Pulpiteer's grow log 2012

KiNGDeNNiZ · Nov 7, 2012

mmmm fatalii candy......

Pulpiteer · Nov 12, 2012

Wow, it's been forever since I've done a proper update. Days keep spinning by and here we are into November. I've been cooking and winterizing the garden and prepping for next year. So, here's the story...

First, a few weeks ago we had our 2nd annual harvest festival/chili cookoff at the church. We have three food categories for the competition part: hot chili, not-hot chili, and wild game. Lots of wonderful dishes and a good time had by all, but the important thing was that I was out to defend my crown as hot chili champion. You may think that it's tacky to set up and run a competition and then win it yourself. I don't. I think that's what losers think. And I am a champion! It was this sort of goading that I gave to the congregation weekly in order to get people to enter the competition, and we had an ok turn out. And I did win again. So all was good.

Here's a 4 in 1 picture - the top two from left to right are pork loin slow cooking and a London broil cut smoking on the grill. They were both lovingly added to the chili. The bottom two are pictures of the process of stuff some bishop's crown poppers. By the way, if you want the best popper in the world, grow Bishop's crowns next year. People were raving about them. They are fantastic!

And now a picture of the chili cooking. I know, I know, there's some beans in there. I'm from the north.

Also a few weeks ago I worked on two more hot sauce concoctions. The first a more savory sauce I am calling "The Reluctant Prophet". It's got some smoked red bell peppers, 7 "7 Pot Jonahs", 4 Ghost peppers, 3 Pablanos, 8 cloves of garlic and 1 small yellow onion both roasted under an oven broiler, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 cup red tomato, 3 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp ground mustard. Here's a picture in the pot:

Next is a sauce I came up with after seeing a recipe by etothepii here, and in it that RocketMan was also making a sauce using pumpkins. I loved the idea, so this next one I call "All Hallow's Eve" and it is a fall themed sauce. 6 Peach ghost peppers, 4 peach habaneros, 1 small pie pumpkin, 1 Tbsp fresh chopped sage, 2 tsp cinnamon, 3 c. apple cider, 1/2 c. apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1 smoked yellow bell pepper. Here's a pic:

Back on October 22, I did most of the winterizing. I chopped most of the plants and just left them on the ground. My goal for the space is a huge composting, mulch in which to plant my stuff next year. So here is a picture of the garden cut down with some leaves on it.

I ground up the leaves with my lawnmower and put them on top of the chopped plants.

I also planted two bushes on the west side of the pepper garden. They will serve as a mini wind break next year, and help to build a micro climate there next to the house. Here is my son standing next to one of them. There is a thin bush in the foreground that might be tough to see. That one is an autumn olive, which is sometimes considered invasive. That's just because it grows so well. It is actually a great plant - it fixes nitrogen to the soil and produces autumn olives which can be made into a fantastic jam.

Before I chopped everything down, I did get one last little harvest:

Finally, this past Saturday, a member of the congregation gave me a wonderful gift of manure. It has been composting for like 8 years, slowly being added to over that time. You can see it's nice and dry and really amazing stuff. He drove it into down with his tractor. I just love that I had front door delivery in town of manure via tractor. Great stuff and more nutrients into the ground for next year!

Ok - finally caught up! Now I'm just keeping those fermenting jars of peppers going. I'll have to write more on that later, but I think once I do this fermenting thing I may never go back.

Thanks for stopping in!

romy6 · Nov 12, 2012

Brother Andy. You are one blessed man. You always get my stomach rumbling with your amazing sauces and grubb. After seeing your prep work and than awesome generosity of manure( that sounds strange to some folks not us :rofl:

) I have a feeling we will not be able to even see your house from the monster Garden canopy by next July. Feel free to keep sharing your secret recipe's with us.

Pulpiteer · Nov 12, 2012

romy6 said:
Brother Andy. You are one blessed man. You always get my stomach rumbling with your amazing sauces and grubb. After seeing your prep work and than awesome generosity of manure( that sounds strange to some folks not us ) I have a feeling we will not be able to even see your house from the monster Garden canopy by next July. Feel free to keep sharing your secret recipe's with us.

