Pea harvest, 2019

One third of the pea harvest, Aug 2019

I was thinking that maybe I'd get a medium sized jarful of dry peas this year, but it turns out I've got a whole sackful.  The mother helped me pull up all the plants at the allotment once the pods were all dry (in late July), we loaded them all up in the wheelbarrow and got them home.  I let them dry another two weeks on the vines in the garage, then the son and I have been threshing them a batch at a time.

We'd really like to be able to just thresh them straight off the vines, but don't have a sack big enough, so have been pulling off the pods and chucking them into a canvas bag;  once the bag's full, we hang it up and the son starts thwacking it with a big stick, pinata style.  The empty pods rise up to the top and the heavy peas sink to the bottom, making them easy to winnow.  I've been throwing the empty pods and vines into the chicken yard as straw (they're still mostly confined there, much to their misery).

I planted around 500 pea seeds in February, and though I don't have a final total, I would estimate I've harvested a few pounds of dry peas.  I hope to double the amount next year:  1000 seeds.  I've definitely got room for them at the allotment.  And we'll look forward to some lovely mushy peas later in the year.