I have purple thumbs....

Purple Thumbs ???


Yes... They are a dark purple from shelling a mountain of peas.





Mom and Papa Joe sent home with my Aunt and Uncle (who live in town)a ton of peas for us from their farm. Pretty pink eye purple hull peas.


I guess actually it was more like a bushel, but it seemed like a ton, since I was the one doing all the shelling.





Yesterday I shelled peas and shelled peas and shelled peas, and cursed the peas that went flying across the room, and fussed at the peas that slid down under the cushion of the chair. I shelled until I just could not shell another pea. I did finally finished shelling this morning and now I type with Purple thumbs.






I guess you could say I have been pea-ing. I still have to get them in the freezer along with canning some tomatoes.


My grandfather always had a large garden with lots of peas. Rows and rows of peas. Some of my earliest memories are waking up at my grandparents house, to find my self alone. Everyone was already out in the garden while it was cool, picking peas, corn, beans, okra, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I would hurry out, bare feet dodging the fire ant beds, to the garden in the field beside their home. I don't think I really picked too many veggies. I just did not want to miss anything. They might be having fun with out me.





As children, my sister and I always called the peas from my grandparents garden ....Paw Paw Peas. I don't think we really ate any peas that were not Paw Paw Peas. As long as my grandfather was alive and able.... he had peas, tons and tons of peas. Enough peas to feed half his town. He would say he had to plant enough for his family and the deer. He did.

In the evening, everyone would sit around the t.v. with a bowl in their lap and a paper sack at their feet shelling peas. I would rummage in the sacks and gather the prettiest of the shells. Then, I would glue the shells onto construction paper in abstract arrangements. Showing off the shades of green and purple.

While shelling, I still wanted to separate the prettiest of the shells, but I didn't.





Maybe I should have....



p.s. Thanks for the peas.