🌶️ Why I’m Adding Hot Peppers to the Growing Group

A Purpose-Driven Choice Shaped by Recovery and Ongoing Heart Care

As As We Grow With Purpose continues to evolve, I’m adding hot peppers to the original group of six plants—not casually, and not as a trend—but as a decision shaped by lived experience, recovery, and very specific personal needs.

A few years ago, I experienced a major stroke, followed by open-heart surgery. Recovery didn’t end when I left the hospital. It became a long-term, ongoing process—one that requires awareness, consistency, and intentional daily choices.

This is where growing my own plants, indoors and year-round, became more than a project. It became part of how I support my own recovery and long-term heart maintenance.

Hot peppers are being added with that exact purpose in mind.

❤️ Recovery Changes How You Choose

When you’ve lived through a major medical event, your perspective shifts.

You stop looking for:

• Quick fixes

• Extreme approaches

• One-size-fits-all advice

And you start looking for:

• Consistency

• Gentle, repeatable support

• Small daily actions that add up over time

Hot peppers fit into that mindset.

They are powerful in very small amounts, easy to integrate, and align with the kind of intentional, nutrition-based approach I now prioritize as part of my ongoing recovery and heart-focused maintenance.

🌶️ Why Hot Peppers Specifically Support My Needs

Hot peppers contain capsaicin, a naturally occurring plant compound known for its warming and stimulating qualities. For my personal situation—post-stroke and post–open-heart surgery—this matters.

Used thoughtfully, hot peppers:

• Encourage warmth and circulation

• Support metabolic activity

• Add stimulation without requiring large quantities

• Reinforce awareness and moderation in daily routines

This is not about pushing limits. It’s about supporting movement, flow, and balance in ways that are sustainable long term.

🌱 How Hot Peppers Complement the Original 6 Plants

The original six plants were chosen carefully to create a balanced, supportive foundation. Hot peppers don’t replace any of them—they add a new layer.

How they fit into the system

• With Dandelion: Adds warmth to a grounding, mineral-rich plant

• With Peppermint: Creates contrast—heat and cooling working together

• With Basil: Enhances circulation while keeping food aromatic and enjoyable

• Separate from Mullein & Plantain: Allowing soothing and structural plants to remain gentle and neutral

Each plant still has its role. Hot peppers simply fill a gap that became clear through recovery.

🌿 Everyday, Practical Uses

Because of their strength, hot peppers naturally encourage mindful use—which aligns perfectly with heart-focused routines.

Simple examples

• A small amount added to meals

• Dried and powdered peppers used sparingly

• Infused oils prepared carefully and used intentionally

A little goes a long way. That’s exactly the point.

🏠 Growing Hot Peppers Indoors, With Purpose

Hot peppers also meet all the practical requirements I’ve set for indoor growing:

• Thrive in containers

• Grow well with the Kratky method

• Produce over long periods

• Take up minimal space

• Can be harvested gradually

This makes them ideal for apartments, small grow tents, kitchens, and shelves—just like the rest of the plant group.

🌱 Recovery Is Ongoing — So Are the Choices

Recovery from a stroke and open-heart surgery doesn’t have an endpoint. It becomes part of how you live, how you eat, how you move, and how you care for yourself.

Adding hot peppers is part of that ongoing process:

• Listening to my body

• Responding with intention

• Choosing plants that serve a clear, personal purpose

And just as importantly—choosing options that others can also grow, learn from, and adapt to their own needs.

🤍 Built Without Judgment, Shared With Compassion

Everything within As We Grow With Purpose is shared without judgment.

This is not advice.
This is not a prescription.
This is lived experience, openly shared.

For those in Oshawa, I’ll continue showing how these plants—and the supplies to grow them—can often be sourced at little to no cost, because access to real options matters.

🌶️ Growing Forward, With Intention

Hot peppers aren’t an add-on.
They are a purpose-driven response to recovery, heart-focused maintenance, and long-term self-care.

One more plant. One more layer of awareness. Still growing with purpose. 🌱

As We Grow With Purpose — FIFE: Food Is For Everyone