Friday 11 July 2008

Easy Peasy!

Today saw the first harvest of the pea variety I have grown this year, Feltham First Earlies. Since planting them back in March, I have had the pleasure of watching them flourish and produce abundant amounts of pods hanging over every square inch of pea foliage. The weight of the pods has really dragged some of the plants down their canes where they currently rest on the floor for the snails and slugs to have a go at ...a little job to do this weekend I think!

I picked peas for a good hour and a half and filled one side of the double sink in the kitchen. It felt like forever as I shelled them all afternoon and it really surprised me how many maggots had managed to force their way into the pods and set up home. A nice evening treat for the chickens, not just peas but little wriggly things too!

After the shelling, came the blanching, where the peas were plunged into boiling water for a minute and a half before being left to cool. We now have a winter supply of lovely peas in the freezer to keep us going until next year. Quite good really when all I spent was 1.59 for a packet of pea seeds, it really does make sense!

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