Pepper CSA ships this week! And other updates
over 9 years ago – Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 12:46:28 AM

Hi guys! Hope you are having an amazing start to fall----we have been super busy over here as the pepper picking season kicks into high gear. The field is looking so amazing these days! It's been a lot of planning, hard work, hand weeding, and love, but the peppers are doing great. 

A few quick updates:

Chili Pepper CSAs start shipping this week! 

This is so exciting----with all of the planning it takes to grow peppers (especially since we start our seeds in February) it's really exciting to see these peppers be harvested and ready to be shipped out to you all! The first of three pepper installments are going out tomorrow and wednesday. We are starting with milder peppers and each shipment will be getting hotter, so heads up! I will post pics on Instagram and Facebook too;) 

New Sauce Recipes/ Update

I've mentioned this before, but I want to make sure everyone knows-----the super hots  are having a delayed harvest this year due to a heat wave we had this June (when they dropped their flowers). They have come back with a vengeance (see the pics below of Carolina Reapers and Ghosts) but they still need another week or so to start ripening fully…so that will delay the production of our new sauces….As soon as we have enough peppers to complete our FDA/ Recipe Submission, we will get that moving---and then we can start bottling. I will send updates through every stage of the process, and let you know as soon as I have a better ETA!

Hot Sauce Maker Day/ Field Visit: October 9 and 10

For backers who chose this reward, it is set for the weekend of October 9 and 10th---if you'd like info to be a part of it and would like to add this on, please let me know! We will have a who day of picking peppers and hitting the sauce at our HQ in Kutztown, and it will be quite a time! 

Thanks again all for being a part of this project----with the exception of the delayed harvest, it's all been going really great! If you are in the Kutztown, PA area, please let me know and I can give you a tour! 

first reaper pepper! Plenty more pods on the way soon as they turn!

Backerkit lockdown this week, last call for surveys/address changes
over 9 years ago – Sun, Sep 04, 2016 at 07:45:58 PM

Hi guys!

Happy Labor Day! Hope you are all enjoying this long weekend-----I just wanted to give a last call for surveys, and send some fun pics of the peppers coming in! I'd like to lock everything down by Thursday, so if you have to fill out the survey or update your address, now is the last call!

Loose ends: 

If you were eligible for a repeat bonus backer bottle, and you haven't filled out the survey, here's the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfCND5jGfyGJqPse4bpuh0WqJeVR6cQ-KwuOe0rRNvboUmQQ/viewform

And, if you haven't filled out your backerkit survey or need to update your addresses, here's where you go for that:

https://mix-tape-xxxxx-scorpion-the-worlds-first-hot-peppe.backerkit.com/

I'd like to lock down the surveys by Thursday, so we can start making labels and getting the first of our peppers out to you! The sauces will still take a little while (we need the super hot peppers to come in first before we can start making those, but I'd like to start shipping the pepper CSAs within the next two weeks!)

And here are some fun pics of peppers, and an all around great person who stopped by our stand---Terry Hope Romero! She is an amazing vegan cookbook author (Vegan Eats World, Veganomicon, Salad Samurai + more!) and was the lead Food Outreach lead at Kickstarter! It was so fun to have her come visit us at our Union Square Greenmarket Stand----We are there Weds if you guys want to come say hello! We've met several Kickstarter backers and always hook you guys up with some fun stuff from the stand;) And, below are also some pics of peppers----the super hots are still recovering from the flower setback we had, but the other ones are just starting to come in!

I can't wait to start shipping this Kickstarter out, so if you can fill out your surveys, update any loose ends or addresses, that would be great. Thanks again!

Robyn 

Pepper Update + Bonus Bottle Survey
over 9 years ago – Tue, Jul 26, 2016 at 12:12:04 AM

Hi guys!

I hope you are having an amazing summer! Sorry it has been so long, but we have been super busy farming those amazing hot peppers, and I'm happy to report they are all doing great. 

Before I get into the pics, I wanted to quickly address the issue with the survey/free bonus bottle, and let you know what we are doing to fix it. 

There was a glitch with how the backerkit survey was set up (we offered a bonus bottle to repeat backers, but it wasn't showing up correctly on the survey end.) So, I will be making a google form that you can fill our to add your name, address, and email to claim your bonus bottle--backerkit will then manually add this to your account, and all should be well! Stay tuned for this to go out by next week. People that were not repeat backers don't have to worry about this!

OK, so back to pepper pics----check out how big they are getting in this before and after pic (that's my husband, Paul, and our 3 year old son, Ajax, helping put the cover crop seed down to reduce weeds in between rows and add nitrogen to the field :

We don't use any pesticides, so everything you see here is handplanted---and hand weeded! We even mulch all 8,000 pepper plants by hand. And, I'm happy to report the peppers are doing great---hey have a little ways to go, but we should be harvesting the first hot peppers in about a month. We already have roasting peppers, and shishitos that are coming in too. 

