Projects
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 7
Another addition of 4 ounces or so of fresh peppers and a pinch of salt. Heavy rain last week knocked most of the remaining peppers off the plants, so we're coming to the end of fresh pepper additions for this year (yeah, I know, I write that every week -- but this time it's probably true). I'm going to let this ferment one more week then add oak and send the batch to age until March.
Keyhole Garden – November 24 2019
Second week of the winter plantings in the keyhole garden. Needed to water once, but otherwise everything is doing well.
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 6
It's week seven of my hot sauce fermentation. I added another 4 ounces or so of fresh peppers, salt and more water and gave it a good stir. The fermentation is now giving off a tangy smell that's both spicy and funky. I figure I'll only have room for one more addition of fresh peppers before I add small amount of toasted oak and set it aside to age through the winter. The liquid is getting a little murky from the garlic and fermenting peppers, but that's not an issue since I'll blend it all right before I bottle. Here's [keep reading...]
Keyhole Garden Planted with Winter Vegetables
Getting ready for fresh vegetables all winter A couple of weeks ago I cleared my keyhole garden of the spent summer crops, topped off the bed with fresh compost and let it sit for a few days to rest and settle in. Yesterday I pulled the seedlings from the greenhouse and transplanted them in garden. Here's a list of what we're growing this winter: Keyhole garden re-planted for winter of 2019/2020 Clockwise from the lower left: Large Leaf Basil Romaine Lettuce - Green Forest Chinese Cabbage - Optiko Broccoli - Imperial Dill - Fernleaf/Mammoth cross (behind compost [keep reading...]
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 5
Added another 4 ounces of fresh peppers and 1 tsp of pickling salt. Peppers are really starting to ferment and become mushy now. Jar is almost full too. Soon it will be time to add the oak and let it reset over the winter.
How to Build a Keyhole Garden
I built an exceptionally productive keyhole garden using cedar fence boards and pipe strapping. Total build cost was around $200 and the results were amazing. Here's complete instructions on how to do it.
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 4
Added 8 more ounces of hot peppers and 1/2 TSP of salt. No additional water. Will probably have just one more addition because the weather cold nights are knocking off the pepper plants.
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 3
Forgot to take photos of last week's addition. 6 ounces plus 1 cup water, 1/2tsp salt. Woops. Also, too much water let the peppers float on top and get a white mold. Woops again. Pay attention. Scraped off the fuzzy white mold and added 6 more ounces of fresh peppers. The peppers from week 1 are now dissolving in the mix. Added 1/2 cup water, 1/4 tsp salt. Used a weight and plastic lid to keep the peppers submerged in the brine.
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 2
Added 3 ounces Black Mamba peppers and 2 cloves of fresh garlic. 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 tsp salt added as well.
Four Easy Ways to Save Seeds
Saving your own seeds is a great way to save money and keep the plants you like. Here are the easiest ways to save a variety of vegetable and flower seeds.