Today I tried my hand at steam canning. Not sure if it’s going to seal up all the way to safely preserve, but at least I made a valiant attempt.

#HomeCanning #PickledPeppers #Canning #Preservation #HomePreservation #Homesteading #InstantPot #jalapenos #JalapenoPeppers #Peppers

Good morning and Happy Sunday! The first of our jalapeno crop coming in. They were supposed to be giant jalapenos. Looks normal sized to me. Good enough! #gardening #jalapenos #Chicago #ChicagoCubs #ChicagoWhiteSox

Stomach still upset, but I was driving near #jalapenos and my inner demon started whispering "take a chance"

Heute #resteverwertung vom #pulledpork mit #Nudeln, #kaese und #jalapenos ...
#fedifood #mastofood #fedikitchen #mastokitchen
@altbot

Nach langer Zeit mal wieder #pulledpork zubereitet und #pulledporkburger mit #Coleslaw , #jalapenos und #rostzwiebeln gebaut 🥰😛
#fedifood #mastofood #fedikitchen #mastokitchen #foodporn #foodlovers #Burgers
@altbot

Why Does My Thumb Hurt?

For the last several days I’ve been wondering why my thumb hurts so much. Not the thumb itself but the squishy bit at the base of my thumb. What did I do? I couldn’t figure it out. It’s gone from hurting just a little to a near constant ache.

Then today I was planting more seeds in pots to start indoors. I planted saved seeds from fennel, Genovese basil, Tulsi (aka sacred basil but it isn’t really basil), tarragon from the free seeds box at the public library, and Ruby Parfait Celosia from Fedco Seeds. I covered the seeds in all their little pots, picked up the water spray bottle and…that’s why my thumb hurts! Mystery solved. Now that I know the cause, I can make sure I don’t hurt it worse.

Thankfully the peppers and tomatoes are all big enough now I can carefully water them with my small watering pot so that eliminates half of what I had been spraying before. Sadly though the jalapeños still have not come up. At this point I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to, which makes me sad. The original seeds I saved two years ago from jalapeños in my CSA box from Eduardo. We saved the seeds because he was leaving farming and we liked his peppers. Last year they sprouted right up and the plants were productive even if the peppers were not as hot as previously nor as large. These seeds are saved from what I grew last year. And nothing. I’m guessing that the original peppers were probably a hybrid variety and they have run out of oomph as their genetics fell apart. The plan is to buy jalapeños at the plant sale in May, and since the catalogue doesn’t say whether they are open pollinated, I won’t save seeds and will plan on buying open pollinated seeds from my favorite Minnesota seed company for next year’s garden. If that is the worst of the garden failures this year, then I’m doing alright.

Earlier in the week I thought I had a missing seed tray of angelica. I realized they weren’t on the shelf with all the other seeds. Did I not plant them? But I had a distinct memory of planting them. Briefly I had a horror that I planted them in pots with the lady’s mantle by mistake. The angelica instructions said surface sow and the seeds are tan and big enough to see, and I saw no tan seeds in the lady’s mantle pots. Where could they have gone? I was getting really anxious about it when I went outdoors yesterday to move all my cold stratifying seed pots to a sunny corner of the deck so I could start watering them regularly, when what do I spy? The angelica pot! And then I remembered that they needed some cold time and I put the pot outdoors after sowing the seeds.

One might say I am clearly juggling too many seed pots if I am losing track like that, but I am inclined to say it is the rest of my life that is interfering with my ability to keep track of all the seeds. If I didn’t have to keep track of going to work, making sure I don’t put my shirt and pants on inside out and backwards, or somehow knowing where almost all of the things that James misplaces are, then I wouldn’t have “lost” the angelica. But now it is found and my anxiety over it is gone. Time to find something else to worry about!

Like Mrs. Dashwood. She will be 9-years-old at the end of next week. She is still chugging along but clearly slowing down. She takes longer to leave the coop in the mornings, she spends more time sitting in the sun than running around scratching in the garden, and sometimes we see her just standing there gazing off into space. I will not be surprised to open the coop door one morning to find she keeled over in the night. That is preferable to her getting sick. It was so hard watching Elinor’s heart take several days to give out as she got slower and slower, panting laboriously yet valiantly trying to carry on. Mrs. Dashwood is not dead yet, and who knows, she might have months of elder chickenhood ahead of her.

Carrying on with my sourdough experiments, I baked a Danish rye bread this weekend. There are a few things that I didn’t get quite right, but it tastes delicious nonetheless.

We have passed the Vernal Equinox and I am hoping the wild weather swings might start becoming a little less wild. The days ahead this week look to be gradually warming up well above freezing with nights hovering just below or a few degrees above freezing. There are some chances of rain or snow, but hopefully it stays rain. We need the moisture. The ground is slowly thawing and we’ve had so little snow over the winter that we have been declared “abnormally dry,” and areas of the state are actually in moderate drought. Not good for farmers as we get closer to planting season. Think liquid thoughts for us!

