for all the wrong reasons

we have one of our best minnesota herb gardens in years right now, for all the wrong reasons. reason #1 is that we are newly chicken-free, which means we no longer have freshly laid eggs on our counter, nor the peaceful evening sight of chickens scritching for bugs in the back yard. that also means, however, that that there are no chickens taking dirt baths in the pot of basil, or eating the parsley down to stems. (i will update everyone more thoroughly on this subject soon, since i know how attached we all became to a certain bossy hen named glimmer.) reason #2 is that we normally don’t bother with a summer herb garden in minnesota, because we know we will be spending the fall in southern france, where steve will harvest wild thyme from a local hillside, and grow woody, pungent rosemary, bay laurel, basil, sorrel, chives, savory, sage, hyssop, and chervil on our back terrace. we are not going to france this year, and so our minnesota herbs, sadly, are spectacular.

bouquet of kitchen herbs

turtle lake, shoreview, minnesota