[gardeners] Chiles
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 13 Sep 2001 17:04:31 -0500
Feeling the need to do something constructive today, and to keep my mind off of this weeks horrors
for a bit, I decided to do something with some of my chile crop. So, this morning early I picked
about 3 quarts of sweet and mild chiles and another quart of hot mommas.
The sweet and mild were washed, dried, capped, deseeded, chopped and placed on a bun pan to freeze
for a couple of hours and then vac sealed for long storage. The hots were washed, dried, and placed
whole in zipper bags for short term storage prior to being turned into hot sauce mash. This event
will probably take place in late October, early November.
A few hot chiles were cleaned up and vac sealed for my DIL who likes the hot ones, the hotter the
better. She eats Thai Hots like candy, hide, seeds, and all. She no longer cooks with chiles because
she and our son now have two small children who are not prone to wanting really hot food.
Going to go out later this afternoon and pick crowder peas, yellow-eyed beans, and bush butter beans
for either consumption or storage. Depends on how many I get. It's not really worth while to plant
any kind of bean or pea in our small gardens with the exception of green beans. The green beans will
produce enough fruit to enable canning some of them for later use. The rest rarely do although we do
get several pickings for fresh eating.
The okra is still producing and we have enough stored to last until next years crop comes in.
Neighbors are now getting the bounty of those plants and seem happy to get it.
Doing those things and then telling y'all about it does ease my mind somewhat. As the old-timers
here know I am unable to give blood in the current crisis so that makes me feel bad. (heart disease,
diabetes, arthritis and all the meds that go with those plus hepatitus A many years ago and malaria
to boot) Particularly as I made my living for many years as an emergency specialist, rescue,
firefighting, and SAR. Alas, like the fire horse, I am grown too old and spavined to do anything but
look up and whinny when the alarm bell goes. God Bless All those at work in NYC.
George