I first met Shawn when I joined this site last year. we met up one evening in Encinitas where he was living at the time. He gave me a bag full of different types of peppers he was growing to try. shortly after hello, I immediately got his life story.Â
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  is all i could do. I listened intently out of respect as he shared the ups and downs of his life. he had been reading THP for about 3-4 years, studying the different techniques used and pepper strains being discussed. He never joined anything in his life, but decided to join THP to try it and get more involved in the community he had been reading for years and to ultimately give back to it. He also had pointers for this newby about the community I had just joined. In return I told him how to post pictures on this website. We each ate a Malaysian Guorogong Pepper as a toast. He did not drink so that was his way of having a cold beer with a friend, here eat a hot pepper.Â
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We caught up several times through the remainder of the 2012 season exchanging peppers, chatting about growing, new pepper seeds he was getting, and what the hell is he going to do with all the peppers from the 2012 harvest. He was telling me that he had a least $3,000 in his current grow, if not more.  His idea was a salsa company at that time. He talked a lot and would ramble at times, but it was usually relevant to hot pepper growing, strains, chatting with other members, the community and the like with an occasional detour to surfing, wine or food. He quickly became known in my circle as the crazy pepper guy, because he was a little crazy
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 as we all are, and he had an insane amount of hot peppers.Â
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He had a lot interest in the really exotic and rare pepper plants, and other rare fruit bearing plants. As many of you experienced he was also very generous, sometimes too generous. Some people took advantage of his generosity throughout his life, including his time here at THP. He had started several different hot pepper grows in the last 5 years or so with friends who said they were willing to let him grow. They would get started then something would happen and he would never get to see it through. 2012 was the first hot pepper garden he was able to see fully grown according to his story, and he was completely stoked about it.  He realized he had way too many peppers at the end of the grow, so he bought a deep freezer and froze them all. I think they were stored whole in freezer bags but I cannot be too sure.  Now there is a decent size deep freezer full of his 2012 hot peppers.
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2013 brought some new and exciting things for him. He moved to a new place in the area with more space, at that time, to grow peppers. At the end of 2012 he said he grew too much and would be scaling back in 2013. But now he wanted a bigger grow in the new place which exemplified his pepper problem.
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He worked hard to get a job at a new whole foods store opening nearby in their wine department. Spring came and he got his plants going. I visited the new place, got a lesson on seed starting, chatted about the 100 pepper powder review progress, and heard his plans for this years grow. After working for a bit he quit his job because the people were being mean. Decided he would rather do what he loves which was growing peppers, trying to start a business with it.Â
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The last visit I had with him was in May. He borrowed my dehydrator in exchange for borrowing a set of his grow lights. He started dehydrating the freezer full of frozen peppers. He got into a little trouble with his landlord which resulted in a lot of his growing space getting taken away. He was miffed about it but stayed upbeat with aims of selling the plants once they looked ok.Â
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The 1st person I talked to wants them all, but I would rather spread them around.
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About the Douglah Powder he was making. He had a lot of these peppers.
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Geez the Douglah powder id soooooo hot. It felt like needles on my tongue.
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He was very meticulous and scientific about everything he was involved with, whether wine, hot peppers, or surfing. He had a lot of great ideas and a wealth of experience to pull from. It is sad that he is gone now. The details of his death are not important. What is important are the contributions he made to the community and countless other souls he helped along the way. It is a lasting impression that he had on many of us. The specifics of what is to come of all the plants, peppers and extensive seed collection that he gathered will be worked out soon. He is survived by his daughter who is in her 20s.Â
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Rest In Peace, crazy pepper guy.Â
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