And look at how cute these are:

 These red and yellow beak peppers will be in your CSA boxes, which will start shipping late August! 

On the sauce end, we are scaling up our recipe and getting it ready to send to the FDA  We are also working to get these organically certified, and getting our nutritional labls in order--I'm hoping to have this all set up by the end of August, so when we start harvesting the first peppers, we are good to go! Then, we'll start shipping! 

If any of you are in the NYC area, we are starting up our Greenmarket stand at Union Square Wednesdays, come say hi! We don't have any hot peppers yet, but you can try some of our first shishitos, poblanos, and heirloom tomatoes. 

Thanks again everyone! 

Robyn 

You Are All Amazing!
almost 10 years ago – Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 04:29:21 AM

We are so beyond thrilled, and grateful to every single one of you that helped make this an amazing campaign! We can't wait to grow these peppers, make these sauces and get the first hot pepper CSA off to you all! 

We have been hard at work, and have already planted more than 6,000 pepper plants in our field. They are off to an amazing start---we even saw a few baby peppers! All are covered with straw mulch and they look so happy. I will be posting more pics soon, but wanted to give everyone a quick update in between planting (we are planting 1500 more pepper plants tomorrow!) 

What's Next?

Next week, all backers will receive a survey through Backerkit---I will also send an update out when that happens to make sure everyone has the link and is looped in. 

A bunch of folks have asked about add-ons, and you will be able to get these through the Backerkit survey, no worries. 

So stay tuned for that, and a HUGE thank you again! We are so excited to grow these peppers and get your rewards out to you!!!!! 

xoxo,

Robyn 

Update from the field, new stretch goals, add-on details and cute pepper pics
almost 10 years ago – Tue, May 24, 2016 at 05:17:06 PM

Hey guys! Hope you are having a rad week-----I am so psyched to tell you that we kicked off pepper planting this week! Say hello to these guys:

To get the field ready for 7,000 pepper plants, which will all be hand planted over the next week, we rolled out the weed guard plus organic paper (most farmers use plastic mulch, which is cheaper of course but so bad for the field and the peppers!). Here is a pic! I'm such a fan of this stuff, the paper mulch allows the peppers and all those healthy soil microbes to thrive, resulting in happier, healthier peppers! We have a totally no-kill/no-spray policy on our field, and start with healthy soil for stronger plants. Yes, we are total farm geeks about this stuff;) 

 Next week---PEPPER PLANTING! I will send an update with pics! 

But, a few other really exciting things to announce:

New stretch goals! 

You guys are amazing and are setting the stage for a record setting campaign here, wow! I want to reward everyone by offering a few fun stretch goals:

40K: Hot Sauce E-Book! 

Every backer will get a free e-book filled with recipes to use all of our sauces, as well as recipes to make your own hot sauce at home! I will also throw in a few recipes for spicy pickles, and share tips for drying and smoking your own peppers, and making hot pepper cocktails and such;)

50K: Organic Certification for our Sauces

If we hit 50K, we will have enough funds to get Organic Certification for our sauces! We already use organic ingredients and grow our peppers organically, but this stretch goal would mean we can cover the cost to go through the USDA Organic Certification process and use their logo on our labels and be straight up legit. There aren't many sauces that are organic out there, and since we are, but just don't have the official certification, it would be so great to do this!

65K: A NEW Limited Edition Flavor for Backers only!

We will unveil a NEW Flavor that will be a Kickstarter exclusive and available to backers only! This will only be unlocked if we hit this goal…

Add-On Update

Oh, and I had a few folks ask me about product add-ons---we will be using Backerkit, so you will be able to add any of our products on at the end of our campaign to keep it simple. 

Some other Cool Projects We are Into These Days

We have joined forces with a few other Kickstarter campaigns to spread the word. We are digging these three campaigns dedicated to all things summer, organic and spicy!

Dezzio - The World's First Functional Beach Bag 

The World's First Functional beach bag with 10 special features including a Sand-Discharge Mesh, Beach Towel Holder, Cooler Pocket and Built-In USB ports and much more. It comes in 3 styles and is available for men, women and families! 

Check it out here:  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/203527729/dezzio-the-worlds-first-functional-beach-bag?ref=project_link 

Cajun Crate

Cajun Crate is a monthly subscription box that delivers specially curated boxes filled with Louisiana made items! Each month a box will contain Cajun products ranging from coffee to beignet mix, jambalaya to gumbo roux, étouffée sauce to bbq sauce, and so much more! 

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cajuncrate/cajun-crate

SilverTech - Odorless Underwear Made with Pure Silver

Our Danish friends from Organic Basics have just created the future of underwear. 

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/organicbasics/silvertech-odorless-underwear-made-with-pure-silve 

From outer space to your underwear drawer. Sustainable organic boxers, socks and t-shirts. No stink or sweat. Kills 99,9% of bacteria. 

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more updates and pics as we get planting---and THANK YOU so much, we are so grateful to each and every backer and can't wait to get these sauces and peppers off to you!

Robyn