Peas

I have been harvesting peas in a variety of forms lately- sugar snap peas, snow peas and, for Kai, shelling peas. He likes them straight out of the pod. It's funny how some varieties do better than others depending on the year. This year the super sugar snap peas grew too tall for me to reach, but the sugar ann snap peas are dinky little things. It took 2 plantings this year to get a decent row of peas. I didn't grow enough to freeze- they seem to get mushy after freezing and reheating so I don't bother. I might try freezing the shelling peas next year if I grow enough. The chickens like to munch on the pea leaves- they pick at them through the fence.

I've been using the peas in different ways. Our favorite this year is pasta with carbonara sauce and peas- you can find the recipe on Jamie Oliver's site. I use all the types of peas.

Another favorite is pasta with peas and clam sauce. I just finely chop some garlic scapes, and saute them in olive oil for a couple of minutes. Then I add shelled peas and chopped snow and snap peas, clam juice, chopped parsley, and 2 small cans of chopped clams. Cook for a couple of minutes, but make sure the peas are still crunchy. Serve over pasta with some grated asiago cheese.

Speaking of chickens, they haven't been laying many eggs lately. We have 7 hens so we should be getting at least 4-5 per day. Today we got one egg! A couple of weeks ago I found that one of the hens had a rogue nest, and by that time she had 19 eggs in it. There are a couple of other nests in the shrubbery, but they don't have eggs in them anymore. I might have to follow the ladies around tomorrow to see if they have other hiding spots.