Basil Harvest

Today was the great basil harvest:

The green basil was planted from seed while the purple basil was purchased from Walmart. Both survived the mid-summer onslaught of insects that wiped out the onion crop and threatened everything else (even the marigolds were temporarily reduced to unrecognizable nearly-bare stems).

Straw Bale Season

Our view to the west, or from many, many South Dakota highways.

A Chocolate Recall, Abridged

From IKEA:

All Best Before Dates Of CHOKLAND MÖRK and CHOKLAND MÖRK 70% are being recalled due to undeclared Milk, Hazelnuts and Almond.
…
The dark chocolate bars do carry an advisory statement, which identifies that the dark chocolate may contain milk and tree nuts.

Prairie Sunset, to the East

A prairie sunset, to the east, Friday evening.

County Seat Towns, in 1880

An excerpt from our family reading, Mr. Edwards visits the Ingalls family in The Long Winter (before the long winter becomes a looooong winter):

This here country, it's too settled up for me. The politicians are a-swarming in already, and ma'am if'n there's any worst pest than grasshoppers it surely is politicians. Why, they'll tax the lining out'n a man's pockets to keep up these here county-seat towns! I don't see nary a use for a county, nohow. We all got along happy and content without 'em.