Pepper Production #FarmtoPlate Woodland,California

I was invited by Monsanto to attend farm tours to discuss the correlation of getting food from farm to plate. As usual all opinions expressed are my own. 

There is something about being in a garden with growing vegetables every day while I’m at home, but NOTHING compares to walking on farms that span as far as the eye can see. Earlier this month, I walked on tomato farms, walnut orchards, and rice paddies. I even got the chance to hang out with some melon, watermelon, tomato and pepper breeders. I was in heaven, and definitely feeling like I was with my people. 

One of the areas that we focused on were peppers, and if you followed my gardening last year, you’ll know that  

As you can see from Danyelle’s awesome photos, I was having so much fun. 

.@NatashaNicholes, will you be planting more peppers in your community garden? #WeSowWeGrow #farmtoplate pic.twitter.com/7UGJQqozxN

— Danyelle. (@TheCubicleChick) August 2, 2016

Bloggers take their photography seriously. @NatashaNicholes #farmtoplate pic.twitter.com/KtHeGsSRhI

— Danyelle. (@TheCubicleChick) August 2, 2016

Last year, I didn’t have much success with my peppers in my garden. I think that my bell peppers grew to about three inches at the most, and my giant marconi peppers only resulted in two edible ones. It was a sad state of affairs. While the visit to the pepper garden was educational. I was happy to know that I was in the know for most of it. For instance, did you know that the more hot days that you have in a growing period, the hotter your peppers will be? I didn’t know that until this year’s round of research, and I smiled like the kid who got 100% on their test when the pepper breeder let me know that I was correct. 

I know that the experience in the pepper field was one that I don’t take for granted. There were several varieties of peppers that I’m looking forward to growing next year, including sweet cherry peppers so that I can pickle them. I want more poblano peppers so I can stuff them. Of course, I would love to have more bananan peppers, because they are AMAZING pickled and put on top of everything. 

Currently, I have four ghost pepper plants given to me by Brandie of Journey of 1000 Stitches. She also donated a couple of other pepper plants to the garden, and I absolutely love her for it. I’ve been using them to make a pepper spray for the garden so that the mammals Along with those 

I will make sure that we pay a lot more attention to our pepper production next year. Currently we have a little over 48 plants in the garden, and I can’t keep up with them. My favorites to watch grow are the Pimento peppers, because of their unusual shape. Checking out all of the peppers and their shapes, and colors is fun for the houseful of littles too. I’m sure had they been on this trip with me earlier this month, they would have had a ton of questions for the pepper breeder. 

Stay tuned later this month as we pickle peppers, and then make chow-chow. I’m hoping to get some of these items canned and ready for holiday gifts! Next week, I’ll tell you about our time in the melon patches, and what else we learned on the farms of California. There was a LOT of walking, a LOT of sunshine, and a LOT of learning. I can’t wait to implement what the farmers shared into my practices for next year, well outside of the rice and walnuts, because, space. 

Do you farm, even on a small scale? What crops do you grow? Share below!