HillBilly Jeff's 2014 Adventure - Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

 

Just throwing this up here to plan out my list for next year.  Looking at some changes to my grow next year.

 

Just throwing this up here to plan out my list for next year.  Looking at some changes to my grow next year.

 

Just throwing this up here to plan out my list for next year.  Looking at some changes to my grow next year.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

 
I really did like the idea of the sponge plugs but they would dry so bad on me and was really hard to for me to work with.  Absolutely no trans shock with the plugs.  I will have some shock with these pellets as I tend to let them go a little too long in the pellet.  Might try trans them early, but that means turning the heater on in my grow room early too.  We'll see.  The pellets are pretty simple and easy and I either had a bad germ rate last season or the peat makes for great germ rates.  
 
 
I couldn't imagine 1700 plants out there.  I have the space for them, but I wouldn't have a use for all them unless I sold to a few restaurants or started a sauce business lol.

Got a brand new toy today.  Yes I know charcoal is best, but being my first smoker, this is the route I went.
 

 
 
Had a hog butchered last week and even with a 21, 15, 9, and 5 cubic feet freezers I am stuffed full.  I have a large bag of Seven pot burgundy that is dying to be smoked and will ease some space in the freezer.  
 
I wonder what kind of sauce could be made from the burgundy?  Not that I am going to make them into sauce as messing with ph is too much like work to me lol.

 
Post pics when you start doing the smoking... I am taking notes! Gonna pick up an electric dehydrator this summer/spring.
 
Still on the fence about plugs. Now I'm thinking of sowing directly in Solo cups, as I'm getting a better feel for how much space I'll have.

 

[Devv]

Wow!
 
A lot going on here, great score from Greg! In keeping up with his work I can say he can cook!
 
The 1,700 count for a bargain can't be beat, we too try and catch them on sale. I use the plastic jiffy grow boxes because they have the covers to keep the moisture in. Me, I pot them once they stand up, I've seen the tap root on about 25% out the bottom at that time, which surprised me.
 
You will simply love the electric smoker! Not only good for the pep's, if you make your own sausage, that's another use. If you ever need some mesquite holler, my place is loaded with it.
 
The baked beans on the wood stove are killer! I really miss our wood stove, used it when we first bought the place...it had no heat!
 
Take care buddy!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Christmas came early!!! That hog sounds delish too...haven't had one of those since last year at my daughters wedding.

 
OMG the back straps on this hog is huge.  I thought he had two chunks laying side by side in the package and it is just the one.  I am going to have to cut it down the middle to make it manageable.  Should have a tasty pic of it tomorrow when its done.
 
 

Wood cooked baked beans just sounds plain awesome!  I'm hungry.
 
Great job!
Mike

 
They were delicious.  They cooked down nice on the wood burner.  Didn't have to watch them like you would on a stove.  Took a little longer, but that is what naps are made for.  
 
 

 
Post pics when you start doing the smoking... I am taking notes! Gonna pick up an electric dehydrator this summer/spring.
 
Still on the fence about plugs. Now I'm thinking of sowing directly in Solo cups, as I'm getting a better feel for how much space I'll have.

 
I really love the dehydrator I have.  Really glad I went with the 9 trays and not the 7.  You'd be surprised how many peppers you get each year.
 
 

Wow!
 
A lot going on here, great score from Greg! In keeping up with his work I can say he can cook!
 
The 1,700 count for a bargain can't be beat, we too try and catch them on sale. I use the plastic jiffy grow boxes because they have the covers to keep the moisture in. Me, I pot them once they stand up, I've seen the tap root on about 25% out the bottom at that time, which surprised me.
 
You will simply love the electric smoker! Not only good for the pep's, if you make your own sausage, that's another use. If you ever need some mesquite holler, my place is loaded with it.
 
The baked beans on the wood stove are killer! I really miss our wood stove, used it when we first bought the place...it had no heat!
 
Take care buddy!

 
If you'd like me to pm you the address of the place I got them from I can.  Not sure if I can post a non advertiser into open forum.
 
Picked up a small bag of mesquite when I got the smoker.  Need to season it yet.  Now I need a good brine for fish.  May have to keep some bass to experiment with.  Hate to ruin walleye fillets trying to learn which brine to use.  First up will be my sausage links though.  They will have plenty of garlic and hot pepper in them.  

 

[Penny]

Sounds like it'll be pretty tasty.....yes a pic or two would be good, so the rest of us can all drool...

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Made a pork loin with a cranberry sauce and some sausage stuffed cherry bombs on the side.
 

 
 
Cut the loin chunk in half long ways for some deep fried chops tomorrow.
 

 
 
Garlic, Ginger, Pepper rub
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
And I made another Mrs. Frosty today.
 

 

[Devv]

LOL! Better watch out Mr. Frosty might get excited and melt!
 
Pork plate looks great, you sure eat well!
 

 
If you'd like me to pm you the address of the place I got them from I can.  Not sure if I can post a non advertiser into open forum.

I'm good Jeff, Thanks, I bought one about 8 or 9 years ago. I love it. Do you make dried sausage? I stuff the sausage, let it hang until the casings are dry, then smoke for 4 hours in the smoker at the lowest temp I can use to generate smoke with Mesquite. Then let them dry for 7 or 8 days. They also work great for jerky, the best jerky (for me) is to let it sit in the brine overnight in the fridge and then slowly bring it up to 148° (the meat) over a 4 or 5 hour period. Works great for Turkey, Venison, and beef. You're actually cooking it, and it comes out just right to slice pieces off with a knife and munch on...but it's not liked cooked meat. I've been buying seasoning from a butcher in the next town for years and he told me how they process their jerky. They make the thin (hard) type too, I like the softer jerky better.
 