Thanks Jamie, I really am blessed! I've been giving out pepper jelly to people here and when I get hot sauce labels printed out I'll give those out as well, then comes the rubs and seasonings... I was thinking as I was spreading that manure, building relationships is so important with gardening (I think). I've found several people who are very generous with different things I'm using to build up the soil on the garden, and it's all about giving to each other. You see that sort of thing a lot on this website too, and it's a cool thing to be a part of. Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

3/5King · Nov 12, 2012

Wow Andy, this is a major update. That chili sounds delicious. As long as the judging is legit, who cares who set up the competition....what you do all the work and then don't get to compete?....I think not....congrats on the win!

Man those sauces sound complex and bursting with flavor. I like it....I like it alot'..

How come I see a hoed full of reds and yellows on the chopped down plants??? Did you leave some soldiers behind?!

That is really cool that you had some poop show up at your door on a genuine trac'ter mmmhmm. It's going to make some peppers really happy next year, along with all of those leaves. I've never heard of this bush you speak of, I will have to check it out. Making a jam out of olives??

Nice update Pulpy!

PIC 1 · Nov 12, 2012

Hey Andy....How are ya !
Good choice with the slow cooked pork and the London Broil . That chunky chili looks tasty, I'm glad you defended your title........its never a fluke when someone wins twice in a row...no matter what anybody else thinks.

Bishop Crowns are cool! I never made poppers with them, but I know the seed cap is right at the top and makes it esy to clean out. The tri-pod base makes it easy to keep them upright.......like a 4 lobed bell pepper!

Cool looking hot sauces, now that the prices are down for the Butternut Squash I'll have to give your recipe try.

Cool idea with the compost/mulch. Did you yank the plant roots out of the ground?

Pretty colorful harvest for the last go of the season. The manure looks well aged...you're lucky to get the ****load of it. Your garden will be rockin next season.
Have fun with your overwintering, fresh starts and your cooking wizardry...

Greg

ajijoe · Nov 12, 2012

hey Andy!
im all done now too

gonna sort of rest from my labors now although there is always something else to fill the gap LOL :confused:

but i just updated my grow-log for this coming year im kinda pumped about this next season, im looking forward to seeing what you have in sore for this coming year

thanks your friend Joe

Pulpiteer · Nov 13, 2012

3/5King said:
Wow Andy, this is a major update. That chili sounds delicious. As long as the judging is legit, who cares who set up the competition....what you do all the work and then don't get to compete?....I think not....congrats on the win!

Man those sauces sound complex and bursting with flavor. I like it....I like it alot'..

How come I see a hoed full of reds and yellows on the chopped down plants??? Did you leave some soldiers behind?!

That is really cool that you had some poop show up at your door on a genuine trac'ter mmmhmm. It's going to make some peppers really happy next year, along with all of those leaves. I've never heard of this bush you speak of, I will have to check it out. Making a jam out of olives??

Nice update Pulpy!

Good to hear from ya King! The sauces are turning out pretty good, but I want to get better at it. I am beginning to think that fermentation is a huge key to it all. As far as the chili competition, I've enjoyed playing it up with the congregation. It's been fun rubbing it in. I think the peppers you're seeing are either devil's tongues I didn't care for or the reds which were either small, spotted, or something else, there's some tabascos that didn't get to ripen, and other various peppers that had spots or something not quite right. I'm sure I did not get every edible pepper out of there, but I got most of the good ones, I think...

It's called an autumn olive, but the fruit is more like a small berry. The jam tasted like a mix of apple and raspberry, kind of... really good. It's a small, and dark red berry. Hopefully it'll go gangbusters next year and I'll get some pics up.

PIC 1 said:
Hey Andy....How are ya !
Good choice with the slow cooked pork and the London Broil . That chunky chili looks tasty, I'm glad you defended your title........its never a fluke when someone wins twice in a row...no matter what anybody else thinks.

Bishop Crowns are cool! I never made poppers with them, but I know the seed cap is right at the top and makes it esy to clean out. The tri-pod base makes it easy to keep them upright.......like a 4 lobed bell pepper!

