Let there be peas on earth.....and let it begin with meeeeeeeee......
I'm feeling rather perky (and quirky) today, for I've got PEAS!
My first pea harvest provided enough for a generous lunch serving for me and David, and about a quart of peas-in-the-pod to share with my mother. She also got some baby beets and beet greens, and some onions. She was tickled. It's become a regular Saturday-morning routine for me to call her and say, "Are you ready for your vegetable shipment of the week?" Then I tell her to come pick it up, so it's not really a shipment, per se, but she's not complaining. She's pretty jazzed that I have a garden. She lives a few blocks away, and she hustles on up here as fast as she can to haul away her take.
These are Amish Snap peas from Seed Savers Exchange. These are from the second planting of peas I made this spring. As I figured out afterward, the first planting was of a mid-season variety (and they are coming along beautifully, by the way). These are an early-season variety. So even with a later planting date, you just can't fool that foxy Mother Nature. She knows exactly what's up and what's down, that woman.
The way my mother and grandmother always cooked the first peas of the season was to cook (boil, steam, whatever) them slightly til tender and bright green, add them to boiled baby potatoes, then finish them with milk and butter, salt and pepper, heated up to just below the boiling point. I didn't plant potatoes this year, but I think I might have to go search for some so I can make that treat from my childhood. This is the very first year I've had success growing peas...I think it's worth a bit of an indulgence, don't you?
Yum...new peas and baby potatoes...such a treat. It's definitely worth the search to find some new potatoes as a way to celebrate you successful pea harvest.
Posted by: NerdGirl | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 12:40 AM
Wow. They look yummy. beats, too. What a colorful array of veggies mom must have taken. Spectacular!
Posted by: Ann | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 07:13 AM
Those peas are just beautiful! and yes, go get yourself some baby potatoes and indulge... how's your mom's tomatoes?
Posted by: marianne | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 07:33 AM
Emmmmm! Love fresh peas in a pod. My kids don't like peas of any kind. They used to sing "little green balls of mushy poison" whenever I'd serve them. Came from a book, I think, possibly a Judith Viorst? Can't remember.
Posted by: Chris | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 07:58 AM
The peas are GORGEOUS!! Oh yum.
Posted by: margene | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 08:07 AM
Nice job! I love peas esp raw right out of the pod. I grew them once without much success and it wasn't worth all of the work I put into them. Now that I see your harvest, I'll have to make a point of trying again next year. I used to help my mom shell peas as a child on the font step.
Sounds like you've given your mom the gift of a free CSA subscription out of your garden! Doesn't get any better than that! How is her self-waterer coming along?
Posted by: Manise | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 08:35 AM
We got peas this week and I just love fresh peas so I'm quite happy about the whole thing. We got beets, too. yay!
Posted by: Carole | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 08:47 AM
OOOH, those look wonderful. They're definitely worth a treat! (I, however, would probably just eat them all raw, likely half of them before they got to that bowl.)
Posted by: naomi | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 09:06 AM
they look so yummy!!
Posted by: kathleen | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 09:34 AM
my local farm stand had/has peas (i was assured that there would be peas for a couple more weeks) and they were so yummy. i like peas anyway, but slightly boiled (just long enough for them to float back to the top of the water) with salt and they were fantastic.
Posted by: maryse | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 09:36 AM
Holy Crap, your peas look fabulous!! :O
I'm kinda jealous. Some of mine got a sun burn.
I'm loving your garden/harvest photo's Norma.
*OtterHuggles*
Posted by: KnittyOtter | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Mmmm ... fresh, snap peas ....
Posted by: --Deb | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Worth an indulgence? Absolutely.
Worth the ear worm you've just given me? Dunno about that...
sigh.
Posted by: Rachel H | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Spin the bowl and visualized whirled peas.
You make my mouth water.
Posted by: Roxie | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 11:47 AM
I'm with Rachel H on that one, dude. And for some reason I can only hear it sung in children's hyper-off-tune voices.
Kumbaya.
Posted by: Lee Ann | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 11:55 AM
I just had a flash remembering eating raw peas in a friend's yard as a kid. Mmmm, thanks for the memory! I don't have any veggies yet, but my thyme, basil and rosemary and growing and giving us a taste of things to come, pun intended.
Posted by: Sunnyknitter | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 12:45 PM
All we are saying, is give peas a chance....
What a great photo! Makes me want to come up there for dinner. And: WE'VE GOT BEETS! That is very admirable. I should have planted beets. What was I thinking.
really.
Posted by: sandy | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 01:10 PM
Peas, glorious peas! I eat the first spring ones raw. Mmm, mmm, mmm!
Posted by: Kristen | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 01:30 PM
Very beautiful! (You could have notecards made from some of your pictures, they are so good!) I got enough peas today to bring to a family birthday party!
Posted by: Marcia Cooke | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Mouth watering!
Posted by: Teresa C | Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 10:59 PM
If you can come up with a few baby carrots to add to the peas and potatoes, that's pretty tastey too!
Posted by: Evalyn | Monday, June 30, 2008 at 02:33 PM