a quick 3G project week #5 & #6 update

i'm not sure how i did it, but the 3G project bank is up to $33.25!!! artisanal cured meats here i come!!!! let's look back at the last few weeks to see what i bought, and for your viewing pleasure a few really bad food pix to get the week going. 

last week's csa loot was pretty much consumed prior to picture time, so above is a little sampling of the week's take. 

spring csa week #6: $30 

1 bag mixed lettuce

1 bag of fresh kale

herb bundle of sage and oregano

1 bunch radishes

loaf of wheat bosnian bread

1 pk. beef kabob

creamy havarti cheese

tower grove farmer's market

bottle of city seed's herb vinegar: $10

fresh tomatoes: $3.50

basil plant: $2.50

manzo's house made greek style yogurt: $3.50

1 gallon raw milk: $10

trader joe's

greek style yogurt: $4.00

big bag of org. oranges: $4.50

week's total: $68.00

in addition to the tomato and cheese sandwhichs and salads we've been eating for dinner, last night i made some cracked pepper beef kabobs with a sage/oregano yogurt sauce, and sauteed kale finished with the herb vinegar. yummy!!!!

here is the project total for week #5.

spring csa week #5: $30

fresh basil and spearmint

pk. of black pepper

pea shoots

oyster mushrooms

fresh locally made scones

1 pk. not italian bison links

schafley's wednesday farmer's market

16 oz cheese curd: $6

5 lemon verbena shortbread cookies: $2.75

small loaf of sourdough bread: $3.00

1 chocolate pretzel: $0.50

tomato jam: $4.50

raw milk $10

week's total: $56.75

i have to say, other than the lemon verbena shortbread cookies from 4 season's bakery, one of the stand out stars from that week's loot was the ol' timey tomatoe jam. with a pack of opened pork bacon in the frig that so needed to be eaten, i went to the market in hopes of finding a few fresh hot house tomatoes and some really tasty sandwich bread. without any fresh tomatoes at the market, i settled for some tomatoe jam instead, and boy am i glad i did. that stuff is awesome!!!!!!! spread on the sourdough bread with a few strips of bacon, it made for one of the most simple and delicious sandwiches i've had in quite awhile. the vendor said it was made using a very old recipe, so, sometime this week i'm gonna pull out all my canning and vintage homesteading books to see if i can't find a recipe that closely resembles the ingredients on the label. then all i  need is for my tomato plants to start growing and i'll be one my way to canning heaven.

as promised, here are a few really bad and out of focus food pix of what we've been eating lately. (i guess the hubby is right. i do need to go get my eyes checked. getting older blows!!)

fresh tomato salad with pork bacon and sauteed spring onions and asparagus with a slice of italian loaf bread.

sauteed asian greens with leeks and tomatoes, pea shoot salad, and italian loaf slices with a black olive spread.

the ever popular scramble eggs with oyster mushrooms and a glass of raw milk. 

i must say, i am getting a bit tired of mushrooms at this point.

sauteed leeks and asparagus with pork brat. paired with a mixed green salad (not pictured).

now it's out to the garden to survey the critter damage. 

those dang bunnies, squirrels, and birds are going to be the death of me and my garden.

happy monday to me!!

back to the kitchen/csa week #4

like i said before, there has been a cooking fire of inspiration lit under my butt, and it's back to the kitchen folks. part of it came from cooking a leg of lamb for easter dinner, part of it came from knowing i have a stack of recipes to go through, part of it came from two new books i got,

and part of it came from the fact that, as i looked around the kitchen then other day, i realized that we have a crap load of food in there that needs to be eaten. i feel like i've been stock piling the non perishable items from the csa loot. i would list out what i have in the pantry and freezer, but that would just be obscene and leave you, and me, wondering, "just what have they been eating all these weeks?"

so today i'm changing it all around and making homemade lamb stock. i saved the left over bone from the roasted leg of lamb and tossed it in a stock pot with 2 onions, left over herbs, peppercorns, and some old looking garlic. making stock is such a great way to use up items from the frig that are about to go funky.

then you cover all that goodness with some water, bring to a boil, simmer for 2-3 hours, let it cool, and then strain the liquid into containers. it couldn't be any easier. i don't have any plans right now for the stock, so i'll probably divide it into jars and pop it in the freezer for a later date. perhaps some mushroom risotto cooked in the lamb stock is in the near future.

