[CH] Open Fields thanks
Solsearch@aol.com
Mon, 8 Oct 2001 12:35:18 EDT
Dear friends,
Open Fields is gone by but the feeling is very present this Monday morning
after. Stu and I struggled to make it in time Saturday to get to pick, but
did get there with the afternoon sun low in the sky and got three buckets for
us and one for Jim's mash before we headed down to the campground area and
got our dinner offerings ready. The sun went down in a cloudless sky, and as
the temperature dropped and the moon rose, we around the campfire knew there
had been reason for our sense of urgency picking those miraculously colored
and shaped chiles just hours before.
Yes, it frosted. It froze. We froze. But we sure had fun! Beyond the
pleasures of tasting so many folks' specialties, there was the deep down good
feeling of all those people having chosen, and struggled in their individual
lives, to just get together as friends.
There isn't any way to express how much Jim Campbell was missed. All we had
to give him was our presence, to thank him for all he gives to us. And we
couldn't grab him and shake his hand and look him in the face to do that.
Stu and I talked with him briefly in Washington on John Hard's cell phone,
while standing in the road next to rows and rows of jalapenos and habaneros,
all perfect, all wilting slowly in the sun post-frost. His telling of the
funeral march and ceremony was thick with emotion. What can we say or do?
Maybe some kind of healing is waiting in that chile field. When he feels his
sister in D.C. is ready to let him go home, I hope Jim will be able to take
an hour for himself and walk the rows. Way in, under the frozen foliage, we
all think there are still many beautiful peppers trying to ripen in the
Indian Summer. Some years it's just harder to find them and get them.
All the chileheads at Open Fields got extra care from some stand-ins for Jim,
and I want to thank them for helping the rest of us celebrate the harvest.
John Hard, Joe Kelly (Joebanero), Cameron Begg, Alex Silbajoris, and Bill
Jernigan looked out for and cooked for and hustled buckets, tents, and
tributes for the rest of us. Thanks, you guys. And all the folks who came
with their perfect potted chile plants to give us, their pouches of spices,
their canned and dried and grilled specialties, wow! It just doesn't get any
better in this world. I got to try Spam jerky, great chili, and chile
tequila, plus eat a world class breakfast burrito across the fire from Rael,
next to his Twister mat.
The good folks we met from all points near and far want to believe that there
will be a next year at Open Fields. But if there isn't, we know where we can
find each other anyway! Chileheads are a special breed. Glad we joined your
ranks!
Best regards,
Karen and Stu Zanger