Our Inflatable Hot Tubs!

A lot of campers ask about the inflatable hot tubs that we have at #BierbaumPepperFarm.
Right now we have two; one in the common area for everyone to use and one at the “Shaded Oasis” site that is a private hot tub for that specific site that overlooks the valley. From the Shaded Oasis site you can see the sunset and the sunrise from the hot tub.
There are pros and cons to the hot tubs that we get. For those interested I’ve included the link at the bottom of this post which I may earn commission on.
I’ve done a LOT of searching to find the best price on this. Right now, this is the cheapest one. While there are others online, this one doesn’t have hidden shipping costs since you can get it with Amazon Prime.

PROS:
1. You can get it on Amazon Prime in less than a week.
2. It’s cheap. With taxes and free shipping it’s less than $550.00
3. It’s easy to set up.
4. It’s easy to keep clean. There is a filter and we keep it chlorinated. We use an aquarium underwater vacuum to get out the dirt that the filter doesn’t get.
5. It’s easy to store if you only want it seasonally or move if you change your mind about where you want it.
6. You can plug it in to any outlet and you don’t need a special 220 outlet. A regular 110 outlet will work for it.

Cons:
1. It takes a LONG time to heat up. Over 24 hours to get it to 104 degrees and then, when it cools off, it takes about 1 hour per degree so if it’s at 90 degrees (generally this is too cold) then it will take 14 hours to get it back to 104.
2. I think 104 is hot enough but some campers have wanted it hotter. It only goes up to 104.
3. Keeping the cover on keeps it hot so if you’re in it for more than a couple hours, it will cool off.
4. Not all pieces in it are replaceable. Customer Service is pretty good about sending replacement parts but some simple parts, if they break, there is nothing you can do and you have to toss the whole thing. If it gets a leak or a hole then you have to replace the whole thing.
5. It does take electricity and you will notice a change in your electric bill. We’re on solar power so during the day it doesn’t cost us money but at night when we are on the grid, it costs us money and we see it in the bill.

Obviously our hot tubs get heavy use. They are used at least 3 days a week, sometimes all day. Sometimes every day in a week during our busy season. Most families that buy one are not going to put that much wear on a hot tub in the back yard.
On average the hot tubs last us 12-18 months. We’ve decided that they are worth it, especially when looking at the installation of a permanent hot tub would be thousands of dollars and the maintenance on it would be a lot more work.
Either way, our campers seems to love the use of the hot tubs and eventually we want to add more!

Affiliate link: Inflatable Hot Tub!

Harvest Hosts

Bierbaum Pepper Farm is a host with Harvest Hosts. However, there are some limitations and restrictions to keep in mind.

We are a homestead, not a commercial farm. We are a small operation. Only two of us running the farm, tending the animals and garden, making the yogurt, cheese, etc. We also BOTH work full time in IT. When you check in, I’m supposed to be working.

We signed up for Harvest Hosts to ensure that our products will get sold on the days that we are slow, ie: the week days Sunday-Thursday.

I like to think of Bierbaum Pepper Farm as a Camping Farm. We offer campsites on our farm but we are not a campground. I LOVE meeting new people and sharing my home with like-minded people who appreciate what we have to offer. Which is small and simple. There is nothing extravagant and it is not glamping.

As a Harvest Host member you will not be able to reserve a spot with us on Fridays, Saturdays or on Holidays. This is because the campsites are reserved for paying campers first. I charge between $45-$108 per night just for camping without the purchase of products.

Harvest Host guests take on average 3 times more attention than normal campers (which I am happy to provide. I LOVE sharing what we are doing here) but you are staying for free and on average buying $40 worth of products which is great! $40 is worth it for us.

Sometimes I don’t allow days for reservations through the month because we have chores. Maybe we’re butchering the chickens or neutering the goats or need to focus on building a new pen. I don’t want an audience for that.

I am happy to provide a space for you at my home but if you spend $20, I won’t approve a second trip back. Harvest Host doesn’t pay me. The only benefit I’m getting is from you buying our products which I appreciate from the bottom of my heart! But, the costs that go in to making those products are not $0. If you spend $20 I’ve made $10 (if I don’t count the hours I’ve actually worked and ONLY count the cost to create and package the product).

For a parking spot in wine country, do you really think that $10 is fair? If you do and this information makes you angry, please don’t contact me to reserve a spot. I’m opening up my home and my heart to you and you are not entitled to any piece of it.

My home is mine to share if I want with the people I want who love this lifestyle as much as I do or who want to appreciate it for one night and then move on.

I love talking about my goats, gardening, homesteading, my journey, your journey. I have met such beautiful and diverse people doing this. I have learned from my guests in so many ways with memories that I will cherish forever like sharing dinner, wine, pina coladas, singing around the camp fire, getting to try Turkish sausages, etc.

Unfortunately I’ve also had reasons to regret opening up my home to people. Please don’t be one of those reasons when I invite you here.

The rules for reserving a spot with Harvest Hosts are on my Harvest Host Profile. Please follow the instructions on the profile to reserve a spot. I will ONLY provide further information if you contact me through Harvest Host using the instructions provided.
If you have questions about Harvest Host don’t ask me. It’s not my site. Contact Harvest Hosts.

A Gift of Peppers!

A guest at our campground gifted us with these beautiful Thai Peppers this weekend! He also brought us some seeds to grow. These are peppers that he has been growing in his own garden for years and we sincerely appreciate the gift!

It is not common knowledge that certain varieties of fruits and vegetables have been lost over generations. The seeds that we buy at the store today have been homogenized to the point that almost every plant we grow in the US is the same, at least when you compare it to the many varieties that existed hundreds of years ago.