also in the spirit of eating up what's in the frig, i made potato soup for lunch out of the easter supers leftover mashed potatoes. i sauteed some spring onions in butter till soft, plopped in the mashed potatoes, and then added enough milk to thin it down to a nice silky consistency. seasoned with more slat and pepper to taste, i finished the soup off with the last of the lamb drippings gravy. see the nice little gravy design i tried to make for you. what really makes me laugh is the crass looking fred flintstone presentation of the lamb slices, (let's face it, i totally mangled the last pieces of meat that were really close to the bone) which are more like meat chunks really. but it was still tasty!!!

i also need to update you with last weeks csa loot and 3g project totals.

check it out, tomatoes!!!!!!!

spring csa week #4: $30

tomatoes

spring onions

herb bunch of sage and thyme

fresh kale 

1 pk. bratwurst

1/2 gallon chocolate milk

1 baguette

extra loot purchased at maude's market: $15.44

cashew butter

red cherry jelly

1 lb. package pig jowl bacon

from manzo's italian market: $9.11

house made yogurt x2

loaf of bread

vom fass: $4.00

basil infused olive oil

1 gallon raw milk: $10

total: $69.00

i am so looking forward to tonight's dinner of bacon and tomato sandwiches with homemade lemon thyme ailoi on manzo's italian loaf bread. 

week #11 CSA and sunflower/pea shoot love

this week's csa from maude's market is pretty darn exciting, cause we got us some ribs baby!!! not to mention the local mustard that i have been eyeballing for weeks now. let me see, ribs, mustard, and left over honey from week #2, that's a recipe for some delicious yummy goodness. now i have never, repeat, never, cooked ribs. but, i'm hoping as long as i go slow and low, i should be fine. truly, the really big decision here is whether or not to go ahead and cook them now in the oven, or wait for warmer weather and a grill. what to do, what to do?? we also got a much needed taste of the sun with some organic oranges and tree ripened grapefruit, along with missouri grown dried black beans, fresh kale, and a choice of lettuce or more pea/sunflower shoots. since i have still yet to replenish my stock of olive oil, for cooking and salad dressing, within the budget of the project, i forwent my share of lettuce for some more pea shoots. cause i love me some shoots!!!

week #11 breakdown

maude's market csa $30.00

1 lb. MO grown dried black beans

nice looking thing of baby back ribs

(from happy pigs that had one bad day)

locally made jar of mustard

pea shoots

3 organic oranges

1 tree ripened grapefruit

fresh kale (which i purchased extra of)

extra kale $1.73

1 dz. happy chicken eggs $4.05

2 extra grapefruit and 4 extra oranges $6.00

wholefoods 

(for the very last time, i hope)

1/2 gallon org. milk $4.00

parking lot

(i'll explain later)

1 gallon raw milk $10.00

total: $56.00

($4.00 going into the project bank)

here are some meals i made recently with the ever lasting sunflower shoots. 

 dried mushroom soup with rice noodles and sunflower shoots.

you know you want some.

sauteed oyster mushrooms and shoots lightly dressed with mustard and honey with scrambled eggs.

p.s. don't worry, i will be posting about "a newbie's attempt at ribs" in the future. so stayed tuned.

just a perk of the job

the other day i scored a nice size bag of seed potatoes. just another little perk of the job. oh, did i forget to mention that for a few hours a week i am helping out at maude's market. well, i am, so come down a visit me!!! while you're there, if you know anything about planting potatoes please let me know, cause i don't know jack about it. for now the little buggers are hanging out in a paper sack at the back of the frig. till then check out some pictures i took of the market.......

local food, come get your local food!!!

i so want a bag of that popping corn.

maude's market

4219 Vir

ginia Avenue in St. Louis 

http://www.maudesmarket.com

 

my first little microgreen harvest

last saturday night was radish shoot harvest night.  if my calculations are correct, it took just over two weeks to get a nice little group of edible greens right here in the midst of winter. the only complaint i have at the moment is that there wasn't enough of them. so, for the next go round, i'm gonna find me a bigger container and experiment with different seeds. and for some clarification, i think i might have called these guys sprouts in an earlier post, which is not correct. sprouts come from seeds grown in water. oops. i also read today that these little gems only need 4 hours of sunlight a day. while they went to town in the south window light, i'm gonna try them in the east facing living room window that is shaded just a bit by a currently leafless tree. soon the south facing window space is gonna be taken over by the tomatoes, who are starting to get their true leaves and are in need of their first transplanting. it would be really nice if i could find some rectangular second hand containers that were at least 2 inches deep and fit nicely on the windowsill. then, once i experiment some more with different seeds, i'll start interplanting different varieties of microgreens together that will make for not only tastey, but also, pretty little displays. exciting!!!

