I've been garden focused the last couple of days, and doing some replanting, seed planting, and moving things around. I did promise you a picture of the brussel sprouts. I want to share a picture of what they originally looked like first though, just so you can see how much they have grown.
That's them in the bags, well four of the bags. Strawberries are in the other two. Here is what they look like now.
Big difference right? I still have to move them to a new location, since they are outgrowing that area real fast. I also need to take some of those bottom leaves off so that they are ready for the sprouts.
I started out the morning as I usually do, cardio, meditation, then check on all the plants. After that was done, it was time to dry some peppers. Since my buddy brought me so many, I took half the yellow moruga, some of the hottest peppers in the bad, and dried them out in the oven. This was my first time doing this and I was worried about baking them and ruining the whole thing. Everything worked out though. That's the dried peppers over there. I found a mortar and pestle and a local store that worked out way easier than I thought it would to grind those peppers up into powder. The idea, was that I would mix this with salt, and have the ultimate spicy/salty mix. It did not disappoint. I tried it alone, and you get that nice salty flavor for a second or two, before the pepper punches you in the throat. The burn starts there, and then slowly works its way to the front of you mouth and finally your lips. It's not super intense like eating the pepper by itself, but it's spicier than any cayenne pepper you have had, I'll tell you that. 11 peppers gave me enough to fill 3 little Real Salt containers. I mixed them 50/50 with the salt already in there, and I think next time I may go 75/25 in favor of the pepper. I had it on my taco meat tonight and it was fire. I loved it.
We went to the plant nursery today in hopes that the Farmer's Market would be open and we could get some of that amazing sauerkraut, but it was closed, and I was bummed, but we did get a few plants for the front garden. I wanted some mint, since mint detracts bugs, and a few flowers to attract pollinators. This is how it looks now.
Not bad for someone who knows nothing about gardening. Oh, that's mom standing on the lefthand side there. The one pepper in the top left, has a pod growing. If it fully ripens it's going to be a real pretty pepper. Not very hot, but a deep rich red, and it is supposed to be 4-5 inches long. I can't wait to try it out. Two of the sunflowers that I planted in there have sprouted as well. They still haven't dropped the seed shell yet, so you can't see them, unless you zoom in real close on the top left hand corner of the wall. You can see the tiny little sprout and seed shell in the dark spot. The one in the middle is even smaller and hasn't fully broken the ground yet. I'm waiting for the final one in the top right hand corner to make it's move, but it's taking it's time.
I got more seeds today. These are herbs that are going to eventually end up in the front yard. The first one is Marshmallow. Yes, before Marshmallow was a sugary waste of calories, it was an actual medicinal herb that today's marshmallows are derived from. I'm really looking forward to growing this and actually tasting it, to see what real marshmallow tastes like. The other is Honeywort. I can't remember what its supposed to taste like, but it has these really neat cone shaped flowers that bees just adore. Bees means pollination, and I love bees and pollination.
Over the last couple of days, I've had several seeds sprout, too many to really get into, but two of them I'm pretty excited about. The Chocolate Cherry Sunflower, and the Tongues of Fire bean. This is my second attempt with the Tongues of Fire, so I'm super stoked that it finally popped. I gave one of my Chocolate Cherry sunflower pods to my buddy, for his daughters flower garden. Every little girl should have garden with a chocolate cherry sunflower in it. It's growing pretty fast, and I'll be potting it in the next couple of days. Which reminds me, my other sunflowers are doing pretty fantastic themselves. I've planted them in the ground now, because they were already outgrowing their pots, in just a matter of a week. They are going to be huge.
Last but not least is my Favorite Thing of the Week. Yeah, we are doing a thing this week and it is probably my favorite thing of the year, and I've had a year of really great things happen. My weight loss is really big, and I expect to take my body transformation to new heights in this new decade, but that isn't it. My Favorite Thing of the Week, is my new found love of eating super hot peppers. I never in a million years believed that I would be eating hot peppers. If I ate a jalapeño, it was too much for me, and I would have to stop eating, to get over the heat. Now, I add super hot peppers to my eggs, or burgers or taco meat, or really anything. It's truly incredible. Me and my buddy, who is responsible for getting me into peppers, made a little video of us eating a couple of super hots, and one of them is considered the official hottest pepper in the world. Watch the video below to see how that goes.
I would normally talk about the video a little, but I really want you to watch it, so I'm not giving away any spoilers here. I will explain the thumbnail though. I forgot to take a picture of the peppers before we filmed and all I had was a picture of the bag of peppers, so I used that. I know they aren't the peppers that we ate, but it works for a good thumbnail.
Well, this is the final post of this year, and I hope you have enjoyed the ups and downs of my life. The new year will bring more joy and sorrow, and I will write all about it. See you next year. Yeah, I know it's a lame joke, but it's the only enjoyment I get to have. Have a wonderful New Year's day, and I'll see you on the other side. Peace in and goodnight.
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