Sawyer '15 - Killing frost 11/22 + pics

OCD Chilehead · May 24, 2015

Hey John! I just got through reading your Glog. I really enjoyed it. I love the crosses! I hope you and your plants are doing well. I wanted to ask you. Overall, how was the University processing coarse?

Thanks for sharing.

Chuck

Sawyer · May 25, 2015

KiNGDeNNiZ said:
usually cook it with chicken and broth...with ginger and other veggies.. forgot the dish name...

my glog is tehre..lol i do work here and there

good luck again

Thanks, DeNNiZ, so far, so good with the chayote. It's been too cool and wet here, but it's hanging in there for now.

OCD Chilehead said:
Hey John! I just got through reading your Glog. I really enjoyed it. I love the crosses! I hope you and your plants are doing well. I wanted to ask you. Overall, how was the University processing coarse?

Thanks for sharing.

Chuck

Thanks, Chuck. For this year's plants, everything is in kind of a holding pattern now, waiting for the rain to stop and warmer weather. The processing course is ongoing. I've made two sample batches of 10-12 8oz jars each to get the recipe worked out (and given them all away). Should make the first scaled-up batch (~20 L) this week or next. I'm trying to track down some fresh yellow supers, because I can't use my own purée, because I made it in my home kitchen last year. I understand the need for some regulation, but the red tape in starting a food-processing business goes beyond reason, IMO. Here's a rundown of what all I've had to do (and I'm sure I'm leaving something out):

1. Form a legal business entity with the State (could be as simple as a sole proprietorship, but I already had an LLC).
2. Obtain access to an FDA-certified food processing facility. This is where the University workshop and facilities have made all this possible, but it still requires completing and signing multiple forms and agreements. (I've started looking into the next phase... building a facility of my own or contracting with a co-packer.)
3. Register with the State health department and obtain a food processing permit.
4. Register with the FDA (both company and products... still working on that).
5. File a process specification document (one for each recipe).
6. File an allergen control plan. (Even though there are no allergens in my recipe(s), others using the facility may use them.)
7. File a product recall plan.
8. Be prepared to file a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) plan when it becomes mandatory (next year? two?)
9. For each product, prepare a label with nutritional and ingredients information.
10. Purchase food manufacturing liability insurance. ($299/year @ https://www.fliprogram.com/food-manufacturers-insurance)
11. Find wholesale sources for ingredients and packaging, be able to measure (and record) pH, Brix, water activity, etc., etc.

There's some overlap there and this does leave out some things, but that's the gist of it. At least a lot of those steps are one-time efforts, or more easily replicated for future recipes. I'm hoping my next batch will be legal to sell, but if not, the one after that will be.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day. (Or go visit those folks on the East and West coasts.) Today is one of the very few days it hasn't rained all month. The ground is so soggy there is no way I can get in the garden, or even work with potting up plants. All but two of the seven 7P Long Brown I planted in-ground back on May 3 got beaten down into the mud and have died. (I have backups, but so much for the early start.) The nine TS Yellows are still alive, but languishing. Everything else is still in flats or 3.5" square pots.

I'm thankful we haven't had the severe weather of those folks in TX or OK, but the excessive rain is just as bad from a pepper growing perspective. The local reservoir, Beaver Lake, has risen from a surface elevation of 1113 ft on Feb 20 to over 1129 ft as of today. Normal pool is 1120 ft. and flood stage is 1130 ft. They've got the generators running full bore and, so far, they're hoping they won't have to open the flood gates. This is the forecast for the next week, though:

At least the nighttime temperatures are remaining in the 60s. This week will be the first for that.

capsidadburn · May 25, 2015

John, that looks like some serious commitment and effort. I wish you the best of luck and I agree about the rain! Enough please. :confused:

OCD Chilehead · May 25, 2015

That is a bunch of hoops to jump through. I truly wish you the best of luck. I love trying new chile products. Especially from another chilehead. When that time comes, I would love to buy some products.

Sorry to here about the plants. Your night time temps do look great. Still mid 40's here at night. The rain here has not let up as well. Looking at my ten day forecast, it looks like we will be going from 60's to 80's next week.

Pulpiteer · May 25, 2015

Totally agree with you about the unnecessary steps to do simple food processing stuff. I'd like to sell some pepper jelly at the orchard down the road, but you have outlined exactly why I haven't. Too much red tape and I don't have time to navigate it all.

Essegi · Jul 20, 2015

Hey, John, how are you? Hope all is fine!

capsidadburn · Jul 20, 2015

+1 on How are you? Hope your in control!

Sawyer · Jul 23, 2015

Hey, guys, thanks for your encouraging comments, and sorry for not being around THP much lately. So far this year, my grow has been pretty much a disaster. My best plants, some yellow scorpions, are barely knee high. I've planted brown 7P three times and I think I have three plants a few inches tall. They keep drowning. There was so much rain in May, nothing really got established. At this point, I'm abandoning trying to grow in ground for the rest of this year and focusing on pots. And my schedule has kept me from potting up as much as needs to be done. My hopes for getting some help with things never panned out. Nevertheless, I'm still potting up and am hoping for a late harvest. I've got just about everything I need to build a lean-to greenhouse on the south side of the house, and that could help extend the season.

Getting back to the drowning thing, I've said before that peppers can take standing water and survive, if not thrive. I think now I have to qualify that statement. It is true they can survive, but I think that may be only for those growing in sterile media. In fact, my remaining plants in flats are in standing water right now after the last three days of intermittent downpours (~4" total). I think for plants in the ground, though, the presence of various pathological fungi and/or bacteria renders them susceptible to infection and death. Maybe it was only because each planting of brown 7Pods was followed by days of rain so that they never got established, but the fact remains, they all died.

Anyway, enough with the bad news. On the positive front, the pepper sauce business is coming along nicely. I've jumped through (almost) all the regulatory hoops and have a few cases of Pineapple Mango Scorpion sauce that are legal to sell... as soon as I get my label finalized. I had one design I really liked, but it turns out to be evocative of certain social issues about which I'd rather remain neutral. I've got a new idea I think will work, but I need to get the graphics done. At least one local retailer has offered shelf space and I had a constructive and positive meet-and-greet with a buyer for Whole Foods earlier this week. Free samples I've passed out have been met with almost universal praise. It's a medium hot, spicy-sweet sauce that goes well with a large variety of foods. As soon as I get the label done I'll post a picture here.

capsidadburn · Jul 23, 2015

Sorry to hear of the rough going, John. Great to hear the latter news though. Congrats!

Plantguy76 · Jul 23, 2015

John its been a hard year here in missouri as well sorry that things have turned out bad for you.
I am going to try & grow Trinidad Brown Bonnets next year maybe next your will be better for your seven pot browns.
Congratulations on your hot sauce business success best wishes for your continued success.
I sowed amayrlla tomatillos they have come up only takes 60 days and they do will in cool temps .
I am going to try and save seed for next year.

GA Growhead · Jul 23, 2015

What's up John!
I have had more rain than I needed too this year. Definitely causing issues. My huge raised rows are doing the best. The other rows and potted plants are not very happy. What can you do?
Glad to hear you got all your ducks a row with the sauce! That's great news!
Talk to me about your graphic needs. Might be able to help.
Take care my friend!
Jason

jcw10tc · Jul 23, 2015

Good to hear from you John, sorry about the grow. Not sure how mine are doing so well. This is the first week of dry weather, almost 5 days now since May. Perhaps I got a little started in May before the deluge started in early June. Anyway, good luck with the sauce business, sounds like its going to be great.

Pulpiteer · Jul 27, 2015

Man, sorry to hear about the way the season has gone. I've moved some of mine to pots as well as the ground just did not heat up enough, I think, and my plants were small. We had a wet, cool, beginning to the summer and it put me behind.
Great news on the sauce though! I look forward to hearing more about it.

stickman · Aug 21, 2015

Hi Buzz,
Just checking in to see how things are going out your way... What a bummer that you had such a poor season after all that effort getting hundreds of seedlings started.

As you say, at least you have the legal hurdles cleared to getting a sauce-making business going in the future. Did any of the Kapija seedlings survive for you? If not, I've certainly got enough seeds left to share if you want to try again.

Take care buddy!

Devv · Aug 22, 2015

Hi John,

Long time no see!

Entering the sauce business I see, good luck and may you prosper.

And the rain: It may have been too much for you region, here it was a Godsend ...

Sawyer · Aug 23, 2015

Hey, guys, thanks for all the weather condolences and sauce well wishes. Sorry I haven't been visiting everyone's glogs like I should. Between the peppers, sauces, and some other projects, there just hasn't been much time.

Not much has changed here on the pepper front. The yellow Scorpions I set out the first week of May have finally started blooming, but I haven't seen any pods set yet. (Haven't looked in three or four days.) I've got a few random pods on plants still in 3.5" square pots. Whatever plants I potted up to larger pots have been given away and at least some of those are producing. Most of the plants are still in germination flats (and right now in standing water after the rain of the last few days.) The only way I'll get a decent harvest this year is if I figure out something for season extension. Behind the place where I make the sauce there are several greenhouses, mostly empty, so I may try to lease some space. Or I may build a lean-to against the south side of my house. I have 100' of 16' wide film.

