pea pickin

Some would call the process of pea pickin frustrating.  Searching out all the just developing thin green pods from the plants themselves is much like trying to solve one of those "what is different" pictures or at least for me it is. I look at the plants as they all blend into huge piles of pea  greenery mess because those dang tendrils never grasp on to the trellis you provide for  them, instead they grasp the neighboring plant (now that I think about it, it is much like the hair dreading process). The flowers do stick out   amongst the greenery unfortunately where the flowers are is not where the ripe harvest is as the flowers drop off just before they are ready. Needless to say pea picking means scanning the vines, plucking the ones that stick out ( and then repetitive scanning and very gently moving the plants around to look down in the mess. Of course this itself is a chore not only because of those dang tendrils but pea plants are incredibly wimpy and fragile and  will snap off with the slightest bit of movement in the wrong direction. It doesn't matter how long  we sit n stare into the green we always miss a few to come back the next day to a fully developed behemoth size pod that we look at  and wonder how we happened to miss THAT.

Over the years rather than be frustrated with  combing the pea vines I have learned there is something  magical about it. I suppose I could insert the word zenful  but we live in a zen free zone here on the homestead (don't ask why),so it is simply magical. The key to it is relaxing and concentrating fully on the task at hand. I liken it to a meditation of sorts where I completely lose myself into the task at hand enjoying the scents and sounds coming from with in the mass of plants. It is relaxing, stress relieving  and comforting to me and has become my excuse to go play in the garden at any given moment in the early summer months.

We have just begun harvesting peas in large enough amounts that I can begin dehydrating them along with having some to throw in our meals.  I don't tend to weigh things since we don't   have a scale and I find it easier to measure things by the meal rather than weight. I find that it gives me a better idea on things when I know I have 64 meals preserved in some fashion as opposed to 27 pounds of something preserved. Three pounds of greens is much different than three pounds of  carrots. Most of the peas that we are not eating fresh this season will be dehydrated. Although  I prefer frozen peas over dehydrated, we are trying our best to eliminate the freezer (again) this year. It was a goal we failed miserably at last season  and are really trying to accomplish this one.