Today’s pick. I need a break from The Pickle Factory, so currently harvesting the pickling cukes to give to a friend.
We’re getting some much needed luck in the weather department – the forecast for the next 10 days is very optimistic. Sunny with temps in the mid-to-high 70’s. This will give us some pockets of 80-degree temps on our property. If the nice weather would just hold through September (a girl can dream), we would recover much of what we lost in June and July to cold temps. I found a couple of Illinois squash out there that just set a few days ago - they’re going gangbusters and making up for lost time.
We’ll take what we can get, in any case. I find it incredible we’re still harvesting blueberries in any quantity. In a normal year, these would have been finished a month ago.
I’d be happy to mail you a bottle when the next batch is ready. Each batch is around 2 1/2 gallons; so, enough to share. If you like very hot, like Scotch Bonnet hot, I can bottle some straight Jamaican Goat w/ Grenada Hot. They all come with dripper-style caps, so you don’t accidentally pour an inedible quantity.
Part of the process is getting used to the tedium of coring, deseeding and the fumes. The Jamaican Goat is especially good at filling the air with irritating vapors. Washing off the utensils and cutting board is worse; the capsaicin aerosolizes, making tear gas! I hold my breath when washing those.
The people I grew up with and current friends, family are all the same. One lady I mailed seeds to just sent me some fresh Super Red Pimentos! Since there were so many, they were handled in a delicious manner:
There were two skillets full, and a little left for salads. Since my garden needs to “rest” from Capsicum annuum (most peppers), due to soil disease, the peppers were very very welcome! Super Red is one of the best sweet peppers ever developed. It’s very hard to find seed. I think the last seeds I bought came from Croatia.
We’re all lucky that it’s possible to mail, ship items so easily! Our postal carrier is a great lady, and that’s not taken for granted.
I don’t like them either, but F** wasps. I don’t suppose there is anything that will get rid of the cocoons, but is there a more humane way to put him out of the hornworm’s eventual misery?
Cherry tomatoes are in full swing. The ones in the box were picked a few days ago, and have been ripening indoors. The ones in the colander were just picked.
