Fresh in from the Open Fields. A great turnout, maybe 40 people there when we were there. Overcast, threatening to rain. The Food Network had a crew there. Jim Campbell is simply INSANE. You have to see his pepper patch to believe it. No one human being should put that many peppers in the ground. I talked with his wife Abbie about getting him into a 12-step program. She was grateful for the support. :-) Daughter Erin, The Original Chile Lass who turned 16 this week had one of those 16-year old brain lapses. I was carrying a couple of big habs, maybe three inches long, that were shaped like datils when she grabbed one and said "How much will you give me if I eat this whole thing?" "Oh, I dunno. Maybe 10 bucks." You could see this moment of reflection in her eyes about the brilliance of the plan when she stuck the entire thing in her mouth and chomped down near the stem. But she gnawed that sucker down and grabbed her *ears.* There were tears streaming down her face and she was rubbing her ear frantically. "MY EARS ARE RINGING. MY EARS ARE RINGING." The Food Netwirk people turned the camera on her for that. For me it was a moment to treasure along with the one where she got a piece of hab caught on her retainer, and last year when she ate a giant 6-ounce raw oyster for 20 bucks. But Jim Campbell is even crazier. Son Levi was with us and he thinks *I'm* nuts for having a few hundred plants. Or he thought I was nuts until he walked through Jim's field. "Man," he kept saying as he shook his head. "Man." F1 tommoroow. carpo