Pepper Harvest 2013

We had our first freeze last night, so I knew I had to bring in the peppers today or risk losing them altogether.  The thought of a winter without my own peppers for soups and stir fries is almost unbearable!  Therefore, busy as I am today, I hauled myself out to the garden to pluck the fine peppers I knew were out there. These are peppers I have barely touched for months because I was unable to cook without a kitchen.  They were watered along a short portion of soaker leading to the tomatoes, so I did not even have that worry.  I hardly even thought about them except for the occasional smug remembrance that the time would come, and I would have a lovely harvest.  Oh, I peeked a few times and saw the green, shiny quarters hanging heavy on the plants and eventually turning scarlet. 

Below is a picture of today's harvest along with the single egg my darling hens provided this morning.  Lower, below that picture, is another of the prep for the freezer.  I remove the seeds and cut into varying sizes for the varying uses and sizes of meals I plan to make.  Afterward, I can dry them like in the picture or I can set them on trays and freeze them individually.  Either way, I do this so that when I put them in the freezer bags, they don't freeze into a solid clump.  The peppers cut into longish strips are jalapeno.  I use less of that so I cut them smaller.  My pride of this harvest is one pepper that grew from a volunteer plant.  It is that green bell in the lower right corner of the top photo.  *big, proud grin!*