Cool looking hot sauces, now that the prices are down for the Butternut Squash I'll have to give your recipe try.

Cool idea with the compost/mulch. Did you yank the plant roots out of the ground?

Pretty colorful harvest for the last go of the season. The manure looks well aged...you're lucky to get the ****load of it. Your garden will be rockin next season.
Have fun with your overwintering, fresh starts and your cooking wizardry...

Greg

Thanks for the compliments on the chili. I think when I bring it up to the congregation next year, I'm going to tell them I'm going for a three-peat and at that point you begin to seriously talk about dynasty. Should be fun. You've really got to try Bishop Crown poppers. I mean, it's tough to go wrong with cream cheese and bacon, but these peppers taste like they were genetically engineered for such a thing.

As far as the plant roots - I didn't pull them out. The theory is that I've now got a ton of plant roots from dead plants that have worked their way through my soil (which was a bit on the clay side) and those roots will rot. So what I have is organic material throughout the clay without tilling, which will provide nutrients for the plants, food for worms as well as giving the worms an easier spot to tunnel through. It sounds pretty cool, I'll see how it works out. This particular idea is from a book called Gaia's Garden. That's where I got the mulching idea as well. I'm excited to see how it all turns out.

ajijoe said:
hey Andy!
im all done now too

gonna sort of rest from my labors now although there is always something else to fill the gap LOL

but i just updated my grow-log for this coming year im kinda pumped about this next season, im looking forward to seeing what you have in sore for this coming year

thanks your friend Joe

Yep, it's that time of year we get to rest garden wise. I'll have to check out your new grow log. I'll also have to get that new list of seeds from you - you were promising some interesting ones!

Good to hear from you Joe - thanks for stopping by!

I started two more fermenting jars today. Here are the peppers for the first one: Bishop's Crowns and Harold St. Barts.

I stemmed them, cut them in half, ran them through the food processor, and then put them into a jar to ferment - here they are:

I'm thinking fermenting is the way to go - as I said above. I've noticed with making my own sauces, that fresh hot peppers cooked down still really need a base. Yet when I taste other hot sauces without many other ingredients, the peppers hold up fine. It finally clicked what the fermenting does after I'd tasted some of my own creations and then tasted a scotch bonnet hot sauce I got from the store that is fermented. The ferment adds a complexity and depth that is hard to describe. The taste of the pepper is still there, but it's like it is filled out, as opposed to when you do it fresh it tastes... I don't know... like watery or less full or something. Anyway, I'm interested to see how the ferment comes out.

Finally, I know it's a little late, but here is a picture of my kids with their Halloween pumpkins - "Angry Birds"

PaulG · Nov 13, 2012

Hey, Andy. Just stopped by to say hi. Hope all is well with you and family.
I'll echo everyone's sentiments about your saucing and labels! Great stuff!

ajijoe · Nov 13, 2012

hey andy
yeah
check out my grow log and if you want to see the seed list let me know

thanks your friend joe

stc3248 · Nov 20, 2012

Andy...sad to see your front yard forest all gone. Your cooking skills are making up for it though! I think more folks would be generous and share what they have if they were shown the same.

Keep us posted on the fermenting project...I am almost sold!

DocNrock · Nov 20, 2012

Going to have to try a ferment one of these days. Yours looks great. I'm sure the ferment does add layers of flavor complexity. Love the Angry Birds pumpkins, and the "pumpkin models." Great looking kids!

Also, really like the thought process behind leaving the roots in the soil. Makes sense to me. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for 2013!

Chilinferno · Nov 21, 2012

Pulpiteer said:

She is such a saaaaaaaaawwweeeeeeetttttttttttt Baby :halo:

this is the best pic i´ve ever seen in the chili community - Great Man! :clap:

may i ask how young (i.e. age) she is?
i love babies and kids, they are always a gift in life!

now she is a Chili-Padawan but i am sure one day she will become a Chili-Jedi. her father must be a powerful Master handling the capsaicin force with ease!

i wish u and your kids all the best!

btw how is the taste and heat of Peach BJ?

