sea of peas

sea of peas
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

This is a fun thing around our house: the two boys and I pick the ripe peas from our garden, then we sit down in the back yard and have a "Pea Party." I zip open the pods and we tell stories about the pea people that are inside. They are usually brothers, and their names are like Peter Paul Patrick Pedro Pavel and, I don't know, Grak. Various adventures befall each pea brother until he meets his grisly end between the gnashing teeth of a small child.

The kids love the peas and they love the stories and I am completely in love with the fact that my children eat peas enthusiastically.

These peas are variety 'Lincoln' from Pinetree Garden Seeds. Planted directly in the garden by small children in earliest March. Soaked in water for 24 hours before planting, soil amended with ash from the fireplace. They have been very abundant, very very sweet, and were ready to pick by late May. Supposed to keep setting pods thru July - we shall see.

Also, they freeze beautifully I just found out.

UPDATE: July 7. The peas are done. We had a ton of rain and that might be what finished them, but now the vines are brown and dead and I ripped them out to make more room for the cucumbers, which love all this rain and are going crazy.