[CH] Bowers

Karen Stober/Piscataway/IBM (kstober@us.ibm.com)
Tue, 12 Sep 2000 10:05:26 -0400 

It was sunny, hot and humid.  Everything was lush.  The corn was as high as
the proverbial elephant's eye.

Doug won the chile eatin' contest again but only by half a jal.  Ate only
six this time.  Ate seven last year.  They were much bigger this year.

Met lots of people from chile-heads.  Mark will have photos on his website
soon.  Andy B. might, too.

Meadow View Farm had lots of chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplants, corn,
sweet peppers, soap, dried flower wreaths and swags with chiles in them,
herbs, jams, jellies, baked goods, chile and pumpkins and gourds for
ampling and/or sale this year.  The Lemon Drop Peppers were especially
popular this year.  They are really good sliced in Lemon Bicardi.  There
were no other fresh chile vendors at the Festival this year.

I think more people parked at the Festival grounds than the Farm this year.
It was very well attended again.  There were more vendors this year.  Even
one who smoked an entire pig and carved it for sandwiches.  Red Lion,
Tabasco, Bowers Inn, Cross Country Nurseries, Kutztown Bakery and numerous
others were in attendance.  Lots of parents left their kids at the
playground and checked out vendors encircling it.  This year I had an
excellent hot Italian apple smoked sausage with fresh salsa and sliced
fresh orange hab.  Risa G. tried the green curry with rice and it was very
good.  The Bikers jambalaya was a ninety minute wait so maybe next year.
Mark, what did you and Iris have?  The honey vendor had garlic honey for
sample and sale.  Very good. His booth was ESPECIALLY popular with the
yellow jackets.  The yellow jackets were particularly ornery this year.
The hot pepper peanut brickle sold out before we got there.  The chipotle
biscotti were just OK.  Red Lion gave us excellent dry rub to sample.  I
bought some of their Killer ground chile mix.  The bottles and layering of
the different colored powders is so attractive I don't want to open it.

There were also flavored vinegar vendors, hot sauce vendors, smoked ribs,
hot popcorn and potato chip and pretzel vendors (but no soft pretzels),
stuffed hot peppers, hot pepper fudge ice cream, tie dye clothing, Native
American accessories and jewelry (even a full size teepee), lemonade,
garage sale stuff, chile headbands, birdhouses including two with chiles on
them, chile gimmicks, ristras, bowls, spoon rests, salt and pepper shakers
and chile-themed clothing vendors.  A chile lovers heaven in the heart of
Amish & Mennonite country.

What did everyone buy?  I got two pumpkins.  One is the standard orange
type.  The other is bright orange and green and resembles a huge pear in
shape.  Very pretty.  I also got a chile pepper soap dish, Crabenero hot
sauce, several kinds of heirloom tomatoes, a washcloth with a chile on it,
an I love habeneros bumper sticker, and a handmade Mennonite quilt, dahlia
pattern in chile print fabric.  The little Mennonite woman who quilts did
not make a tablecloth this year because they did not sell in the past.
She said she will make one for me for next year's Festival.  The quilt is
ninety inches long.  Someone beat me to the dried chile garland I really
wanted.  Many herbs were for sale in adition to flowers and chiles.  I also
purchased a lemon grass plant.  Never seen one for sale before.

Risa bought very nice earrings made from real chiles.

I believe Dave DeWitt will be at Meadow View Farm this coming weekend.  Too
bad he could not make it to the Festival.

Yours In Heat

Karen