That lil old pea picker

Legacy peas

     This time of year harvest is in full swing.  Today I picked the final planting of shell peas for the year (Legacy variety).  Shell peas are one of my two favorite vegetables.  It does take a long time to shell them.  It took a bit over an hour today.  I usually sit in front of the television and shell as I watch something we have recorded so I feel productive while watching tv. (Today I watched a dvr recording of Terra Nova where gardening was definitely looked down on.  I suppose the challenges of the garden don't make for quite as gripping a tv show as being a cop).

Shelled peas

After the shells were removed, we blanched the peas for two minutes in boiling water, and then froze the peas on trays.  We will put them in vacuum sealed bags tomorrow, label them, and return them to the freezer.  While I don't think freezing peas is really an economical thing to do, I enjoy the process of picking, eating them while picking, shelling, and freezing them.  My little dog loves fresh peas too, and waits for me to give her some of the peas while I'm shelling them.
     Finally today I did another round of bean picking and processing.  I had four different varieties of beans to pick today, and then processed them by snapping off their ends.  They will spend the night in the refrigerator, and then get blanched and frozen tomorrow.

green beans