Packing in many pecks of peppers

Can anyone tell me why my husband planted 120 pepper plants this year?

The simple answer: because he could.

For the first time this year he had access to a greenhouse, so he was able to nurture his seedlings in the privacy of his own gardening domain. I knew he had a lot of plants, but since they weren’t taking up space in our house, it was out of sight, out of mind.

Then he expanded a garden plot at his work site and nourished the soil with organic compost from an adjacent pile of cow manure. Everything grew, not just the peppers.

His tender toiling produced kale so beautiful it nearly brought tears to my eyes, and boastful quantities of collard greens, peas, beans and cucumbers.

It’s the peppers though, that have been most prolific.

Estimating that probably a half-dozen pepper plants would have been enough to make a year’s supply of salsa, it’s obvious we’ve reached the point of no return. Before the first big frost last week we picked six five-gallon buckets full of jalapenos, Anaheims, banana peppers, pablanos, regular green peppers, white peppers and a long thin pepper called the “Holy Mole.”

He also planted habeneros. Why? I don’t know. Neither of us like food THAT hot.

Luckily he has access to cold storage, where the pecks of peppers are now hanging out until we find homes for all of them.

Curious about how much a peck of peppers is, I found out it’s the equivalent of two gallons or a quarter bushel. That means we have about 15 pecks of peppers in the cooler, and probably another 10 pecks or better still on the plants.

To avoid that first big freeze, my husband left the sprinkler running on his oversized plot all night, which staved off the frost and saved the plants. With these unusually warm September days and cool nights, the peppers are loving it.

Hubby has big plans to make his own version of jalapeno poppers and chile rellenos and freeze them. I’ve been assigned the stuffed green peppers and more salsa. Yes, we’ve already made the proverbial peck of pickled peppers.

I’ve been leaving pepper droppings for friends at work, and my husband has slipped some in the back door of his favorite restaurant.

Now, to change the subject because I grow weak pondering the pepper prep that lies ahead of us, I found an interesting tidbit online about Oscar Mayer’s new bacon. The famous maker of bologna and other assorted processed meats stands by its new thick-cut bacon so much it’s touting the pork product as “worth its weight in gold” and has set out on a campaign to use the bacon as money.

They’ve sent actor and comedian Josh Sankey across the country — driving from New York to Los Angeles — armed with nothing but a ton and a half of the Butcher Thick Cut Bacon. A marketing guru for Oscar Mayer declared the new product a “massive, awesome bacon.”

So far Sankey has paid for room and board with bacon and snagged tickets to a New York Jets game by bartering the pork fat goodness, among other perks. Bacon lovers can follow his escapades at BaconBarter.com or on Twitter at BaconBarter.

Where’s he headed next? Sizzle City, Utah.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.