Sawyer '18 – Back from the Void

Hey, Jason, thanks for stopping by.
 
Yeah, it seems like spring just keeps teasing us. The last couple of days it's been only in the upper 50s and last night it got down to 41. But today starts a warming trend and by Monday I should be able to move plants out for at least a few days. 
 
Just a quick update shot for the PDN x BMJ. They are starting to color up a bit.

Here's to spring John!
 
If things go as usual, summer temps here are 2-3 weeks away. Sunshades are ready to roll

Nice plants Sawyer, perfect size to harden off in time for plant out.

Looking good

Devv said:

Here's to spring John!
 
If things go as usual, summer temps here are 2-3 weeks away. Sunshades are ready to roll

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I'll drink to that, Scott! I'm always a little bemused by the differences in our climates. You're talking about sunshades and I'm still worried about a late frost.

Masher said:

Nice plants Sawyer, perfect size to harden off in time for plant out.
Looking good

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Thanks, Dan. I've got a lot to do over the next several days or there won't be anywhere to plant them out to...

Went scouting out native plants yesterday. Found a place with thousands upon thousands of jack-in-the-pulpit seedlings. Interestingly, the older plants were just starting to come up.

Also found a full pound of morels. A couple are almost as big as my fist. Pics to follow.

Sawyer said:

I'll drink to that, Scott! I'm always a little bemused by the differences in our climates. You're talking about sunshades and I'm still worried about a late frost.

Thanks, Dan. I've got a lot to do over the next several days or there won't be anywhere to plant them out to...

Went scouting out native plants yesterday. Found a place with thousands upon thousands of jack-in-the-pulpit seedlings. Interestingly, the older plants were just starting to come up.

Also found a full pound of morels. A couple are almost as big as my fist. Pics to follow.

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Morels are common further north of my location.

Chanterells are the big deal Sept Oct along with hedgehog oyster lobster king boletes and a few other prized fungi.


Good find on the morels. My favorite is panfried in butter after a dusting in flour or deepfried after a light batter and then rolled in Panko.

Masher said:

Morels are common further north of my location.

Chanterells are the big deal Sept Oct along with hedgehog oyster lobster king boletes and a few other prized fungi.


Good find on the morels. My favorite is panfried in butter after a dusting in flour or deepfried after a light batter and then rolled in Panko.

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What do morels sell for up there? Around here they can retail for as high as $40/lb. I've sold some to a chef/friend of mine for $20.

Scored on some mix at the local Walmart. Got two for $9 each:

Nice score John!
 
Around here that stuff is $18 per 2 cu ft. It always pays to keep your eyes open
 
Around Christmas we were at Wally World , leaving and LB saw a $5 sign on the same product. We asked the checkout counter if this was correct, she scanned a bag and it came up at $17.97. She said "I'll call the manager", they gave us them for the $5 We were in her Charger and it would only hold 5 in the trunk. If I had my truck I would have bought all of them..LOL
 
You did really well considering it's prime selling time for the product. Off season is always worth checking to see if they have any clearance sales. In our case, I think someone goofed. They honored it, and if they hadn't I would have been OK with that.

Sawyer said:

What do morels sell for up there? Around here they can retail for as high as $40/lb. I've sold some to a chef/friend of mine for $20.

Scored on some mix at the local Walmart. Got two for $9 each:

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Depends on the yr, quality, quantity over the season.

$12 to $40 a lb. Usually under $20

Devv said:

Nice score John!
 
Around here that stuff is $18 per 2 cu ft. It always pays to keep your eyes open
 
Around Christmas we were at Wally World , leaving and LB saw a $5 sign on the same product. We asked the checkout counter if this was correct, she scanned a bag and it came up at $17.97. She said "I'll call the manager", they gave us them for the $5 We were in her Charger and it would only hold 5 in the trunk. If I had my truck I would have bought all of them..LOL
 
You did really well considering it's prime selling time for the product. Off season is always worth checking to see if they have any clearance sales. In our case, I think someone goofed. They honored it, and if they hadn't I would have been OK with that.

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I went back a couple of days later, hoping to get the other two bags, but they were long gone.

One of the best deals I ever got, in terms of satisfaction, if not value, was a few dozen bars of Lava handsoap. Many years ago, a local Neighborhood Market (Walmart) was having some sort of rearranging clearance sale and had a row of shelves lined with stuff marked way down. Even had an employee standing by to negotiate.

There was a big pile of Lava soap marked down to 50¢ a bar. I said if they'd take 25¢/bar, I'd take them all. They would and I did.  I still have more than half of them, I think. Possibly a lifetime supply.
  

Masher said:

Depends on the yr, quality, quantity over the season.
$12 to $40 a lb. Usually under $20

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The shrooms are long gone here now, but I'll hit 'em early and hard next spring now that I've found more places to look.
 
