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Kalie's 2015 - 2016 Grow

Hello everyone! I am new to The Hot Pepper this year so I thought I would introduce myself here and get a grow log going. I might know someone of you from the other pepper forums... but I must say, I have been devouring the threads on this site lately and it's my new favorite. :party: Reading glog's definitely makes the corporate work day go by faster!
 
I live in Jacksonville, FL and have a small half-acre piece of land, although not all of it is sunny. I've been here for about three and a half years and I have been growing everything from corn, beans and tomatoes to exotic tropical specimens like coffee and cacao. I have taken my pepper growing from just four store-bought jalapeno plants in 2012 to over a hundred plants in 2015. I have definitely found a true love for growing peppers and love learning more each year about how to do things better and get more pods from my limited space here. Above all else, I am very passionate about sustainability and organic gardening. No pesticides or synthetic fertilizers have ever been used on the property. I have a small bed where I grow isolated plants covered in tulle for seed saving, but the rest of them are open-pollinated out in the yard, grabbing whatever sunlight and space they can. Sometimes it feels like me against the plants as Summer rages hard here with temps over 100 for several months and torrential downpours nearly every afternoon. But that is the fun in it I suppose. :eh:
 
This season I started a lot of plants, mostly from seed that I received in a swap at the end of last year. About half of the varieties have grown true and the rest have been mysterious surprises. Haha! Even a nameless superhot is welcome in my house.
 
I have been really busy this year working 12 hours a day away from the house, so the garden has gotten slightly neglected. But nevertheless, I have been pulling 50-100 pods every other week or so since June and it doesn't seem to be slowing down much. In fact, most of the plants are putting out new pods now that its gotten a little cooler. The temp here in Jax is hovering in the low 80's during the day and it's looking like the 2015 season is going to move straight into the 2016 season. So after this intro post, I will be updating in real time. I plan on keeping some plants in the ground through the "winter" and at the beginning of next year, I will be starting a whole new adventure growing in large grow bags for the first time.
 
I will add some photos of the past year so you guys can get a feel for what I'm up to and enjoy some pepper porn. Feel free to comment, but don't judge too harshly! Most of these photos were taken with my phone's camera when I had a spare minute.
 
2015 Indoor Set-Up... Next year I am going to mount these lights on a shelf system.
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Some views of the front yard. I usually throw down some new wood chips and of course about a foot of new compost in the growing areas.
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I am busy with pepper projects at the moment. I have been fermenting 8 quart jars for the past 60 days. I made one batch at 30 days but the 60 day jars smell/taste hotter and more tangy. Yum! I am going to blend some of that today to go on some pulled pork sandwiches.
 
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I used pickle pebbles glass weights and kept the jars covered with a breathable cloth. I just bought some airlocks to try the next batch with, but this worked really well and makes it really easy to taste on a regular basis.
 
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I have also been spreading the fire at my office recently. We had a chili cook-off in which I came in 2nd place... I think I lost the title because some people were too scared to taste my entry based on other people's red faces. I personally think I held back and made a very approachable chili with only a few peppers in it. It was delicious.
 
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I brought a replica bowl of peppers so that people could see how I restrained myself. :P
 
I will post again after I get the hot sauce from today all done. The leftover from my first attempt, which was a month ago, has separated in the fridge. I have been reading a lot of conflicting information on here and online in general about whether you need to add an emulsifier to keep the sauce from separating. I would like to have some shelf-stable and presentable bottles of sauce to give away at Christmas, so hopefully I can figure it out before then. I am going to start the air lock jars today. They are half gallon size and this time I am going to put some onion and garlic in there with the peppers and make a mash.
 
I wonder if adding coconut oil will work. coconut oil is an emulsifier, used in essential oil mixes so they dont separate and in soap it gives you great lather.
 
Xantham gum is what you'll find on the back of most sauce bottles as their emulsifier. I use it as well and a little goes a very long way.
 
Still harvesting a good bit each week. I made a batch of red superhot sauce yesterday. It was a mix of a bunch of the red peppers all thrown in together and it turned out really good! It's sitting on the counter now, so when I get home from work I will be able to report back about whether there was any separation or not. This time I did not add in any of the extra fermentation brine as liquid, I went with straight vinegar. It was just as yummy, still very tangy... and a lot less "watery" so I have high hopes. 
 
I made a classic mistake while separating the sauce from the mash. I have these mesh bags that have the perfect size holes to push the liquid through, but I wasn't wearing gloves and at the very end of the process, I just used my right hand to squeeze the last little bit out. I washed my hands really well... or so I thought. About 10 minutes later I hopped in the shower and started washing and let's just say... my entire body was on FIRE. The heat on my hands spread around to the point that it felt like I was wearing gloves of actual fire for more than 30 minutes. I will not make that mistake again. :mouthonfire:
 
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