just before the harvest.

time to trim the roots and get a wash.

sauteed in a little bit of butter with some left over radishes, topped over spaghetti squash with pasta sauced cooked with a bit of grounded bison, and all covered with a bit of kansas city cheese.

hello little local dinner.

CSA week #4, 3G project week #6

gosh darn it, i'm over budget again!!! this is getting hard. but, i am one determined lady. i think i know where the problem lies. not enough meal planning, and purchasing items that i thought i needed, only to get home and realise that i had more than i needed to get me through the week. case in point...butter. i was running fairly low, and since we where at the soulard farmer's market getting coffee, i decided i needed more. my regular butter supplier was not there so i opted for the only other butter i could find. unfortunately, it was from unknown cows in unknown conditions and it wasn't until i got home that i read the ingredients: cream and natural flavorings. natural flavorings?? what the heck is that?? not to mention, i doubled checked on my butter status and saw that, if planned properly, i had enough butter to last at least another week. fart!!! see what happens when you panic people. so the new butter is going in the freezer for true emergencies, or i'll use it for cookies and pastries and save the good stuff for cooking and toast. also, i just might have a raw butter supplier here shortly and won't that be amazing!!!! till then, let's look at how i busted the budget this week.

week #4 csa along with some store bought items.

3G weekly breakdown

maude's market weekly csa: $30

2 sweet potatoes

1 tatsoi plant

a little bunch of radishes

radish shoots

2 giant pork chops

1 container of cuban black beans

1/2 gallon apple cider

1 dozen large happy chicken eggs ($4 extra)

soulard farmer's market

1 lb. butter $3.75

1/2 lb. org. coffee $4.50

loaf of black bear organic honey wheat bread $1.00

(that's right folks, they have a few days old bread for a dollar!!!!!!)

wholefoods/target: $30

1/2 gallon org. milk (x2)

jar of salsa

grass fed cheddar cheese

org. plain yogurt

1.5 lbs. org. rolled oats

org. blue corn chips

that comes to about $74.00 total

yikes!!!! the project bank is now negative $9.

hopefully in the coming weeks i can hunker down, keep an eagle eye on the spending, and start paying off the project bank debit and start saving up again for a super duper treat. and by that, i mean some of this.

and the milk rides shotgun

it's here! it's here! i can't tell you from where or how, but it's here. finally i got some raw milk. and to boot, it comes in a reusable glass container. how granola is that??!!?? to get it home, mr. milk had to ride shotgun in a little cubbyhole i made for him. buckle up!!

since it's not all that easy to pour the milk from a huge gallon jar, i'll keep just a bit in a pitcher for easier everyday use. score!!! little by little, inch by inch, we're moving away from the big bad wholefoods market. take that you icky GMO lover!!!

i've got to stop the galettes!!!!!

why, oh why, did i decide, after all these years, to try to make rustic tarts??? savory, sweet, it doesn't matter. i am now obsessed and running out of butter. for heavens sake spring, get your butt here!!! i gotta get out of this house. i gotta get on a bike and explore. i gotta get in the soil and garden. i gotta stop making the galettes!!!!!!

chris knight was wrong when he said "ice is nice."

so remember the big hubbard squash from week #2's csa? it's been hiding out in the back of the frig patiently waiting for it's turn to shine and it got it's chance the other night. after the success of the apple galette, i went looking for some other rustic tarts to try and i stumbled on this recipe over at smitten kitchen. i followed the pastry recipe as written and it was the most wonderful crust i have ever made. so delicious, so flaky, it is now my go to crust for savory tarts. yippee!!! i did need to changed up the filling a bit to work with what i had in my kitchen. i used a different kind of squash, omitted the cheese (simply because i didn't have any), used ground sage since i didn't have any fresh, just used regular pepper instead of cayenne, tossed in a bit of honey in lieu of sugar, and to make things a bit easier, i roasted the onions in with the squash. i then proceed to assemble and bake the tart in a cast iron skillet pretty much as the recipe states. and now, i will most definitely state, here and now, squash i don't think i love you, i KNOW i love you!!!

