By rolling the clocks ahead which relegates the sun from dawning before 5pm, along with temps in the 40's, it all feels like Spring is right around the corner up here in the North. This weekend made me feel even more so that it would happen sooner than later.
First off, I saved some of the seeds from the ghost peppers @papa-pepper sent me months ago. I made his signature ghost-pepper salsa which is absolutely delicious, if not dangerous. You can read about it here if you like. I wasn't planning on germinating them for a while, at least waiting a little while longer for warmer temps. But my wife accidentally knocked the container they were in into the sink and I noticed some moisture inside. So I decided it was better to try it now than risk them getting moldy or worse. After about close to two weeks, we have lift off!
I took these a few days ago, and there are actually a few more sprouting up as I type. Wasn't sure if they were all destroyed or ruined from the sink mishap, but they're here and growing. Super excited to have my own @papa-pepper's peppers (that's a mouthful) growing at my house. How cool is that?! Next step is to transplant them to my outdoor garden when the ground is thawed.
On top of my pepper victory, the family and I headed to an indoor farmers market near our house. Usually these are outdoors, but in the winter you can find them at nurseries, like the one we found at Bachman's. This was the last one for the winter before they open up shop again outside. We got some great items and are so happy to contribute to local sellers and hear from their own mouth's about the process and the fun that goes along with it.
This is a whiskey BBQ sauce and my favorite out of the 5 flavors the guy was selling. Good heat with just a touch of sweetness and the whisky flavor really came through. I'm sure I'll like eating it on whatever I put it on, but after looking at the ingredients I noticed HFCS. So unfortunately I won't be buying this brand again until he decides to go more natural. Note to self: Look at the ingredients before you buy anything.
My wife bought some honey stix from two different vendors. One guy had the natural honey and the other had an array of different flavors. So she bought a mixture and so far the only one we've tried (natural) was delicious!
This olive oil was soooo good. They call it Olive on Tap because they literally have all their flavors on tap for you to try. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it because it was laid out really well. We got their #1 seller, Garlic Olive oil. We used it on last nights dinner and it was super yummy. They had lots to choose from as well, like Cilantro Lime and Strawberry Jalapeno. Hope to try out a few of those flavors in the future.
We also had friends coming over that night with their Yellow Lab, Lutsen. There was an animal products vendor there so we bought a pigs ear for Lutsen. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture because she had it down in about 3 minutes. I can only assume she would have given it a 5 star rating.
On our way out I noticed the nursery had grass seed 50% off. I would have been a fool to pass up on that deal. So I bought a 3 pound bag, more than enough to cover my chickens area which they ran down to just dirt.
Unfortunately for me, just as winter was ramping up, the local fox had hen on his menu and I woke up with my whole flock dead. It was sad and I was pretty devastated. I really loved my birds, but I also understand life and nature. They gave me lots of friendship and graced me with their delicious eggs. But eventually the fox got his and I'm sure his pups went well fed.
Once all the snow is gone, it won't be long before I can revitalize this portion of my yard back to normal. I'm hoping all the chicken manure will give the seed a nice head start.