Reading

• Books: my in progress pile is large and my TBR even larger so I am shuffling between books, stuck in “the middles” at the moment.
• News: The news this week was pretty crappy. Columbia University caved in to Trump’s demands. A court ordered Greenpeace to pay $660 million for its role in protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. And then there was that executive order dismantling the federal agency dedicated to funding library services. For more information about that and some concrete actions you can take, the American Library Association has got you covered. There is so much resistance happening y’all but most of the media is not reporting it. One thing that is getting some attention is lawyer hero Rachel Cohen who sent a strongly worded warning letter to her law firm colleagues, and when the firm caved in to Trump’s demands, she resigned.

Listening

• Podcast: Listening to the Land: Land as Mother with Satish Kumar. This was so good y’all. I have heard of Kumar before but knew nothing beyond that. Turns out he’s pretty amazing! A former Jain monk, he is closing in on 90 and still quite active. He is a peace and nuclear disarmament activist, founder and director of Schumacher College international center for ecological studies, author, and speaker. You may have heard of him because of his 1962 peace walk when he and E.P. Menon walked from India to Moscow, Paris, London, and Washington D.C.
• Podcast: Crazy Town: A Temporary Techno Stunt: Tom Murphy on Falling Out of Love with Modernity. Murphy is a professor of physics at University of California, San Diego. He talks about how he went from shooting lasers at the moon to trying to “solve” our energy predicament and falling out of love with modernity.

James’s Kitchen Wizardry

This past week James wizarded up some chickpea cutlets that we had for dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy. He also made some everything bagels. And for a sweet treat he made cookie dough. The vegan version of cookie dough is made from chickpeas so you can eat it and not feel too guilty! We make ours with hardly any sweetener, the chocolate chips are enough.

#jalapeños #MrsDashwood #seedStarting #sourdough

Adding to my canstravaganza resume: Making this tomatillo/lime jam with the addition of some jalapeños, which should be tasty. This will use up some of the 11.5 lbs. of tomatillos I froze fall 2023. https://patijinich.com/tomatillo_and_lime_jam_1/?
Some will go into this green tomato/tomatillo chutney since I also have frozen green tomatoes. https://brooklynfarmgirl.com/green-tomato-and-tomatillo-chutney/

#CanningSeason #FoodInJars #canning #recipes #chutney #jam #tomatillo #tomato #jalapeños #RecipeOfTheDay #food #cooking #FoodPreservation

Jalapeños are vibrant, medium-sized chili peppers known for their moderate heat and versatility. They add a spicy kick to dishes without overpowering flavors. You can use them fresh, pickled, or roasted. Slice them into salsas, incorporate them into marinades, or add them as toppings on pizzas and nachos. They’re also great stuffed with cheese for a tasty appetizer. Remember to handle them with care to avoid irritation! 🌶️ #Jalapeños #SpicyFood #CookingTips

A veces grabo cosas de plantas :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgAq7ltiH1w #plantas #huerto #jalapeños

@carbon_compound The #Habaneros were the fastest ones this year. Still have #Jalapeños, and some lovely Diavolicchio Calabrese, Diavolicchio di Diamante and Pepperoncino Etna coming up.

My jalapeños are getting ready for a first round of harvest.

I think it will be time to introduce the family to armadillo eggs

If you know. You know.

#bbq #smoking #jalapeños #ArmadilloEggs

San Fernando Valley Los Angeles California … Mexican Goodness 🫑 🌶️ #food #comida #mexicana #jalapenos #salsa #tacos #carneasada #thevalley #home #love

If like hours the tears could remember
You were chopping #Jalapenos
Just moments ago
Yes chopping Jalapenos, for a dish-
Then, not sure, didn't know
The phone did ring and people did
Sing of news and things in the paper
Alas so it's now several hours later
Eyes weary hands rub them and
Now fire curses said person
Who was chopping Jalapenos
Several hours ago

Big surprise! I must have made a rookie mistake 😅
So, I cultivated the pepper plants from sweet red peppers like these which are not spicy at all. It turns out the green, unripe peppers from the plant are really spicy - like #jalapeños! Is this how jalapeños eventually turn out?

In hindsight, eating half a jar of jalapeños yesterday with a vegan birger wasn't a brilliant idea.
But damn, they were so good.

#Spicy #Jalapenos #Vegetarian #TIL

I am resisting the urge to rub my eyes...
#jalapenos #irritant

Just took this batch of candied jalapenos out of the canner. I bought one bag of jalapenos for $6 at Desert Hills. I made exactly one recipe of them. It fit exactly down to the tablespoon in 12 jars. All 12 jars of this size fit into my canner. All jars sealed. I love it when this happens!

#PepperGate #jalapenos #PreserveTheBounty #homesteading #Harvest