Enjoy that new toy!

 

[PaulG]

Great looking pork roast and stuffed peppers, Jeff.
 
Mrs. Frosty has nice hips  

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Great looking pork roast and stuffed peppers, Jeff.
 
Mrs. Frosty has nice hips  

 
 
Not after today's rain she doesn't lol....and she isn't 7 feet tall anymore either lol
Not pepper related, but it relates to what I use my peppers on....so here is my fishing year in review.
 
 
I had my best year fishing for walleye ever.  I brought every walleye that I kept home alive, then put straight in cold water and this greatly improved the fillets I believe.  The only fish I kept this year were walleye, sauger, perch, redear, bluegill, and one catfish for my mom (small two pounder).
 
Some of my stats for the year
 
First year I have ever caught over 100 keeper walleye.
 
Limited out at the same lake 5 months in a row.
 
In a span of 24 trips, I caught 100 keepers and over 260 total walleye.
 
Within those 24 trips I had a span of 11 trips where I caught 9 limits, 4 on one day and 3 on the other.
 
The only keeperless day I had was in July on my birthday when I caught just three shorts.  I haven't had the boat out since mid July.
 
One trip was made for bluegill fishing and ended up with 4 1/2 pounds of fillets.  
 
Added some squirrel pics at the end to make it match the song's end.
 
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fStt8CEiCq4&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

 

[MeatHead1313]

Nice looking fish! I seriously need to get a boat. Nice squirrels at the end too!

 

[PaulG]

That's quite an array of fishy beauty, my friend!
I guess the walleye population must be holding it's own!
 
I'm a little jealous of your proximity to such good fishing!
And the great stuff you make with them!

 

[Jeff H]

Great fish and squirrel pics Jeff. 
 
Man that is a lot of fish cleaning. Sure cheaper than Kroger, but picking it up at the butcher is sure easier. .

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Great fish and squirrel pics Jeff. 
 
Man that is a lot of fish cleaning. Sure cheaper than Kroger, but picking it up at the butcher is sure easier. .

 
Filleting out walleye doesn't take any time at all.  Two swipes with the knife per side and a run down the ribs and its ready to rock.  I do take it a step further and unzip them.
 
When I see walleye at around 15 bucks a pound, the work just gets easier.

 

[Pinoy83]

Made a pork loin with a cranberry sauce and some sausage stuffed cherry bombs on the side.
 

 
 
Cut the loin chunk in half long ways for some deep fried chops tomorrow.
 

 
 
Garlic, Ginger, Pepper rub
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
And I made another Mrs. Frosty today.
 

i always get hungry everytime i stop by at your glog...that looks so good specially the cherry bombs ...

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

My two extra early started Moa plants and my one yellow manzano are showing good improvements since moving them upstairs with some more heat.  The lights alone just weren't keeping them warm enough.  
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Got some pepper goodies in the mail today.
 
Thanks Matt for the powders, can't wait to give them a try.
 

 
 
Also in the mail was my ph tester.  Just gotta figure out how to use it (like neutralizing it and the solution and all that jazz)
 
 

 
 
 
And lastly, my newest porn magazine.  I wasn't impressed with my initial read
 
 

 

[Devv]

Good job on the MoA's and the Manzano, they look much better!
 
Nice score on the powders from Matt.
 
I bought a Hanna too, you'll like it, now you'll know where the ph is on any sauces you make.
 
I stopped buying from the catalogs; a feed store 15-20 minutes away has a good supply of seeds that grow well in our climate.
 
Jeff, Have a Merry Christmas and  Happy New Years!

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

My Brown Moruga peppers are up, well two of them popped.  One reason I don't like germing without a light.  They can get leggy in a hurry on you.
 
 

 
 
 
Also have two more Yellow Manzano popping up.  They might make pods this year if they survive.
 
 

 
 
I put extra in each cell to play it safe.  My plan is to keep these guys all upstairs until I make my initial push into seed planting next month.  Then the heat will go on in the grow room and things will start popping.  I sense my grow is getting bigger than my initial plan lol

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

Its been a good but frustrating day today.  Had another yellow manzano pop up.  The frustrating part was I just got DSL in the home and trying to configure my modem/router wireless was harder than I thought.  Wasn't aware I actually had a network port on the laptop.  Ended up configuring it with my cell phone,  I was able to take my HDMI cable off the xbox and run my laptop display to my tv in the man cave.  I am an audio cord and a wireless keyboard away from being completely set up.  Other than adjusting my tv screen so the minimize and close buttons as well as the task bar are visible.  Tried fixing that and ended up with have the stuff showing up on laptop and half the stuff showing up on the tv at the same time.  That was a little rough to troubleshoot lol.
 
Just would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May the best of your 2013 be the worst of your 2014!!!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

My two extra early started Moa plants and my one yellow manzano are showing good improvements since moving them upstairs with some more heat.  The lights alone just weren't keeping them warm enough.  
 
 

 
 
 

 
 Love those big hab leaves. Looking great man!
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

[highalt]

First Rick, and now you!  Is everyone starting earlier this season, or am I just behind already, LOL?!
 
Your grow is looking great, and I haven't even started working on my growlist yet!
 
Best wishes in the New Year!