[CH] grow them, and they will come...
bill jernigan (bill.jernigan@juno.com)
Mon, 4 Oct 1999 21:12:13 -0400
scene: heavy dark curtains open to a bare stage...a figure steps out of
the shadows, shading his eyes from the light...uneasily, he makes his way
center stage...a voice, from speakers far overhead, announces: "ladies
and gentlemen, a lurker!"
there's just nothing like a kroger sack full of red savinas to bring out
the lurkers...
just got back from the fields of dreams...jim campbell's pepper fields,
hidden amongst the corn and apple trees, far from the eyes of the
curious...reminded me of another farm i was on once, but that was hidden
in the corn for another reason...
drove from tennessee to cincinnati friday night, picked up a friend and
drove to indiana sat. morning...followed jim's directions to the catfish
place, where i was supposed to call him to be escorted to the field...i
had figured that if we got that close, we could find it, but i had
forgotten how tall corn grows in the midwest...couldn't see half a block
in any direction...was on the phone to him when this woman comes into the
little foyer with a look that said, "you better not take long, *i've* got
an important call"...
jim said that he would be right there, and this woman screams, "are you
one of the pepper people?"...she thrust out her hand and says, "i'm alex,
and we just got back from the ohio chile festival", as she spun around
showing me her souvenir t-shirt...
she led me into the parking lot, where she introduced us to larry and the
kids...a few minutes later the wild to mild escort vehicle showed up, and
led us thru a maze of cornstalks and apple trees...
we parked a short way from the event and walked up the path...my first
impression was 30 five-gallon plastic pails of orange habs and a dozen or
so of a larger red chile (gypsy?)...prying my eyes from that sight, i
noticed there were several people standing around and quite a few in the
field...
i don't know what i expected, but the result was better than the
expectation...everyone introduced themselves, jim gave us a quick tour of
the fields, told us what we could pick and what we couldn't, and ran back
to the truck to take another call for the escort service...
jeff pressed a bottle of excellent jerk rub into my hand, alex
(silbajoris, not the aforementioned alex) offered me a char grilled
chicken breast (mash?...what mash?...you mean i missed something?), ms.
farmer (hobby's wife) offered me a cup of white chili with green chile
dressing and jake handed me a grocery sack and said, "let's pick some
peppers!"...
now i'm not a farmer, ok...when jim was showing us around and introducing
us to his plants, i could see peppers on each plant, and remembered the
impressive numbers he reported earlier...i figured the plants were pretty
well picked over, especially since there were bushels of them sitting
back by the trail on the way to the m2w sauce factory...but when i bent
down and started actually picking, i realized there were millions of ripe
habs, savinas, datils, poblanos, big jims, gypsys, peters, and
whoknowswhatalls beneath that greenery...
and jim kept running up with a knife in one hand and yet another pepper
in the other, slicing off a generous chunk, pushing it toward me and
saying, "you've got to try this"...
we had to leave early, but not before we heard (and told) our share of
stories ate our share of excellent food and picked a bunch of
peppers...on the way back i thought of a thousand questions i wish i'd
asked, but there's always next year...
and yes, as jeff pointed out, there was none of the macho bull that i've
witnessed many times over the salsa bowl...i learned my lesson (i hope)
many years ago...now, when someone says "i can eat more habs than you!",
i reply, "i'm happy for you"...
thanks again jim, and thanks to everyone who showed up and made this a
memorable occasion...
[lurker turns to leave stage, stops, turns back to the audience and
realizes that it is fun to be on stage with a cast of characters like
these...steps down stage and joins the other cast members, sitting around
a campfire singing chile songs...]
bill
(taking a self study course from the institute of jaloproctology...drove
five hours today sitting on my class project...)
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