OUR STORY
So Jim, how did you start gardening anyway?
That’s a tough question asked of
me every once in a while, and it’s difficult to answer, but two
"events" had a major impact on my starting gardening. It all really started in the "good ole
days" of when Chi Chi’s (remember them…) had $1.50 margarita specials
and complimentary salsa and chips. I
developed a strong liking for salsa then.
Yet the most important event was when I was in graduate school. One day as I went to the English Department
at Illinois State University, I noticed someone had brought in all these
peppers and other assorted goodies from his or her garden (to this day I’m
not sure who it was) with a sign that said:
"Please Take" I thought that was cool and I
promised myself that someday I would be the person who brings in the bounty
from the garden to share.
So one summer I planted a
couple of pepper varieties and tomato varieties in my dad’s backyard and
enjoyed it. Eventually, in researching
seed varieties, I stumbled across the Seed Savers Exchange organization and
started reading their excellent essay collections related to the importance
of maintaining heirloom varieties.
These essays were nothing less than Divine Inspiration and soon I
found out that I was no longer merely gardening, but on a mission from God to
promote gardening and to promote the cause of growing heirloom varieties in
particular.
At some point several years
back I started selling seeds and a few products here and there. First I started making some salsa jars and
then I started making more bottles of hot sauce. Now, as you can see from other pages on
this website, Jimmy’s Chiles has expanded to various other products.
When I first started I called
my hobby/pipedream/entrepreneurial endeavor Jimmy’s Tinley Chiles as my
parents lived in Tinley Park, Illinois.
In the late 1990’s I started partnering with some people in the
country out in Iroquois County, Illinois.
Gardening in Iroquois County is a true joy. For a few years while living in Rosemont,
Illinois, we also gardened outside our apartment in containers (on a much
smaller scale, obviously). In October
2001 my wife and I moved back home to Tinley Park.
How did you start
gardening? And if you haven’t yet,
when do you intend to start taking greater control of the food you eat?
© 2015 JIMMY'S CHILES. All rights reserved.
Includes all content and photos.
Last Updated: 19-May-15
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