Seed exchange lunch

Seed exchange lunch! Doesn't that sound great?! What a nice sound of that sentence!

Well, to be honest, it was more seed receiving from my side. I definitely got more than I gave today! I met Patrik for lunch, and here you can see us. I'm probably so excited because of all the new varieties, so I missed to get myself into the picture :-)

Here are the bags with new seeds! I will definitely try if not all of them, at least most of them this year. Usually I don't grow the super hot varieties, but I have a feeling that 2012 will be a good year for growing them!

So, now I just need to decide which varieties to grow this year. More about that later!

Thanks for the seeds Patrik, and thanks for a great lunch company!
    Hot regards
      Mats

Thanks Mia & Patrik

Thanks Mia! The Gojis are now in soil :-) I have a plastic bag over the pot, so I hope they will make it!

And thanks Patrik for the chiles! If you have the time, please tell what the varieties are.

(The one on the lower row to the right is a fresh goji berry.)

Have a great week!
    Mats

Growing chile peppers is a social phenomena

Yes! Growing chiles is actually very social. Did you know that?

I met Patrik (http://chilepeppar.blogspot.com/) for lunch today, exchanging seeds and a plant. And of course also exchanged lots of thoughts and ideas.

I'm not going to compile a list with all the things chile peppers are good for, but some ideas are. (Not in any way a complete list, and not prioritized.)

• Fun to cook with, and exchanging recipes.
• Mindfulness and stillness. Just leave the noise behind and go looking at the plants, fixing and taking care of them. That's great.
• Social. When you start reaching out, for example via a blog, you make new friends. All over the world. Which is great. You learn a lot. Also, not to forget physical meetings with laughter and fun!
• Chile peppers are fun to take pictures of. The plants are beautiful.
• ... Fill in if you want :-)

When I started growing chiles in the mid 90s, long before  blogs and social media, it was already then a social phenomena. I remember how recipes and tips were exchanged via bulletin board systems, using analog modems (9600 bits per second. 9K, not 10M as today. 1000 times faster today:-) , and that everyone in the chile pepper community was very helpful, sharing seeds and tips. It still is, and it is so much easier to connect to each other today. So I think it is a fantastic community to belong to.

So, thank you Patrik for a great lunch and the plant! It is now together with its new friends in the mini greenhouse. More about that later :-)

Thank you Patrik!

Growing chiles is fun, it's inspiring, and you learn new things! And one "side effect" of growing chiles is that you meet new and interesting friends.

Today I had lunch with Patrik (http://chilepeppar.blogspot.com/). We went to a nice African inspired restaurant called Chakula, here on Kungsholmen. With the steak, they served a papaya+what we thought must have been habanero salsa. Wonderful :-)

Patrik brought some nice chiles, so I can't wait trying them out. From left to right, top to bottom they are:
Jaloro hybrid, Pimenta da Neyde, Habanero, Peruvian white habanero, Yellow Bhut Jolokia, Inca red drop, large unknown baccatum, Sangria, Pimenta barra do Ribeiro and Limon. Phew :-)

Thank you Patrik for a great lunch and the great chiles!

So my advice to everyone: keep on growing chiles, keep on meeting each other and have a great time!

And - have a great weekend!