September 3, 2016. It seems like ages since I have written in my garden journal. The subject today is Crowder peas. I have just shelled a bag full and am planning to cook them tonight. They bring back memories of my mother who loved them. She and my father liked all kinds of Southern country cooking....e.g turnips, mustard greens, corn, fried chicken, blackberry pies. I didn't like any of the greens but could take an ample quantity of the last three.
Today I picked a bagful of the Crowder peas. We had planted them last spring in our watermelon patch at the food bank garden. I figured they will get along well with the watermelon since the peas grow up and the watermelon spirals out. Turned out to be a great combination except that I forgot we planted them and one of the other volunteers and I almost pulled them up thinking they were weeds.
Oops...we let them grow and some other volunteers asked, when can we pick the peas? I didn't know
but we picked some that were still on the green side. They were tiny but tasted ok raw. This week we had a group of 15 managers from the Food Lion Supermarkets. Although several of them weren't familiar with growing produce.Thankfully, there was one manager who knew when to pick the peas! Yeah! Pick them when the shells are red. He was so right.
Tonight I'm going to test them so I will post the results and my recipe.
Oh, I forgot to say that growing Crowder peas was suggested by Mary Jac Brennan, one of the Forsyth County Extension Agents. Not only did they taste good, but they also serve as a cover crop to fix nitrogen in the soil, as do all legumes. You can't beat that....you eat them and they do something else good.
Today I picked a bagful of the Crowder peas. We had planted them last spring in our watermelon patch at the food bank garden. I figured they will get along well with the watermelon since the peas grow up and the watermelon spirals out. Turned out to be a great combination except that I forgot we planted them and one of the other volunteers and I almost pulled them up thinking they were weeds.
Oops...we let them grow and some other volunteers asked, when can we pick the peas? I didn't know
Tonight I'm going to test them so I will post the results and my recipe.
Oh, I forgot to say that growing Crowder peas was suggested by Mary Jac Brennan, one of the Forsyth County Extension Agents. Not only did they taste good, but they also serve as a cover crop to fix nitrogen in the soil, as do all legumes. You can't beat that....you eat them and they do something else good.
