Kick-Ass Radishes

 I went to Deb's for Small Group Ministry, where we talked about Change and Transformation. Interesting and personal stuff. Then I went by the hospital, where my Mom was having arthroscopic knee surgery. I didn't see her, but my Dad was in the waiting room and we went to the cafeteria so he could have some lunch. It was pretty bland, but he did eat.

I went on to the Land Trust for a couple of hours, working on the upcoming bike ride, looking for a band. There is a band that a couple of people liked, but its name is The Welfare Liners. We can't very well have an event and publicize that! We have leads, but would like to get that settled. How many riders have registered? Two. Trying not to be discouraged. I was still kind of tired and sore from the weekend and anxious about my Mom, so I left. I went to the t-shirt place, which is worth writing about in itself. Run by two sisters: Kathy and Jackie. Jackie made me eat ice cream and gave me a hug when I left.

When I got to the hospital, my Mom was just leaving. She was fairly alert and showed me her giant bandaged knee. I talked to my Dad later in the evening as he was making her bacon and eggs. She is supposed to walk on it a lot, oddly enough.

I bought a few things at Kroger and Ray met me there and we went home. Ah! The chickens, like pets, seemed to be mad at us for being gone all day (my parents weren't there either because my Mom had surgery). They had laid three eggs, but two were on the ground, dirty, and one had a cracked place. And the strawberries are getting smaller and fewer, sniff, and something is still eating some of them.

Harvest: mainly peas with broccoli and strawberries

A pound of peas

Last night I picked a pound of peas. It took me 45 minutes and I worked up a sweat. I was proud and elated. Then it took about an hour to shell them all. When I was done, there was just a pound. To grow your own peas, a whole pound of them, is amazing. Previously, we had about a mouthful each and froze three batches of half a cup.

Like any garden vegetable, the ground must be prepared and the seeds planted, weeds pulled, water applied regularly. These peas are a variety named Knight. They are the best we have grown here so far. Oddly, there are two types that came from the seed packet, a short earlier type and a taller one. Most of the small peas have been picked now, and we are starting to get the big ones. Some of the pods have as many as 9 or 10 peas in them. They are fascinating, like so much of Nature, in their variety. One pea in a little pod makes a funny bulgy short thing to pick. An overripe pod can be so full, the peas are square to fill every space. Some pods have small undeveloped peas, as well as normal-sized ones. Were they not fertilized? How does that work, since every pod develops from a flower that must have been pollinated (thank you, bees)? I am sure someone at the university could tell me. There are signs of a fungus or some other sort of infection in just a few of the pods, some crystalline growth that affected only 2 or 3 peas.

Here's the sad part. They were delicious, and I love growing my own. But was it worth it? A pound of frozen peas costs less than $2. Somehow, all their peas are the same, picked at the peak of perfection. Some of mine are a little gone by, dry and starchy; a few were too small to be really good.

There are lots of great things about growing peas. They are one of the first crops to be planted, as early as February, and ready in late April, when not much else is. Bugs don't usually bother them. Although something, maybe a cutworm, killed some of the mature plants at ground level. Not all the peas in a row, about 5 chosen at random. The tops suddenly came loose and died, and the pods didn't finish filling out. Kind of odd. They don't need a lot of fertilizer or care, compared to some things. And they're fun to watch growing, with their grasping tendrils. They will attach themselves to weeds or each other, as well as the fences my Dad put in place for them.

But I think, if I had to live on what I could raise myself, I might skip the peas.

After supper (one of our favorites, noodles with peas, and some delicious simply fried flounder), we froze a half pound of broccoli I had also picked, watched a little TV, read some, and slept pretty well until daylight.