and the leftovers tasted even better the following night.

well while we're having this squash love fest, let's give spaghetti squash it's due. cooking the spaghetti squash couldn't be more simple. all you have to do is wash the squash off, place the whole entire squash on a cookie sheet, and bake it in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. once done, cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and stringy stuff, and then scrape out the flesh with a fork. and then do this........

make some quick, and i mean quick, meatballs in a pan.

remove the casing from your favorite sausage and roll the meat into tiny little balls and saute in olive oil and/or butter till just about cooked through.

throw in some cooked spaghetti squash. 

pour in your favorite sauce and heat till everything is good and hot.

there you go, you're done!!!

as we speak, i still have two acorn squash in the frig that i need to prepare, so if anyone has any suggestions or recipes please let me know. happy squash everyone.

squash, i think i love you.

buttercup squash i love you.

ah, first week of the 3G project is done and i'm starting to have a really good time in the kitchen. i don't think i've eaten this many fall veggies in awhile. let me tell you, i'm becoming a little obsessed with squash, which is really weird cause i never classified myself as a squash person. i don't like zucchini or that icky yellow crookneck squash (well unless you make it into a casserole with a ton of butter, cheese, and breadcrumbs or of course deep fry it) so i just thought, "i don't like squash." but these winter squash varieties are a whole nother ball game. after the successful dinner i made with some spaghetti squash the other night (see that post here), when maude over at maude's market suggested some buttercup squash she had, i though, well why not. holy crap is that squash good. i cut that sucker in half and immediately caught a whiff of a delicate sweet smell and saw a supper bright orange flesh that i was not at all expecting. hubby and i agreed that it smelled like a honey due melon. i decided that i would use one half for some soup and save the other half for later. i cut the first half up into slices and then used a vegetable peeler to remove the skin which was lot easier than i though it was going to be. then i cut the flesh into cubes and coated them with a little olive oil and salt, plopped it in a cast iron skillet, and roasted it in the oven at 375 degrees till soft. after the squash cooled, i ran the flesh through a food mill along with a jar of my home canned tomatoes from the garden in greenville. i added that mixture to some sauteed onions, a bit of chopped rosemary and sage, along with a jar of turkey stock from the freezer, and let it all simmer for just a bit and done. soup!!

before.

after.

so other than hubby and i agreeing that my onions were a bit too cruchy for soup, i think dinner was a success. (especially since i made some oh so yummy cheese biscuits.) the soup was not quite tomatoy, and not quite squashy, but a nice balance of both. with that said, next time to try something a bit different, i think i will make just a squash soup since the roasted squash had such a wonderful flavor by itself, and i think i will grate the onions to give them a smoother texture.

so let the squash obsession begin!!!! not only did i walk 2.5 miles to the library and 2.5 miles back just to check out a book on squashes, this new obsession also solidifies my desire to to a three sisters garden this year just so i can have a reason to plant some squash.


p.s. i really started this post to finish up "what we ate" for the first week of the 3G project, but i got off track with the squash obsession. so if your tired of reading this post please feel free to go do something else, if not, continue........

"what we ate." the end of the first week of the 3G project.

saturday: hubby had cereal for breakfast, i had an oatmeal scone from farmer's market. for lunch i made some veggie hash out of potatoes, a carrot, an onion, rosemary, sage, and the last of the cabbage. i topped it off with fried eggs and garnished it with some homemade pepper ketchup. we also successfully polished off the last of the irish soda bread. for dinner we had a bit of leftover veggie hash and then snacked on some homemade banana, nut, and chocolate chip bread. i'll post the recipe for the bread in a separate post. the recipe is from a yogurt cookery book that i got at an estate sale. it's not the greatest banana bread in the world since it's made with white/wheat flour, honey instead of sugar, and of course yogurt. but since we had some left over chocolate in the frig that needed to be use up, i added that in and it's not so bad. i like it, but i won't lie to you, it does taste "healthy."

sunday: cereal for breakfast. for lunch a snack of apple, cheese, and crackers. for dinner buttercup and tomato soup with cheese biscuits, nuff said.

