There is something comforting about the return of a beloved harvest. It is a bit like the return of an old friend. Familiar, exciting, busy, and oh so yummy…yes…very much like a visit from a dear old friend. Pea season has come again for us. Plump little green pods fill the tangled mass of plants in the garden bed. Deceptively hollow sounding as they knock together while little hands (and big!) search for ripe pods. Not hollow at all, but rather filled with neat tidy little rows of healthy green peas, this is truly a vegetable to please mama and littles alike. I appreciate the order and consistency and general sanity (which is so lacking at times around here that even finding it in a pea pod is calming!) of the neat little row of peas. While the littles have yet to lose an ounce of fascination with opening up the plump little pods and one by one eating those yummy little bits of green. Today actually, a (very dirty) little man cub figured out his own way to get inside the pods unaided…it involves both teeth and fingers and is quite darling to watch. And oh is he proud! 
All the peas picked must be shelled! We have been (surprised) and pleased that our little girl really enjoyed shelling peas with us this season. The surprise and pleasure wasn’t in her enjoyment of the work…she loves to work with us…but that peas were actually shelled and collected rather than eaten. It is true that a massive amount of peas have been eaten by both of them! In fact yesterday she told me that her favorite meal was strawberries and peas. 
Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura, and Baby Carrie joined us yesterday as we shelled peas together. It was quite lovely actually. The repetitive and productive handwork of shelling peas, not to mention the important work of helping the family, combined with enriching and inspiring stories of another little girl hard at work to help her own family, is an education that I am so thrilled to be able to join my children in. It is real life. Healthy and good…green and delicious.
Welcome back Pea Season you yummy old friend!
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