We are honored and pleased to present a guest writer for us here at The Hot Zone Online. If you’re in the hot & spicy food business, it would be challenging NOT to know who Jim Campbell is. Besides being the owner & proprietor of the Mild to Wild Pepper Co. (which has some fabulous stuff, by the way), he also grows many of the habaneros that hot sauce manufacturers across the country use for their own products. Rather than ramble on about him ourselves, we will just let Jim introduce himself in his own words….

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jim Campbell and I’m my own worst enemy By day, I’m a professional firefighter in Indianapolis but by night, I’m a professional *firestarter* as a commercial chile pepper farmer and hot sauce maker. I guess one might consider it ‘job security’- both fighting and starting fires That, or someone in serious need of some professional help The need for professional help is little doubted by those that know me. For proof, they offer the fact that I just spent 24 hours on a stair climbing machine setting a world record (previously held by another firefighter). Details can be found at http://www.StepUpForCharity.org

I’ve been fighting fires for almost 23 years now. I’d spent quite a number of years wandering aimlessly from job to job before God reached out with His little ball-peen hammer and smacked me upside the head with my life’s calling. Three of my brothers volunteered for the fire department where we lived and they talked me into coming down to do photography work for them. The very first call I answered was an apartment building that was rocking from end to end. I shot one roll of film, tossed the camera aside, found a nozzle and the rest was history. I joined the paid firefighting service about a year later in 1985 on essentially my first try out.

Even prior to the joining the fire service, I was a bit of an arsonist As one of ten kids, my parents always had a bit of a victory garden out back of the house to help feed the family. If you know what a ‘victory garden’ is you’re also either old as dirt or a good student of history From the earliest days I can remember my choice to plant was chile peppers. I didn’t necessarily eat them back then, but I was fascinated with all the shapes and colors… and the fact they could provide some entertainment when given to the un-initiated

Upon joining the fire service I naturally brought chile peppers in to help flavor the food a bit. My fellow firefighters- some of them at least- would always bug me to bring in a few for them. Each year it seemed, I was planting more and more to try and keep up with the demand. As one can expect from someone who’s only bright enough to make a living running *into* burning buildings, I was a bit slow to the fact that there might be a business at this… about ten years slow. When it finally dawned on me (with the help of another firefighter friend) a business plan was born. In the true entrepreneurial spirit, that consisted of throwing a handful of habanero seeds in the ground and, when they starting coming on, calling hot sauce manufacturers to see if they were interested. My list of hot sauce makers was obtained by ordering a mixed case of hot sauces out of a mail order catalog and calling the numbers that appeared on the bottles!

I’d rather be lucky than good, as they say

Lucky or not, we’re looking forward to hearing more from Jim in the future. Thanks, Jim!