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Derek Powazek

@fraying.bsky.social
5.3K followers 472 following 22K posts

I used to make websites (Blogger, JPG Mag, Fray). I wrote the book “Design for Community.” Now I grow flowers and keep animals at milkbarn.farm in Boring, Oregon. No dooming in my replies. There's already enough doom in the world.

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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 19h
Pippi loves fall.
Pippi is a black- and- white dog. She is sitting at the base of a big leaf maple tree, covered in leaves. She looks very happy.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 19h
Today's pepper haul. 🌶️
Many peppers in many buckets
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Everything I harvested yesterday. Today, more. www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLjkGh1h/
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Put on your best Captain America face and say:
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Heather is traveling for work this week and Lola has already decided that she's the detective in a crime drama and I'm the suspicious husband character.
Lola the Chihuahua sitting on the couch eyeing me suspiciously.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Concurrent pepper project on this fine Sunday: smoking jalapeños until they become chipotles. (Thank you for the smoker, @amye.org and @jperrin.bsky.social!)
Jalapeño peppers on the smoker
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Yes, Powazek pickled a pack of peppers.
Many jars of green and red peppers
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Pickled 8 quart jars of Pepperoncinis and decided I had enough so the goats helped me dispose of the rest. (Don't worry, they're not spicy.)
Two brown goats noshing on red peppers
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There is a woman in Kentucky who writes things on the back of her car to piss off her MAGA neighbors. And I have to admit, this one is particularly inspired. www.tiktok.com/t/ZPLR4mLYV/
"I'm just glad I don't have to listen to Charley Kirk defend the Cornell 7" written on the back of a car
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Harvested some Aleppo peppers. 🌶️
A bunch of red peppers in the sink
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yesterday, when I was talking about how hot peppers outproduce mild peppers, I clearly forgot about the humble Shishito.
A five-gallon bucket full of shishito peppers
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hi, Button.
Button is a little goat with blue eyes. He is currently chewing on my pocket
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And finally, two days later, I have blended up the dehydrated tomato paste, and we have tomato powder. 3 gallons of tomatoes condensed down to 3 cups of powder.
3 gallons of tomatoes, condensed down to about 3 cups of powder.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Timeline cleanse! Spend a moment watching garlic ferment in honey with me.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Ran out of sunlight before I ran out of peppers to harvest. More tomorrow. 🌶️
Multicolored peppers in many containers 
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
First White Naga pepper. Whoever said this plant was prolific was underselling it. I'm going to have way too many of these. 1M SHU.
Me holding a perfect white pepper. A bucket of them.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
These hand grenades are Tom's Giant Peach Scorpion. They're enormous and dangerously spicy at around 1.5M SHU.
My hand holding three enormous yellow wrinkly pepper bombs
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
First California Reaper! They ripen to this yellow/peach color. this is a thoroughly evil pepper that is supposed to be 1.5 million SHU.
A peach, lumpy, evil looking pepper
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I *thought* I had a high tolerance! But now I'm not so sure. And yay! I've got a few jars going myself.
Five half gallon jars of fermenting peppers
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
18 hours later and the tomato paste is like fruit leather, but we need it to be totally crispy, so I peeled it off of the paper and am continuing to dehydrate it on the racks.
Tomato paste on the dehydrator racks
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hershey says good morning. Make sure you're registered to vote.
Hershey is a brown and white goat with blue eyes looking at the camera with love in his heart
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Cooked enough water out now that the paste can go on trays in the dehydrator.
A pot of tomato pasteSpread on trays And into the dehydrator
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Update: Bari Weiss just hired him at CBS. www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8w1KU6r/
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Today I am very slowly turning this 3-gallon pot of blended tomatoes into tomato powder. Going to cook it down here in this pot until it's thick enough to spoon onto trays for the dehydrator.
Stainless steel pot full of red liquid
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Original Star Wars opening crawl
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The sauce must flow.
Tomatoes in a pot
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
You know the gift links look like this, right?
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I pickled some peppers, even though my back hurts.
Five jars of pickled peppers
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Bring back RSS www.axios.com/newsletters/...
Traffic to news sites is plummeting in the U.S. as tech giants steer people away from search and toward AI.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I’m gonna be honest here. I’m afraid of these peppers. They look like they mean to do me harm. 🌶️
Pockmark ghost peppers, whiteish pink on top, purple on bottom.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Happy to report that the Blueberry Honey strain does indeed smell like blueberries and honey. Should be ready to harvest in a week or two.
A very large cannabis flower
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Okay this kicks ass.
Incredibly spicy salsa Roja on a spoon
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Okay. Here we go.
Roasted veggies in a blender with spices and salt and vinegar and other shit
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Don’t touch it - it’s evil.
Blackened ghost pepper
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Costars: rehydrated guajillo and ancho peppers from last year.
Peppers rehydrating in a hot water bath in a silver bowl
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Okay, fine. One more batch of salsa roja. This time with one special guest, a red ghost pepper.
Tomatoes and jalapeños on a tray for roasting, with my hand holding one evil red pepper.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Now I just cook this down until it’s the consistency I like.
Tomato sauce in a pot
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Milled. All the solids go to the dehydrator to make delicious tomato powder.
Using the food mill to remove seeds and skins from the tomato sauce The solids spread out on a dehydrator sheet
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Blended.
Tomato sauce in a pot
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Saucemaking will continue until morale improves.
A pot of tomatoes …… slowly becoming sauce.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
At a new friend’s place yesterday and got to throw an axe for the first time and this happened. So I guess I need to get into axe throwing now.
An axe stuck in a target in the center 
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Already have many jars on the shelf, and many bags in the freezer. Moving on to salsa roja tonight.
A tray of roasted jalapeños and tomatoes
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
To Do List.
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
TikTok remains a genuinely strange place.
My video has been reposted by huge cock 61
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Before / After
Selecting any text before turning off writing tools. Note the anus icon.After turning off writing tools. Note the blessed lack of anus icon
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
YES! Screen Time can be used to turn it off. Begone, anus icon!
Using screen time Siri settings to set writing assistance to don’t allow 
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is how Lola reminds me that it’s dinner time.
A Chihuahua looking over her head at me with big brown eyes
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Doing more magic.
A simmering pot full of tomatoes with some peppers and spices
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Making more candy.
A rack of dehydrated cherry tomatoes
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Derek Powazek @fraying.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Seven pints!
Seven glass pint jars of tomato sauce
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