“It's good to touch the green, green grass of home” -Tom Jones 

 The summer of 2023 just may become known as “The Summer with Green Grass”. Our rains have been spaced out enough to keep the lawns going without any additional water. I am making this statement having no backup water sprinkler system in place. I call my lawn a “country” lawn but I do realize people outside of the city can have sprinkler systems installed and use them regularly. In past years, if the rains did not come to my “country” lawn, the lawn was allowed to go dormant. We did not want to take a chance to pump our well dry watering the huge grass areas. This year I have also been able to really cut back on watering the flower beds. Flowerpots and hanging plants still required watering because of their location so I was not totally “watering free”. 

 This might just be true for our little part of heaven as I know areas surrounding us are still needing rain to get their average rain fall numbers up to normal. Farmers need the rain to have successful crops in order to feed their animals and/or make it for a cash crop. Sometimes I think we non-farming people think only of our little lawns and do not see the importance of the big picture around us. Another factor that changes     things in a second is hail. There does not seem to be anything to do to protect from that “gift” of Mother Nature. Hopefully hail insurance is available for those who depend on the yearly crop for their income. 

 The canning jar panic seems to be over as I have seen all sizes of jars for sale in stores. (Don't forget that sometimes auctions or garage sales can also be a good place to pick up a limited supply. Some of the must have for the Covid time people may be deciding it was not worth their time and effort). Canning supplies have been on good sales in the past few months and watch to see if they will be offered again for fall canning. 

 You still need to be smart to know if purchasing an already made item or buying the supplies and making it at home is a better deal. It also makes a difference if you grow the fruits and veggies yourself or if you have to purchase them. For example, if I had to purchase enough basil to make a big batch of pesto it would get to be a bit expensive. It takes a lot of basil to make a batch and usually only enough for a few small uses is all you get at the grocery store. Farm markets can offer a better deal but often is a limited time product. My homegrown crop has been doing excellent this year. I had one huge harvest that I just put in the blender with water and then froze that mixture in shaped cookies pans for a general basil flavor. That means I have flower, turtle and star shaped basil to use. For sure it is a fun thing and really does not make a bit of difference as to what the shape is! I did put some up to dry in the kitchen just to look pretty but to really keep the color, put the basil leaves in a paper bag and in the refrigerator to dry. I still do buy a few jars of the store pesto as I like to have it on hand for a quick, no defrost use and in the end I think it is a bargain compared to purchasing supplies and making it at home. Yes, the romance of making your own does make it a thing to do. Sometimes the cost is not the issue at all. P.S. If you can live without pine nuts in your pesto, you can really save money! 

 Not everyone may know it, but this article is also printed in the Cottage Grove paper. I do wish to extend a belated welcome to all my Loyal Readers in Cottage Grove. Please let me know if there are things coming up in your area that could be shared with others. I am sure that you also must be having garden tours, store openings, or new fun shopping places. A report of any new or unusual items that HyVee is getting in would be of great interest to me. I could spend half a day just looking at their bakery section and I think they were the place that had the pink pineapple. I know the HyVee restaurant has changed into something very different. Husband Larry and I did have many breakfasts at the original place so I have good memories of that. Any reports on the new set-up?  The one thing I don't envy in any shape or form, Cottage Grove, is your ROAD CONSTRUCTION. I have gotten lost on the construction side streets and was sure that I had driven off the face of the earth.  A few nice humans found me and directed me back to people land. 

Bea Westerberg      bea.in.the.wool@gmail.com