Whipporwill peas are one heirloom southern pea from which we salvaged enough seed for next year.
Good afternoon. We’re back from our holidays in New England feeling rejuvenated, and ordering is open for Wednesday, the 2nd. Christmas was an excellent time to put the farm on the back burner for a little while, and now, after some much needed beauty rest, we’re very excited for the 2019 season. We had some major disappointments in 2018, as well as some successes, but we’re confident that we can learn from our mistakes (while praying for better weather). March already can’t come soon enough!
Most of our plans for 2019 involve doubling down on things we do well like kale, squash, potatoes, while also cutting out some of our biggest flops like cabbage and cauliflower.
One exception is dry beans. We had big plans for legumes this year and seeded over 2 acres. After a summer of drought and deluge, we harvested almost nothing, but next year we’ll be at it again. We were however successful at growing out enough of some rare heirloom bean and pea seeds so as to put those varieties into production next year.
One of those varieties is a drought tolerant southern pea (today’s black-eyed peas) called Whipporwill, which was brought to the US through the slave trade and was grown at Monticello. We’ll be tasting these tiny peas tomorrow as the traditional “red pea” in our new year’s Hopping John, along with some homegrown mustard greens and a friend’s pork. We’ll let you know how it is and hopefully we’ll have loads for you next winter. Happy New Year!
Me at the Harvard Fogg Museum enjoying some modern potato art and confirming that fresh potatoes are indeed powerful.