Happy Fall Y’all from Lori and crew in lovely McDowell County, West Virginia.

As a follow up to my last blog, the frost snuck up on us and wiped out the rest of our peppers, tomatoes and okra. We were not happy about that, but our cabbage that we thought was dead came back to life and was doing well until the rabbits ate it. The radishes, carrots, lettuce and beets are still doing well, so we may actually get a little bit of something before Old Man Winter sets in. Our participants have reported the same issues.

The crock we were making the sauerkraut in got a crack in the bottom somehow and ruined the whole batch. What a lovely smelly mess that was.

Several of the quail we were blessed with have been attacked by some random animal. It’s always fun at feeding time to find bits of birds laying in the cages.

Wouldn’t you know, after all the really cold and frosty nights, that last week the weather was beautiful. We took full advantage of it. We took the two old freezers we grew in this summer and planted beets in them and put some windows on top for a cold frame type set up. We have growth already. We also turned all the garden spots and put some compost in the dirt. Our compost was awesome and loaded with earthworms. There were a bunch of grubs in it too, but we picked those out and fed them to the chickens.

We took our canned goods on the road to sell at our Diocese Convention. We did very well with that, almost $600.00. In the weeks since then we have gotten orders for more. The hot pepper butter was the most popular and I am going to share the recipe with you all.

HOT PEPPER BUTTER

6 cups of finely chopped peppers (any kind, mix ’em up, we do) food processor helps
1 quart mustard
1 quart cider vinegar (apple cider vinegar is fine)
6 cups sugar (less if you want)
1 1/4 cup four
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt

Mix it all up in a stainless steel pot. Boil slowly until desired consistency, stirring frequently. I cook mine until it doesn’t run on a chilled plate. Ladle into hot sterilized jars, put on lids and rings. Water bath for 10 minutes.
This stuff is great on hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, or any other meat you choose. It is also good in potato salad.
There are lots of different uses for it. If you would like to try some before you decide to make it, let me know and I will send you a jar to try while supplies last of course.

We are really looking forward to next year. There is a lot of excitement from our participants and new people that want to join us!

We are Thankful for this great program, and everyone at Highland Educational Project wish you all a Happy and Bountiful Thanksgiving.