A few years ago I planted a Thai basil plant in my front yard, or maybe it was in a pot. The origin was 1 plant, but now every year it grows on it's own. Multiple Thai basil plants grow to small bushes.

We've been having this summer like fall so it's grown even bigger this year. This weekend was the last of the warm weather (it's November) so I went and snipped all the basil to make pesto.

So.

Much.

Basil.




I made pesto for about 3 hours. Pesto is pretty simple to make...basil, nuts (pine, walnut, pecan), olive oil, parmesan. The time consuming part is taking all the leaves off the basil stems. Once you have a pile of basil put it into the food processor. I wait until I have about 3-4 cups worth. Turn the processor on and then through the little tunnel add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then add in your nuts and cheese. Scrape down the sides and add more oil if needed.

I freeze the pesto in my canning jars.

Look at all the potatoes! Was definitely a good year for potatoes. As always, I was covered in dirt by the time I dug them all up. There are 3 varieties of potatoes in there. A white with white skin, a yellow with red skin, and a purple with purple skin. No I don't remember the names :)
Here they are making a mess on my counter. I have laid them out to dry a bit so I can get the rest of the dirt off.


I also brought in a ton of peppers and one eggplant. This very hot year has definitely been good for peppers.




It was so nice out that I put a table on the deck and glazed outside until the sun drove me in.

I've been making all these planters and most of the ones from my first batch were for plants I had purchased that needed a home. I have one more pot I need to glaze and more succulants waiting to be potted in it.


First up is my Rat Tailed Cactus in it's new hanging planter. All of these plants are in my office. This one will eventually (hopefully) bloom really pretty red or pink flowers. It needs a lot of light so I hung it in a window that gets a lot of direct sunlight.




Next is a Gryphon Begonia that I got at the Belle Aire Market from my neighbor Moonlit Moss. I love how the grey pot lets the plant shine.




Last, but not least are all my other cacti. On the far left are Lithops Live Rocks, next to it is Haworthia. My Philodendron has been in my office for a while, but I think might actually be time for a repot as it climbs up the wall. Last on the right is Crassula Baby's Necklace.

I've gotten a few cucumbers from the garden, but this is the first real harvest of the season. There were 4 cucumbers, some turnips, a green pepper, banana peppers, and some spinach.

You might remember a few months ago my first giant planter came out of the kiln. I planted petunias and snap dragons in it and how gorgeous does this look?


More flowers from the deck. It's become a real paradise when the temp isn't too hot.

Finished all the sections on the way home then assembled last night. Last thing was to add the sleeves while watching Good Morning ClayShare this morning. Not my usual colors, but I'm loving it. Also loving the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary. This shirt was just me learning the picot mesh pattern and then making it into a shirt.














Last night when we got home we did a tour of the garden. This might the the biggest zucchini I've every grown. Need to enter this in a fair somewhere.

The garden is just exploding with flowers right now. I can't decide which is my favorite. Spent most of the day in the garage glazing. Used all of my new Clayscapes glazes. Still so many more combos to try. I will fire the kiln overnight and then the waiting begins.

Aside from the gerbera daisies that I bought at the store on impulse and the petunias that I grew from seed, all of these flowers come back year over year.

Yesterday I was out in the garden all afternoon. After 2 weekends away the weeds had tried to take over. One thing that it took me a few to identify was something I hadn't seen before. This winter we put out a squirrel feeder with peanuts. Well the squirrels buried a bunch in the planters and yard.




Did a bisque firing this weekend too. Bunch of things in there that are exciting including the egg tray and my first planter.









Had some trouble loading my first pumpkins into the kiln. I snapped off the curly vines on the biggest and liters. Going to make it work.









On my first plane trip since covid began.  It is very hot and I am sweating in this mask. Luckily it's a very short flight.
The lilies are in full bloom, including the ones I've been using as greenery backdrop for a lot of my recent pots.

Lucy has decided that Boris is non threatening. She doesn't fly away when he first comes out and I caught this pic of them just chilling earlier.

I also saw the dad bird for the first time today. Wasn't quick enough catch a picture, but he brought worms for the baby. Baby is getting bigger every day.


The last egg is still there. Don't think it's going to hatch at this point.

After what seemed like forever Lucy's first baby has arrived. Also there is an egg that disappeared mysteriously overnight.

A robin built a nest 2 feet from our back door in one of my planters.

She knows the sound of the lock opening and then flies out through the slats. We have two dogs, this happens multiple times a day because this is a dumb place to put a nest. If I stand on the deck while the dogs are doing their business, she squawks at me the entire time.




In a week or two there will be three baby birds. What will she do then?