current obsession.

ok. I have a confession to make: I'm in love! Like, obsessively in love.  As in I was up past midnight last night thinking of it.  Who is this new love of my life you may be wondering? The name of my obsession is mint, basil, lavender, chives, lettuce, and strawberries!  My obsession began last year when I bought an herb starter kit from Lowe's.  It came with five herbs to start as seeds and grow.  I can't remember all of what I had, but I dos till have a pot of basil and a pot of chives.  The other three plants died.  I was not very good at taking care of these little plants, mainly because I had no idea what I was doing.  Sometime during the summer, I discovered a wonderful little mint plant at the grocery store and thus my love affair with mint began!  I had wonderful dreams of mint tea and mojitos for the rest of my life, all from this tiny little mint plant.  Then it died.  Fortunately, I realized this was not my fault when I noticed these little bugs had taken over my plant.  Sadness.  So I worked hard at keeping my basil and chives alive for the winter and now it is the very beginnings of spring and I'm feeling that itch.  This year, I vowed, would be different.  I planned to devote my time and my love to theses lovely plants and get them to thrive!  So after, some research and reading of mistakes most beginners make, I did something that I knew was right but at the same time it felt so wrong.  I gathered all my little herb plants and began to prune them. The basil, the lavender, and the mint! Oh the wonderful refreshing smell and taste of the mint is my favorite.  This is proof of my love for them.  Last year, as I was growing them, I didn't think I should prune them like I had always read.  I wanted them to just grow and get big and flourish.  To a beginner, cutting them seems like a big step backwards.  I read on what to do with the herbs once I clipped them and found many uses I could do. I could dry them and use them later on. Or I could hang them in bunches as aromatic decorations.  Then I stumbled upon this little article on Pinterest about how herbs can be beneficial to chickens.  I knew then what I would do.  I have a good friend who has several pet chickens and when they are laying eggs, guess what I get!  You got it, fresh eggs.  I love these wonderful things.  There is no comparison to these eggs.  I can't get enough!  So I took my small bounty of clippings that I got from my plants and laid them in a strip of burlap ribbon, rolled it up, and tied it with some twine.  Then I took this little herb bundle to my friend to lay out for her chickens!  One thing I am looking forward to about growing things is the giving.  It is the giving back to others and knowing you're giving an awesome tasting treat!  So while I understand that it is important to prune your herbs, it was so nervewracking for me to do so!  But, I sure am glad that I was brave enough to do it because my plants are flourishing even better than before!  I don't understand it, but hey I'm not complaining!  I've got to run, but I will keep you updated as this season progresses!