gonna make some veggie hash.

purple potatoes are pretty.

my homemade pepper ketchup.

can't say i didn't warn you, hubby!

oh my! the hubby makes a full on face at the camera appearance on the blog today. he thought he was being funny when i was trying to take pictures of the farmer's market loot, calling me a dork and acting like he was vanna white displaying the items. (of course i was to slow in getting the shot where he was mooning me. dang!!!!) i told him i was gonna post the pictures if he didn't leave me alone, and post away i will!!!

yep, i actually choose to live with this guy.

but you know, hubby is a good guy. he braved the cold (16 degrees) with me this morning to make the market rounds and gather some loot. later he even called it loot when i was unpacking the bags. sweet boy!!! well let's take a closer look.....

week #2 of the 3G project.

here's the breakdown:

from the st. louis community farmer's market

1 lb. organic red beans $4

1 big ass bag of local lettuce $6

Baetje Farms goat cheese (local and happy goats) $8

oatmeal scone from local bakery (ate it for breakfast so not pictured) $2.25 

from the soluard farmers market

1/4 lb. organic fair trade locally roasted coffee $2.50

1/4 lb. organic tea $5.00 

1 lb. block of locally made butter $4.50

from maude's market

big brown buttercup squash $2.35

1 dozen really happy chicken eggs $3.50

daikon radish $2

1 lb. pecan pieces $8.80

also pictured is about 2 lbs. of organic oatmeal $1.88

not pictured is 32 oz jug of milk i bought on monday from the wholefoods $4

(still having a butter and milk dilemma, but we'll save that for another day)

so rounding up, that's about $55 total (+/- tax), and with the left over money from last week, that gives me about $16 bucks in the project bank. yeah!! doing good so far.

i guess i'll also give you a "what we're eating" update as well. the last post left off with dinner on thursday. friday morning we got up somewhat early and hubby had the day off. i made us a quick breakfast of the last of the andouille sausage, scrambled eggs, and more irish the soda bread with strawberry jam. then we headed out for what turned out to be a busy and fun day. first we went to the art museum to check out some FSA photographs and ended up being totally creeped out by this painting. by then we were hungry and stopped in over at farmhaus for lunch and had fried fish, hushpuppies, and red beans and rice. there we used a gift certificate i got as a going away present from my old job in greenville, so no money from my pocket spent on that meal. and i still have some moneys left over for two more lunches there for both me and the hubby. yeah!!!!! then we went to another photo show of f64 photographers, saw some cool folk art, stopped at an art gallery and saw some really BAD art, went to check out the crazy tile work on the ceiling of the basilica, and then met some friends and had ribs for dinner and topped the day off with some gooey butter cake. yum!!! here are a few shots of the day i took with my phone.

f64

farmhaus

basilica

more basilica

cute dinner date

well this post is getting longer than i expected so i'll continue with the veggie hash and bananna bread that i cooked in the kitchen today in tomorrow's post.

upcoming posts: last day of week 1 meals, i joined a CSA, time to get the garden going.

first 3G meal

dinner, friday 12/31/2010. 
here we go folks, the first meal of the new and improved 3G project. mushroom ravioli with brown butter, sage, spaghetti squash, and tomatoes.  

yummy

here's the ingredient breakdown. the sage is from the trip we made to the soulard market for thanksgiving dinner: local. can you believe i've had it for that long sitting on the kitchen windowsill in a glass with a we bit of water. the tomatoes are from, the newly appointed "devil's grocery store," wholefoods: organic, not local, but they were in the fridge so they totally count. the mushroom ravioli is from "manzos" the little import market down the street and was in the freezer. i'm not sure if they make the pastas there or not, and there just might be some sort of loop hole in the project rules in regards to foods that might not be from local sources, but are locally made or from itty bitty markets that deserve our support: localish. and, of course, the spaghetti squash is from the maude's market loot: totally local!! also involved in dinner is part of the maude's market big ass onion and some asiago cheese also purchased from manzos: local and localish. as for the brown butter, which was really just melted butter that never really got brown, was a mixture of the last little bit of raw milk butter from greenville and some local butter i got here that i'm not a big fan of, so i'm not gonna talk about it: local. (i will however, later on, tell you about my st. louis milk and butter dilemma.) and so without further ado, here you have it folks. the first meal of the 3G project 2011.

