Every year, a select few chili-heads get invited to the “Woodstock” of the pepper realm, Jim Campbell’s Open Fields. This year I saved up, requested time off, got the directions (it’s a secret location somewhere south of Indianapolis, Indiana…the place doesn’t even have an address it’s so secret), packed my bags and gassed up. At 9AM on Friday, I left for what was scheduled to be a 6.5 hour drive. By 10:30 AM I was fed up with horrible drives.

”Thanks for visiting Ohio…why you came here in the first place is beyond us.”

I landed in downtown Indianapolis at 2PM, way ahead of schedule! My first stop was Alcatraz Brewing Company where I picked up some food and a sampler of all their beers. Turns out they had a bunch of hot sauces behind the counter (mostly extract) and I got to try them all. The bartender’s jaw just dropped to the floor when I wasn’t burned up by their sauces. Over all, they had a pretty good selection, the place was decent, food was decent and a little on the high end, but the beers were well crafter and the help was friendly.

Alcatraz Brewing Company’s sampler. What? No IPA?!?

Still having time on my hands and a hankering for more craft beer, I walked right across the street to RAM Brewery for a sampler of there beers. While the place was way nicer than Alcatraz Brewing Company, the beers seemed lesser, but still darn good. I paid my tab and hopped in the car. 20 minutes later I was at the farm.

A small part of the fields.

Jim Campbell’s field is located within a 60 acre farm that grows apples, peaches, pumpkins, watermelons and so much more. Jim’s field is absolutely beautiful. I was told down the grapevine that he’s got around 40,000 plants and Jim himself told me that this year marks his 1,000th pepper variety that he’s grown.

While the rain had broken I decided it was the perfect time to use my Boy Scout skills to locate the perfect spot for the tent and set up. I surveyed the land and spotted a nice high spot down one of the apple tree rows. With Sandi’s (Taste The Fear) help, the tent went right up in 2 minutes flat and she was rewarded with one of my homebrews.

Passow’s Cave of Dryness.

One large watermelon.

After stopping briefly to gaze in awe at the giant watermelons, I met up with Jim Campbell. He gave a quick walk through of the fields where I got to dig some info out of him. Turns out the soil is very loomy and under all that is nothing but clay. He only does a single fertilization of the plants right when they go in and then he let’s them do their thing. Jim also only does pest control when a problem crops up. The fields really were a sight to see.

Jim Campbell (left) give us a walk through.

The rain started again so we left the mud soaked pepper field and I made my rounds introducing myself to everyone. Slowly more and more people started arriving and setting up. Some got stuck on the way in, but pepper people are friendly and were always on hand to help out.

They’re not helping get him out of the mud. They heard he had the last 6 pack in the whole camp. Like Zombies to brains….they wanted in!

While the fire wood was under a hood, it was still decently moist when the time came to start the bonfire. Oh how ever would we get it started? With a blow torch of course! In a few minutes it was going steadily, regardless of the ever increasing rain.

I’ve added one of those to my birthday list.

Once everything was set up, the cooking started. I was given bowls and plates of food all night. I really wasn’t expecting to be fed so well. I wondered over to Bill and Sandi’s tent to find that they and Brett were about ready to cook up a massive chunk of bovine.

Brett shows us his meat.

Stuffed and a little tipsy, I managed to stagger my way down to the fire where some of the group were decompressing from their long drive. Jim Campbell entertained us for a while as the rain continued to fall. Now getting cold and damper by the minute, I headed off to my tent to be kept awake by the sound of someone’s generator unnecessarily running all night 4 rows down from me. As it ran out of gas and puttered out of existence I slowly let the falling rain lull me to sleep.

”…then the shop keeper told him that pepper plant he said he met died 3 seasons ago from root rot.” Man, Jim Campbell tells the best pepper ghost stories.

All in all it was a great day. The ride was easy, the people were great, the food and booze flowed, and many stores were told. But that’s not all! This is just the beginning! Stay tuned for the next installment of Passow’s Trip to the Open Fields!