SuperWeed

It’s 90F degrees today. On the ninth of October! I should be outside in my ragged blue sweatshirt, stacking firewood, and feeling that brisk, back-to-school feeling that makes autumn feel hopeful even though the summer foliage is dying. I should be chopping up the remains of my garden to dig into the soil, dreaming of spring. Instead, I’m languishing in the library in boxer shorts, too dazed and glazed to even work up the steam to complain about global warming.

Drought conditions continue here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The topsoil in parts of the foraging yards here at the Eastern Shore Sanctuary has disintegrated into a powdery substance that gives under your weight when you walk over it. A very disheartening and disorienting sensation!

Ours is one of many wells that failed this summer. We spent July and August coaxing it along, practicing extreme conservation of our well water and installing rain barrels to catch and use what little rain that fell, to no avail. But luckily, rather than paying $5,000 for the waste and environmental upheaval of digging an entirely new well, we were able to install a “packer system” that enables the existing pump to draw more deeply from the existing well so now, at least, we have running water again! And, between the new rain barrels, the additional rain barrels we are going to install, and the enhanced greywater recycling we also will be implementing, we’ll still be drawing on the well as little as possible into the future.

You would think that, between the heat and the drought, the plants in my vegetable garden would be ready to be chopped up and dug into the ground to decompose but one cuke, a couple of the tomato plants, and all of the pepper plants are still going strong. Especially the hot pepper plants. My thai, cayenne, hot banana, paprika, and jalapeno pepper plants are all thriving in the dry heat.

Which brings me to the second aspect of today’s heat theme: Capsaicin. Last night, I was the virtual guest of the fabulous Isa Chandra Moscowitz — of Vegan with a Vengeance and vegan cupcake dictatorship fame — who created this Chili Pumpkin Cranberry Risotto with Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds recipe for our Internet Dinner Date. (Isa’s next book, Veganomicon, drops later this month and seems poised to become the vegan Joy of Cooking. You can pre-order it here.)

In writing up the recipe, Isa mentioned one of my favorite things about hot peppers (aka Capsicum frutescens): Birds can’t detect the flavor that feels uncomfortably hot to many mammals. The cause of that flavor, capsaicin, is a chemical compound with many medicinal uses. Because of capsaicin, Capsicum can be used to stop bleeding, aid digestion, improve circulation, and enhance immune system functioning; some studies suggest that it may neutralize some carcinogens. Capsaicin also has analgesic properties and is found in many ointments for joint and muscle pain. I use it topically for those kinds of pain and also for cluster headaches, the pain of which is not dented by anything else.

For the peppers themselves, the primary use is to deter herbivores so that seed-dispersing birds can enjoy and then excrete the seeds of the fruits. For birds as well as people, hot peppers are good sources of beta carotene, vitamin C, zinc, iron, calcium, potassium, and rutin. Birds also can enjoy capsaicin’s analgesic, circulatory, and immune system benefits. In the winter time, we often lace the chicken feed with both cayenne and garlic (which has both anti-viral and antibiotic properties). For the “broiler” chickens, whose unnatural size strains both their joints and their air sacs, we believe that cayenne in moderation (so as not to cause uncomfortable intestinal inflammation) eases breathing and provides some pain relief while promoting overall health.

Hot peppers get hotter in the heat. Like the compounds that give culinary herbs like basil and oregano their flavor, capsaicin intensifies when plants are deprived of water. (That’s why hot peppers grown in the arid SouthWest are so flavorful.) So, here’s a tip for gardeners of hot peppers (and culinary herbs): Give your young seedlings plenty of water to get them started but then leave irrigation to the rain. You’ll find yourself with more flavorful herbs and hot peppers.

Thanks, Isa, for inviting me to virtual dinner and giving me this excuse to wax on about some of my favorite fruits. SuperWeed readers, stay tuned. As soon as the heat breaks, I’ll be heading into my own kitchen to try to cook up a dish that will lure Isa here to eat with us.

October 9th, 2007 | Category: Birds, Gardening, Vegan Bliss | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL