Bartering brings me a bunch of chili peppers

A friend had some extra peppers and vegetables she received in bartering for her graphic design services. She gave me some of the lovely overflow. (Photo by Keith Michaud)

A friend the other day was paid in vegetables for some graphic design work. Bartering made a comeback during The Great Recession and may be part of the new economy for some time to come.

Fortunately for me, she had too much and I ended up receiving some of the overflow – a paper bag of farm fresh tomatoes, bok choy, squash, green beans, and a lovely bunch of peppers. The tomatoes are part of my lunch, the bok choy is soup now sitting in my freezer, the squash and green beans will go with a roasted chicken this evening, and the peppers are hanging over my kitchen sink drying.

I'm hanging the peppers above the kitchen sink. I hope to dry them enough to use them as seasoning. (Photo by Keith Michaud)

 I’m hoping to dry the peppers enough to chop up and put into a pepper mill to use as seasonings. This is the first time I’ve dried peppers, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. Here’s a bit of information ondrying peppers from Scott Roberts, a self-described chilihead.

A bunch of tiny peppers being dried about the sink in my kitchen. (Photo by Keith Michaud)

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