Basil Pesto, a New Book, and A Buddhist Retreat

Started an interesting new book last night

I can’t say for certain if the vegetable garden is tolerating all the rain and humidity (no signs of rot yet), but I can confirm that the Meyer lemon tree loves it. Even with the fertilizer burn setback of a couple of weeks ago, the tree is putting out a lot of new, healthy growth. It’s about twice the size it was when I brought it home in June. I’m giving it diluted nitrogen again. This weekend, I’m going to apply some magnesium and sulfur to see if I can push some blooms. It would be great to get lemons this summer.

Yes, we’re definitely into some Amazonian rainforest-type weather this week. Vegetable gardens don’t like that. Powderly mildew can easily take hold. Bacteria like fusarium also thrives in warm, wet conditions. So these are precarious days. While the garden is coming into full maturity, it’s still very vulnerable. We’re getting so much great food now that I definitely don’t want disease coming in and spoiling it all.

This weekend will be pesto-making time. The basil bed has sprung up, and some plants are already developing flower heads, so it’s time to trim. I picked up some walnuts at Foodworks last weekend. Homemade, fresh-from-the-garden basil-walnut pesto is the best. I’m making the classic pesto, but there will be a couple of jars of some new ideas: basil-lime, basil-verbena, and basil-mint. This weekend, I’ll put the bushy lemon verbena to more use by making a pitcher of lemon verbena sun tea. Did I mention that I LOVE summer?

This weekend is also the Buddhist retreat. Really looking forward to deep meditation and stimulating discussion, not to mention Korean vegetarian food, and visiting my first Korean Buddhist temple.

I started a new book last night. It’s a recent printing of an old classic: 1971’s Be Here Now. It’s a kind of hybrid autobiography/spiritual guide/psychedelic trip/confessional. Maybe the best way to describe this book is it’s a trip. You’ll know what I mean if you read it.

I won’t be blogging this weekend. If it’s permitted, I’ll take some photos of the temple and post them here next week.

Live in peace