Bamboo shoots are done for the year, too, but I managed to sell maybe 50 or 60 pounds. And putting up the posted signs kept the pilfering neighbors at bay enough that the grove has infilled and densified considerably.
 
It's also extended much further into my garden space, which is not good at all. I have 200' of bamboo barrier, but that's going to be a pain to install.

Until I can deal with the bamboo, I'm putting in some beds and holes in the front yard, between a black walnut thicket and the blueberries. And so yesterday was dirt day for the first time in two years. Red Moruga Scorpion:


The one in the middle will stay where it is. The others will be moved to their own space as it becomes ready. There are a few more potted up into 3.5" square pots for reserve, smaller than the one in the middle of the picture, but larger than the surrounding runts.

This is an over-wintered Bahamian Goat, three years old now:

Lots of volunteer children coming up from unharvested fallen pods. (For those interested in native plants, the plant in the lower right of the photo is our native calamint. It grows in the limestone glades around Beaver Lake here and smells just like peppermint when you walk through it. This is the first time I've ever been able to transplant some and keep it alive.)

You can't really see it very well, but directly behind the BG is what I think is a wild tepin from seed Mike (capsidadburn) sent to me a few years ago. It, too is 3 y.o. I harvested a handful of ripe berries from it earlier this year. Spicy little buggers.

This the previously mentioned "maybe" Padron:

It's out of focus, but if you look right in the middle of the picture, there may be the first (new) pod of the year. At least it's held on longer than a few other blooms.

Lastly, for now, I posted a picture of the OW P. Dreadie over in that thread:
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/58705-p-dreadie-memorial-group-grow-2016/?p=1556291

Found this pretty lady in a nursery flat next to my "plant table" where I often work outside. I'll only worry when she's not there one morning.

Yikes looks dangerous


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Sinn said:

Yikes looks dangerous


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Only if provoked and I try to live and let live. I guess leaving her be is also part of my self-treatment for a lifelong case of arachnophobia.

Oh, we have them here too. Not a fan

I've really learned to look before sticking my fingers where one might be nesting. (Good practice anyway as there are all sorts of creepy crawlies around here that sting and bite.) And while I've never found one in the house, she would be quickly escorted outside, unlike a brown recluse which would be smashed on the spot.

I realized almost everything I ate yesterday had hot peppers in it. Started the day with a grilled hamburger patty from some of a mix I made using a pound of 80% lean ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and a couple teaspoons of Moruga Scorpion purée.  This might be common knowledge among the grill masters out there, but I discovered the bread crumbs work well to soak up the fat and reduce dripping and flame ups on the grill.
 
No pics of that, but for the rest of the day, I snacked on Great Fermentations' pickled jalapeños:




Deb's Gourmet Kitchen Raspberry Pepper Jelly:


And my own Lava Crème:


The latter two make an awesome double sweet, double heat version of a PBJ.

Deb's Gourmet Kitchen and Great Fermentations are both fellow food manufacturers at the kitchen I use. Both samples came straight from the production floor.

The Lava Crème is a sort of serendipitous discovery from my first effort to transfer my fudge process from the home test kitchen to the commercial kitchen. Same ingredients, slightly different processing, will yield fudge, caramel, or crème. I'm going to reprocess the crème into fudge, but will definitely remember how I made it for future reference.
 
Don't have many new pepper pics to show, these are BOC on the left, and BBM on the right, seeds for both from Devv.

 

First pod! The "maybe" Padron:


And a flower on the same plant:


I guess it looks Padronish, maybe. I'm not very up to speed on floral characteristics of the various varieties and species.

Congrats on the first pod John!
 
Padron's have been officially approved by the wife today..

Devv said:

Congrats on the first pod John!
 
Padron's have been officially approved by the wife today..

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Thanks, Scott. One of my favorite bartenders turned me on to Padrons a couple of years ago. She and her fiance had traveled to Spain on vacation (La Sagrada Familia, Dali Museum, etc). She said the peppers are served as snacks, sauteed in oil, in many places there.

When they returned, she, knowing of my pepper affliction, and not remembering what the peppers were called, asked if I knew anything about them. It took a little research, but I eventually came across Padrons. When I mentioned the name to her she said, "That's it."

I bought some seeds mid season in 2016. I don't recall what came of that, but I did plant a few plants last year as this plant is one of those. I have more going this year.

I've yet to taste one, but look forward to trying them prepared traditionally. Supposedly they are fairly mild, except about one in ten will throw a curve ball and punch you in the taste buds.

They also make great poppers!
 
They kind of remind me of the Urfa Bieber peppers. <--hope I spelled that correctly..

Came to see how you were doing...yup, you got things well under control!

Padron is the same as poblano or just similar?