Stay hot and cuddly embraces for your daughter

gnslngr · Nov 21, 2012

Hey Andy-
Fate is right on time, I get a chance to stop by , and you've magically just updated, the 3-4 other times , I got sidetracked-but not this one.

Had a great season man!-liking the pumpkin based sauce.....another way around the "watery" from fresh pods is powder....as well as the fermenting.Just another weapon for the arsenal.
...and drive by poo, you got it made

! Have a Happy Turkey brother!
cheers
Dave

Pulpiteer · Nov 21, 2012

PaulG said:
Hey, Andy. Just stopped by to say hi. Hope all is well with you and family.
I'll echo everyone's sentiments about your saucing and labels! Great stuff!

Thanks Paul! I hope to keep that basic design for the labels and do some for each sauce, then have them printed up. But that'll take a trip to the big city for the printers.

ajijoe said:
hey andy
yeah
check out my grow log and if you want to see the seed list let me know

thanks your friend joe

Thanks Joe, I've got some seeds in mind, I've just got to get that out to you. Thanks!

stc3248 said:
Andy...sad to see your front yard forest all gone. Your cooking skills are making up for it though! I think more folks would be generous and share what they have if they were shown the same.

Keep us posted on the fermenting project...I am almost sold!

Great to hear from you Shane. I've got two batches of the ferment that should be ready, now to get a little time to try them out... It smells good in my home office, like fermenting peppers. In fact, the guy who dropped off the manure, when he stopped at my door, he said, "It just smells like peppers in your house." Pretty funny.

DocNrock said:
Going to have to try a ferment one of these days. Yours looks great. I'm sure the ferment does add layers of flavor complexity. Love the Angry Birds pumpkins, and the "pumpkin models." Great looking kids!

Also, really like the thought process behind leaving the roots in the soil. Makes sense to me. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for 2013!

Thanks Doc! The pumpkins are fun to do with the kids, but boy is it a hectic night when we do it at this age. Fun times and good memories though. I'm curious to see how this stuff affects the garden for next year, so I guess I'm looking forward to seeing it too!

Chilinferno said:
She is such a saaaaaaaaawwweeeeeeetttttttttttt Baby
this is the best pic i´ve ever seen in the chili community - Great Man!
may i ask how young (i.e. age) she is?
i love babies and kids, they are always a gift in life!

now she is a Chili-Padawan but i am sure one day she will become a Chili-Jedi. her father must be a powerful Master handling the capsaicin force with ease!

i wish u and your kids all the best!

btw how is the taste and heat of Peach BJ?

Stay hot and cuddly embraces for your daughter

Thanks Chilinfero! She just turned 2 this October. Kids are a gift, I love being a dad, and it's great to be able to teach them and show them a bit about the gardening stuff.

I really like the Peach BJ, not as hot as the reds, but still a hot one. The heat comes after a bit, like the red ghost. And it's got a "peach" flavor, if you've tried any other peach peppers - almost a light fruity taste. One of my favorites though.

gnslngr said:
Hey Andy-
Fate is right on time, I get a chance to stop by , and you've magically just updated, the 3-4 other times , I got sidetracked-but not this one.

Had a great season man!-liking the pumpkin based sauce.....another way around the "watery" from fresh pods is powder....as well as the fermenting.Just another weapon for the arsenal.
...and drive by poo, you got it made! Have a Happy Turkey brother!
cheers
Dave

Great to hear from you Dave! I just had some of the pumpkin sauce with pizza last night, man was it good. And had a nice amount of heat too. I'll have to keep that in mind about the powder - thanks. I'm also amazed at how much the flavor changes and blends after a couple of weeks in the fridge. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well - stay safe!

ajijoe · Nov 21, 2012

Thanks Joe, I've got some seeds in mind, I've just got to get that out to you. Thanks!

ok thanks
just let me know when your ready

your friend Joe

Pulpiteer · Feb 19, 2013

Thanks for following along what was a great season everyone! I've just launched my grow log for 2013 if you want to check it out:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/37639-pulpiteer-2013-grow-log/