After recovering from my Smoked Jolokia experience I wondered the campgrounds once again, stumbling across someone displaying the posters for the past years of Open Fields. I didn’t realize this, but a very handy designer makes spoof posters for each of the years. This year was Harry Podder and had Jim Campbell with a Habanero shaped scar on his forehead and holding a Cayenne for a wand.

Previous Open Fields Posters.

Now that the sun had been out for a few hours the mud had dried out a little so it was less treacherous to go picking in the field. More Jolokias were found and I munched on some more Bulgarian Carrots as I picked. Man, those things are tasty!

Dry ground at last!

I got back just in time for the start of the charity auction and raffle. Earlier Abby Campbell was selling tickets at $1 for the charity raffle and I had two in my hand in hopes to win something. Jim, over the make shift loud speaker, called out the various winning numbers interspersed with auctioning various collectables. One such item was a chainsaw carved wood chile.

Jim Campbell and Company auctioning off items.

I wanted to strap this to the hood of my car.

Towards he end, Jim had anyone who didn’t win anything come up and choose one or two items off the table. I picked up a homemade plum jelly that looked absolutely delicious. When everything was said and done, Jim had raised a little over $2,000 for Step Up for Charity.

Dinner was closing in on us fast as the sun slowly faded into the night. The rest of the day would be dedicated to drinking heavily and consuming enough food to feed a family of eight. Slowly but surely, everyone went from tent to tent, feasting and drinking. One very special treat that was being passed around was a mason jar containing one of Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton’s final brews. I was honored to be able to sample one of the legend’s work.

Another great honor was to meet Susan, The Chile Woman. Susan has been a long time provider of chile plants. I got to sit down and chat briefly about her operation and amongst the many interesting tidbits was how she knows when to start her plants in the greenhouse. Turns out there’s a big Snapping Turtle that lives in the pond down he way. Every year it comes up to the greenhouse and buries its eggs. When she see that, it’s time to plant.

The elusive Chile Woman.

Eating well and drinking heavily catches up to you after a while and all that liquid has to be emptied out sometime so I started my 100 yard trek to the port-a-potty. Why am I sharing this with you? Well because this shows the amazing generosity and friendly behavior that went on in the event.

It took me over 30 minutes to go 100 yards. Every tent I passed someone grabbed me and put food or a beer or a shot in my hand. I didn’t ask for stuff, it was just handed to me. By the time I finally reached my goal I was quite full.

More of the night wore on and more rain started to fall. People were still dashing in and out of tents and cooking to their hearts contents. The charity auction area was turned into a Risk and Magic The Gathering gamers zone. Being an expert Risk veteran, I was absolutely tempted to join the game. But considering how late it already was, I knew better (games can last for days) so I wondered over to Bill and Sandi’s tent.

You fools! Always secure Australia first!!!

There I found CaJohn and son, Nate. We all chatted while pilled pork was being prepped. After that, the shrimp was cooked (to perfection I might add) and then we hung out with HUDD at his tent. He had his gas grill fired up not to cook with, but to keep the place warm. Good thing considering it was freezing and raining sideways. As the rain let up, CaJohn, Nate, and I moved over to the fire area. Then the rain started again and I said my goodnights.

”Think that’s a Fire?” “Yep, that looks like a fire.”

Since I was allergic to a lot of the ingredients in the food I ate that day, it came back to haunt me at 4 in the morning. So instead of getting dress and undressed 20 times to go use the facilities, I decided to stay up and watch the morning stars. Around 5AM I restarted the fire for people to use in a few hours and sat down next to it. It was kind of nice to see the sunrise and slowly watch all the groggy and surely hung-over chile-heads awaken and stagger out to the loo. Occasionally a few of them inquired, “Have you been up all night?”

This is what a campfire looks like at 5 in the morning. Not very impressive, I know.

A new day was dawning so I’ll draw this part of my review to a close. Be sure to stop back soon for the fourth (I know, I said three parts originally) and final part in the Open Fields Saga!