Usually when I play with wood, it doesn’t involve vegetables. Moreover, most times I finish in less than a month. Making this solar pepper dryer, though, was a notable exception to both. Part conversation piece, part raisin maker, the box dryer is a cheap way to dry vegetation without sucking juice from a power grid. I swear some of my neighbors thought I was building a coffin when I started. Glaring at them and nodding my head did little to discourage this, but I’m kind of twisted like that.
How-to: Making Chile Powder
Most of us are harvesting our chile bounty right now. If you’re new, the big question confronting you is what to do with all of these pepper pods. Smoke ’em? Dry ’em? Give them away? There’s plenty of information on what to make of pods here but if powder is your poison, here’s what you can do according to the pope.
Diagnosing Chile Pepper Pests and Problems
In 1987, game and fish department authorities in New Mexico gave farmers permission to shoot deer out of season. The reason? The deer were raiding chile pepper fields–a heinous crime in our state. They ate two acres of pods and severely damaged three additional acres. Although such deer depredations are unusual, they illustrate the fact that peppers damaged by more things than insects and disease.
3 Great Articles to Spice Up Spring
I’m still coming off of the high from the Fiery Foods Show. For me, it marks the start of spring and gets me amped for all the tacos, barbecue, and other outdoor eating in the months to come. Here are a few of my favorite articles from our Supersite that I go to when this mood kicks in.
It’s Time to think About Your Spring Pepper Garden
Seed and live bedding plant catalogs offer a far wider choice of varieties than seed and plant displays at local nurseries and retail shops.
Ornamentally Oriented
Most home gardeners, myself included, are so focused the culinary aspect of chile peppers that we forget about their ornamental qualities and how the mostly upright pods change colors over the entire summer and into the early fall.
The Compost Pile Volunteers
From the dirt pile comes the HEAT!