When immigrants came to the United States they brought different seeds with them for the crops that they grew. Immigrants still do this today if they can sneak them in. Sometimes they bring the seeds for a fruit/vegetable that is completely unique. A variety of plant that is part of their family legacy that no other farmer has grown.

One example of this the Hmong Pepper. It doesn’t have a proper name that I’m aware of but it is a pepper that you can’t find in stores and you can’t buy the seeds online.

The Hmong people are an ethnic group from Asia that have been persecuted for many generations. There is a history of genocide and forced migration that is tragic and goes back hundreds of years. However, you might be lucky enough to know someone who has family or who themselves have saved the seeds to what might now be considered part of their cultural heritage in the hot pepper that can only be found in back yards and window gardens. It’s similar to a Thai Pepper in appearance, but smaller. The flavor is different and so is the hotness of the pepper.

I bring up this information just because there are also farmers in the United States, who are descendants of immigrants from all parts of the world who may be the last growers of a specific variety or plant. Unknowingly, they may be the cultivator of a variety of pepper or tomato, squash or herb that is the last on this continent or any continent.

For that reason I encourage people to share the seeds of their small, backyard gardens. Who knows how special it might be? Maybe it’s just the seeds of a plant. But, maybe that plant has it’s own tragic history of survival and is the last of it’s kind.

American Chinchilla Rabbits!

I am SUPER excited to announce that in August 2019 I will be getting a trio (1 buck & 2 does) of American Chinchilla rabbits to begin breeding rabbits on the farm!

I’m excited for a few reasons (besides baby bunnies all the time!) but also because of what a unique breed of rabbit the American Chinchilla is. There are few breeders of American Chinchillas and I’m going to be picking up mine from a breeder in Washington this August.

They are a Heritage breed meaning the breed was created in the US. Unfortunately this breed almost went extinct.  At one time there were only two breeders left in the United States. They are the only breed of rabbit to be considered endangered and I am excited to help their numbers grow.

I will be breeding them as pets, for meat and for their pelts which are extremely soft, like a Chinchilla though they are not related to the Chinchilla.

Updates will come once I have them in August as well as pricing.

1 BILLION butterflies! Literally!

“A massive swarm of at least 1 billion butterflies is traveling across Los Angeles and neighboring counties at a breathtaking speed of about 20 miles an hour!”

The butterfly species Painted Ladies, cousins to the Monarch butterfly, are in a rush to reach breeding areas in Oregon after spending winter in the deserts of northern Mexico, according to Tom Merriman, a director of a butterfly non-profit group in Encinitas, in an interview with the Pasadena Star News. “They’ve laid tons of eggs in the desert, and so there may be over a billion butterflies,” Merriman told the paper.

https://www.lataco.com/swarm-billion-painted-lady-butterflies-migrating-socal/

The swarm has been spotted at the wineries in Temecula Valley. What a perfect weekend to come camp at Bierbaum Pepper Farm!

Check out @belvinowinery on Facebook to see videos of the beautiful swarm. Enjoy a glass of wine and retire to Bierbaum Pepper Farm to relax in the hot tub afterward!


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New Additions to the Farm!

 
The weather is finally clearing up. The rain has renewed our farm. Everything is fresh and green. It’s the perfect time to schedule a camping trip with the family to meet our baby goats! Our little hot peppers, Scotch Bonnet & Chocolate Habanero are excited to meet you too! Use the link below to book your next camping trip! We were Hipcamp’s “Best of 2018” finalist for all of California!
https://www.hipcamp.com/california/bierbaum-pepper-farm/valley-overview-baby-goats-rv

 

The Geminid Meteor Shower! 12-7-18 through 12-16-18

The Geminid meteor shower will reach its maximum rate of activity on 14 December 2018. Bierbaum Pepper Farm is the perfect place to watch this high action meteor shower!

From Bierbaum Pepper Farm, the radiant of the shower will appear 68° above the eastern horizon at midnight. This means you may be able to see around 93 meteors per hour, since the radiant will be high in the sky, maximizing the chance of seeing meteors. That’s a lot of shooting stars!
The best viewing will be after the moon sets.

https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20181214_10_100

Some shooting stars associated with the shower are expected to be visible each night from December 7th through December 16th.

Here is the link to book your camping trip with us:


Book on Hipcamp

It’s 25% off the booking fee (only $15/night!) if you book on a weeknight.

Stargazing Event On The Farm! The Comet 46P/Wirtanen Is Visible 12/13/2018

Bierbaum Pepper Farm is an excellent location for stargazing! We are 30 minutes from any towns with very low light pollution. For amateur astronomers it’s the perfect place to bring your binoculars/telescope and relax under the stars.

On December 13, 2018 The comet 46P/Wirtanen will be visible from Bierbaum Pepper Farm from about 7:00pm to Midnight.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181115.html

Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)

Bierbaum Pepper Farm is an excellent location for stargazing! We are 30 minutes from any towns with very low light pollution. For amateur astronomers it’s the perfect place to bring your binoculars/telescope and relax under the stars.

Palomar Observatory is only a 1.5 hour drive away from us and houses a 200′ telescope!  It was the most important telescope in the world for decades.

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/homepage.html

Map to Palomar Observatory from Bierbaum Pepper Farm

The perfect family trip would be to come camp on the farm, play with our pregnant miniature goats (due to give birth in late January/ early February), tour the Palomar Observatory during the day and stargaze at night!

We offer 25% off the booking fee if you book during a weeknight!

Book your next camping/stargazing trip with us now!


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