A Great Year!  Why am I so late again in delivering the Harvest Report?  I wanted to wait until the Chile Pepper Tour Movie was posted to the Harvest 2005 Report and then I got really busy starting the 2007 seeds etc.  If you still haven’t seen the forty second movie at the bottom of the Harvest 2005 Report, please be sure to check it out sometime.  I’ve included a link at the bottom of this harvest report, too.  Thank you EVTV1 DOT COM for the jazzy music addition in this video to help drown out that Oak Park Avenue traffic noise. 

2006 was a pretty good year! 

What’s an annual gardening blog without venting on a gripe?  This year’s gripe:  Traffic Frustration caused by Donut Addiction.  For my day-job I get to drive north on Harlem Avenue in the morning and about two blocks south of Archer Avenue on Harlem Avenue there is a Dunkin Donuts which – all too often – has traffic backing up because cars are ten deep waiting to be served in the Drive-Thru.  Have we really come to this?  Needing a donut and a cup of coffee so bad that you’re going to make traffic back up on Harlem Avenue during RUSH HOUR because your car is sticking out in the street because the Drive Thru Line is so LONG?  Where is the sense in delaying people’s commutes and compounding the frustration of bumper-to-bumper traffic jams?  Even if you’re picking up a couple dozen donuts for the whole crew at work it’s not worth the extra pollution produced by everyone’s cars while they wait for the Java-n-Donut Drive Thru Commuter to inch up to that window.  Please, if the drive thru line is already backed up to the street that day, don’t get in that line and tie up traffic during RUSH Hour.  Skip the donut(s) that day!  Your arteries will thank you.  Instead, take the time before you leave for work that morning to make some toast with hot pepper jelly or pickled chiles for the road.  YUM!

Ah, The first ripe Orozco of the season!

Ah! Behold the beauty of peppers ready to roast.  The watering and weeding is done.  The slicing is done.  Seize the smoker!  Prep the Hot Sauce Pot!  Let’s do some canning!

Wahooooooooo!

Happy Growing!  Jimmy
December 22, 2007