The weather continues to be odd. One morning last week it got down to 49º F (~9.5º C). Lots of rain for this time of year, but not too much lately. The weather for the next 10 days is predicted to be just about perfect, highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s. While it hasn't been a great year so far for peppers, the ginger and turmeric are doing well. That has me looking for some galangal root, too. I already have some melegueta and cardamom seeds I might try to germinate. (All of those are in the ginger family.) Getting a pretty decent crop of native passion fruit, too. Haven't done a thing about a vegetable garden this year, but may try for a small fall garden. And I'd better get the winter grains planted or I risk losing the strains.

I've been refining the supply chain for the sauce effort. Not having my own supers is a problem, but Wicked Mike has helped me out there. (If anyone has pound quantities of fresh red, yellow, or brown supers they want to sell or trade, let's talk.) Still working on the label, but it's about finished (it ain't nothing special)... need to add a bar code. Have three more recipes in the pipeline, others I'm still tinkering with, and ideas yet to explore.

I'm planning to head back to Wind River Range in Wyoming for as long as a couple of weeks in September. Not the best of timing, business-wise, but I didn't make it last year and who knows what the future may bring. I'll be spending most of my time in the 9,000-10,000 ft range, but this link has some great photos from higher up. It's not anybody I know, just a link I found.

Rick, I have at least two and maybe four of Kapija plants. Small, but hopefully I'll at least be able to OW them.

Essegi · Aug 25, 2015

Wind River looks really a good place to stay!
Let's hope for a better year!

Sawyer · Aug 25, 2015

Essegi said:
Wind River looks really a good place to stay!
Let's hope for a better year!

Thanks, Giancarlo. Pepper-wise, I just got off on the wrong foot this year and never did get things turned around. Like you say, hope for a better year next year.

For the most part, I'll be camping below the tree line, but to get there I'll spend some time hiking in terrain like that shown in the link. The Winds are near the top of my list of favorite places.

Devv · Aug 25, 2015

The hike sounds like fun. I used to do a lot of hiking, somehow I got too busy. I'm looking forward to retiring, even looking into buying a few years if affordable. I'm tired of thinking for other people

Here's to a better next season, for both of us!

Sawyer · Nov 4, 2015

After conferring with Jason, I've edited the identifications in image captions below.

My glogging this year has gone about as well as my growing, i.e., not very. More about that later, but I at least want to give a shout out and thanks to Justin (jcw10tc) for a wonderful box of peppers and to Andy (Pulpiteer) for a bottle of his spicy maple syrup and some seeds. Thanks, guys. Don't have a picture of the syrup, but here are some pictures of Justin's peppers:

Here's a picture of the whole box:

And some pics segregated by color. Yellow:

I think the ones at top are Yellow Brain Strains. The ones at the bottom left are ~~likely~~ Jonah's Yellow Brains. No idea what the crooked one on the lower right is, nor the two smooth-skinned ones right above it. Those two were really nice to work with, having a large flesh-to-seed ratio and good heat and flavor. The single crooked one on the lower right is probably 7 pot yellow x bhut india carbon while two above it are 7 Pot Orange, (maybe being more yellow due to growth conditions?)

Brown:

I think most of the brown ones in the middle are Douglahs. Justin said they're a little smooth, but flavor and heat are on target. Pretty sure the two at the bottom are Black Nagas. The "curly" ones at the top, 4 on left, two on right, are mysteries to me. I screwed the pooch on these, though I did get the Black Nagas right. The six at top are supposed to be Monster Nagas, though Justin and I both agree they seem kind of smooth for a naga. The group in the middle is a mix of Douglahs and Brazilian Ghosts, the three in the upper left of that group being typical of the Douglahs. I mixed the seeds from these together, but that's okay. The sauce I make that uses brown supers uses both ghosts and 7 Pods. I'll plant them together and let them sex their way to my own landrace variety.

Red:

These are mostly Nagabrains, a truly excellent pepper for processing.

More red:

~~Top right is 7 Pod Lava~~. Top right are Trini Mystery. Look a lot like Morugas to me. The horizontal one in the middle is ~~Monster Naga~~ 7 Pod Lava, as well as ~~(and maybe~~ the toothy grin at the bottom?) Don't know what the others are~~... Trini Mystery~~?

Justin, I have the list of varieties you said you included, and my own best guesses as to which are which, but if you see this and want to chime in, I'd be happy learn better which are which, to the best of your recollection. I saved seed from most of them and got 9 half-pint jars of purée when processed w/ vinegar.

Edited in blue 11/14/15 to include deduced variety names.
Edited in red 11/16/15 to correct variety IDs.