crappy light, tasty dinner.

and again folks, happy new year. please drive safe.

last of the 2010 market loot

ah, last day of 2010. i really don't feel like doing any kind of end of the year re-cap and i certainly don't wanna make any resolutions for 2011. so for this post i'll just go on business as usual. however, there is one tiny little project that i would like to resurrect from the past and feel free to join me if you'd like. it was an idea that i had way back in october of 2008. i was on top of it for a month or two (well maybe that long) and then like all other projects i start, i either forgot about it and went on to something else or just got lazy and didn't do it anymore. so being who i am, i can't promise that that won't happen again this time. but i really want to try this particular food project/challenge again. now there are quite a few local food challenges out there that i could sign up for, such as this one or this one, but that takes a wee bit more commitment than i'm willing to offer up at this point. i mean really folks, i cant even decided on whether i wanna comment to this free community garden class. did i say free, yes it's FREE and i still can commit. what on microbial earth is wrong with me?? but anyway, back to the project. for this new year i am bringing back to this blog the 3G project!!!!!! (if you're like me and can't really remember the gist of the project and would like to refresh yourself as to the basics go here.) i think i will be making a few adjustments in the project which i'll talk about in the next post. i'm also thinking about signing up for a CSA. but for now let's kick off the project and take a look at the little bit of loot that i scored at maude's market yesterday.

maude's market loot 12/30/10

now i just gotta figure out what i'm gonna to do with it. and remember, i got $60 a week to buy food for two people, plus what ever i grow in the garden, and whatever food i have in the house as of now. so here is the price break down so far for this week.......

maude's market loot price breakdown:

a dozen happy chicken eggs $3.50

chineses cabbage $1.50

big ass onion $1.70

spaghetti squash $2.62

total spent w/tax = $9.82

money left = $50.18

tomorrow we are getting up early and heading to the soulard market for some butter and such... will keep you posted. happy new year.

slop on a plate

i know this looks like slop on a plate, but it really was quite tasty.....

hickory nut gap farm kielbasa, local farm fresh fried eggs topped with my own homemade canned green tomato relish from last summer, and a slice of organic bread toasted to perfection on just one side as to give you a soft crunch. sometimes breakfast is just the ticket for supper.

herbs.... what took me so long???

okay, so i've always liked basil with my tomatoes, rosemary with my potatoes, and fresh cilantro in salsa, but still i've never really been all that into herbs. yeah, weird, right?? especially since i really do like to cook. this year i planted a few herbs around the tomatoes, but still, nothing really remarkable. but oh boy how this is about to change. you see last weekend i took a trip to asheville to hang with my cousin and her two daughters and to do some produce shopping at the tailgate markets. i was most excited to find some fresh cut naturally grown corn from ten mile farm. i love fresh raw sweet tender corn kernels cut right off the cob and mixed into a summer salad. one of my all time favorite foods. but i will get to that in just a minute, back to the herbs..... so yeah, not really into herbs. well lately i have become a little obsessed with them. cutting them, bringing them inside to look pretty, putting them in pitchers of tea, cooking with them, and who know..... propagating them. i had no idea that you could cut off part of a stem, put in it a jar of water, and in a few days have roots. i've done this before with my house plant, and we've all done the tooth picked potato in a jar of water, but i never though of doing it with my herbs. yeah, i know, i'm slow. so, herbs in a jar, not only pretty but very functional.

check it out!! roots!!

i'm sorry to get so excited, but that is just cool. 

i think i am going to plant these in little pots to put on the windowsill in the breakfast nook.  

so with this new found love of herbs, i decided to kick up the summer a notch and add basil and cilantro to my summer veggie salad. easy, raw, and delicious. 

corn cut straight off the cob and into the bowl, cucumbers, onions (all local and naturally grown), tomatoes, basil, and cilantro (all from my garden), organic olive oil, organic lemon juice, salt to taste. mix and serve. so cool and refreshing. oh, you want a close up.. okay. 

one other herb project that i got going on, is a run away cilantro plant that popped up out of nowhere and then proceeded to bolt before i had any veggies to go with it. so i left it alone in the hopes of harvesting some coriander seeds. at this point i've got seed pods on the plant, now i just gotta figure out how and when to harvest and dry them. 

next post.... tomato and pepper update.