Usually when I think of peas I think of cool spring weather and the beginning of some weight in the farm share. This year, I think the weight they are giving us is in perspiration from all the heat!!! Happily though the peas are still sweet and seem to be surviving, even though they are a cool weather crop.

How Do I eat Peas? The peas on the left in the above photo are SHELL PEAS and the peas on the right are SUGAR SNAP PEAS. Shell peas, you shell and eat the peas inside; sugar snap peas you snap off the top and eat the entire pea. I had several folks ask, “why can’t I eat the pod of the shell pea?”…it’s just genetics, their shell is kind of tough and stringy, it’s not because I laced them with some crazy chemical : )

Both can be eaten raw or cooked. I like to throw the shell peas in pasta and just let the heat of the pasta cook them a bit…or in salads…The snaps I eat raw like a snack.

What is the nutritional value of peas? Green peas, botanically classified as a fruit (I didn’t know that!!! Did I mention that I do have my BS in Botany?) have been used as vegetable, for cooking purposes, since ages. They can be described as the small, spherical seeds or the pods of the legume Pisum sativum. Green peas are mainly cultivated during the cool season i.e. from the start of winters to early-summers. Apart from being very rich in protein, they hold a high nutritional value in the form of vitamins and minerals too.

Shell Peas growing on the vine. These guys grow low, like a ground cover, and are harvested by hand plucking them off the pant while I crawl on my knees from plant to plant…

Sugar Snap Peas grow on a tall vine (up t0 7 feet tall) and need to be trellised. These too are hand plucked from the plant, but I am able to stand up for most of this harvest (whew!).

Baby Turkeys on the loose!!! These guys are only 3 weeks old, but it has been so warm, I decided to let them out a little earlier than usual. They are LOVING it!