Shelling Peas

During our camping trip in Wisconsin, my older sister drove past an Amish house with signs advertising fresh vegetables for sale. From the women's kitchen, my sister bought fresh baked loaves of bread, beans, peas, radishes, greens, tomatoes, and a few other wonderful fresh vegetables.

Most of these vegetables were eaten by the family while camping (the green beans were just fantastic), but I was given the peas (still in their pods) to take home. I was initially very excited by the big plastic bags of pea pods and imagined all kinds of exciting possibilities. However, when I got home and mentioned the peas to Ken, he wasn't immediately inspired to use them. Time passed and we ate several pea-less dinners.

One evening while Ken was at work, I was (once again) scrounging through the fridge looking for something to eat for dinner. I ran across the bag of peas buried in the vegetable drawer and nearly passed them by again. But I paused and decided to pull them out to check if they were still eatable. I realized, while examining the pea pods, that the reason we hadn't eaten these peas yet was that shelling hundreds of peas was a chore that neither Ken nor I was excited to complete. I remember helping my mother shell peas, snap beans, and clean corn on the deck as a child, but I can't ever remember shelling peas as an adult... it was just too much work. I decided that these peas needed to be shelled immediately. Some were already too woody and were going to sprout soon, so I sat down to work.

At first, I wasn't even sure if I remembered how to shell peas correctly and thought I might have to look it up on-line. But after a bit I got myself organized and settled into the cadence of a repetitive task. To the ping of the peas hitting the bowl, my thoughts started to wander. I thought about gardening and cooking, my mother, simple tasks, and the slow quiet reflection they inspire. It was very pleasant to take time to sit quietly and reflect on life. I think the next time I find myself considering whether or not to shell peas, I'll try to think of it as an opportunity instead of a chore.

After shelling the peas, I steamed a small portion of them to eat. They were very good, and hardly comparable to frozen store-bought peas. I wonder how I ever convinced myself that the frozen peas were just as good. Oh well.

Look for a post about what we did with the rest of the peas sometime soon.