Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Spicy Tale

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Willoughby who liked to cook with fresh peppers.  She liked them so much, in fact, that she decided to plant some in her garden.  She was downright giddy as she picked out some lovely Anaheim pepper plants from the local nursery.

At home, she found the perfect sunny spot for her little gems.  She gave them new homes nestled among the lillies, roses and herbs in the flower beds that line her yard (Willoughby always plants vegetables among the flowers, she likes the organic way it looks).

Every morning, Willoughby would carefully water her spicy, treasured plants.  Sometimes, she would talk to them and encourage them to grow large, lovely peppers.  They responded in kind by sprouting tiny white flowers and healthy green leaves.

As the days went by, the tiny flowers grew larger and began to sprout green baby peppers.  It made Willoughby smile to think of all the wonderful dishes she would create when they were mature enough to be picked and roasted.

One day, when she went to check on them, Willoughby found that the lower leaves of several plants were missing.  She looked under and around each plant, but found no signs of the missing leaves.  They hadn't fallen off.  It seemed that some furry creature, perhaps a rabbit or a squirrel, was helping himself to a little salad.  Willoughby was worried, but she didn't know what to do.  How could she protect her beloved plants from the four legged invaders?

Over time, more and more leaves disappeared.  Willoughby felt sad, but she was encouraged that the baby peppers were still continuing to grow.  One pepper, in fact, had become three or four inches long and was nearly ready to be picked.  She decided she would pick the pepper the very next day.

Shortly after sunrise, Willoughby rushed out to the garden, anxious to harvest the fruits of her labors.  She was relieved to find the pepper still hanging merrily on the plant.  She was so happy, in fact, that she went back into the house to get her camera and take a picture of the pepper.

As she zoomed in on it, she noticed something she hadn't seen before.  There was a hole, about the size of a pencil eraser, in the side of the pepper.  Something, a bug or an animal, had eaten away at her one mature pepper.  Willoughby was so angry, she picked the pepper and threw it out of the yard.

Since that day, the majority of the leaves and all of the baby peppers have disappeared.  Willoughby has stopped making plans for spicy chicken enchiladas, pepper topped pizzas, roasted pepper burgers and dozens of other peppery, tasty dishes.

In an effort to turn this catastrophe into a learning experience, Willoughby did some research to find a way to repel the critters and creatures that destroyed her lovely pepper plants so she might avoid the same outcome next year. In a cruel irony, she found the one substance that deters unwelcome munchers.  Hot pepper sauce.


Willoughby

8 comments:

My Farmhouse Kitchen said...

i love that you're making beef bourgion...spelled WAY wrong

i ALMOST made beef stroganoff...

maybe tomorrow

happy to see you today, my friend

kary and teddy
xx

Bill Lisleman said...

tough life being a pepper.

L.B. said...

I;m sorry to hear that! Anaheim peppers are good, not very spicy, but they have a good flavor. I like the way they look, though. It's a pepper you'd want to display and I can imagine how pretty it would look in your garden - and how upset I'd be if someone was messing with my beautiful Anaheim pepper.

Sriracha those thieving em-effers.

Jenn Erickson said...

Oh, my friend, I'm so sad to hear that your beloved peppers met such an untimely fate. Those darn pests! I hope the little buggers get a fiery surprise next year when they show up for a free lunch.

My Farmhouse Kitchen said...

thanks for the kind words about my Buddy....

kary
xx

Jenny said...

I'm always surprised when something munches on hot peppers, too!

But I live in Arizona and I suspect bugs are used to all the caliente flavors around here!

ha!

Unknown said...

Oh boy you made me laugh. Thank you! But I'm very sorry about your peppers. It's so disappointing. Your plans for future recipes were making me hungry!

I started a new blog. I'm not sure how it's going to work since I don't know how to get any attention to it!
http://amyisdisabled.blogspot.com/

Holly Lefevre said...

Wouldn't it figure! I used cayenne pepper to deter the raccoons from rolling up my lawn...they eventually got used to it! It made the lawn taste better!