this summer (thanks to the hens eating all of the first seeds/seedlings I planted in the garden) and started most of what I have from plants.  I stumbled upon boxwood basil this year, and we are loving it.  It's very fragrant and full of flavor, but best of all - it's easy.  It's like rosemary in the easy department - all I have to do is strip the leaves off of the stems and you're ready to go.  No chopping.  No chiffonading.  Just wash and it's ready.  It would also work well as a border plant.  I see lots more boxwood basil in our future.

In other news, we're now getting 3-4 eggs/day.  When we started this whole chicken experiment, 3-4 eggs/day didn't really seem like all that much.  I'm now staring at a dozen eggs, and we've eaten eggs every day for the last few days.  I foresee lots of freezing, making egg muffins, and giving away eggs in the future.  But we love it - it's so nice to walk out to the coop around lunchtime every day to find fresh eggs.