Pea Planting Day

Pea Planting Day is a special anniversary for us. February 22 is listed on my planting calendar as the first day to plant peas in the Willamette Valley; it also happens that this is the day W and I got engaged to each other, 46 years ago!

Peas are traditionally the first vegetable sown outside in the spring because they will germinate and grow in very cool soil. We plant peas today to ceremonially kick off the start of the planting season, and also to remind ourselves of the beginnings of our relationship; the day we decided to be together forever.

Agenda Today:

1. Prepare to plant

2. Pea planting ceremony

3. Permaculture pea tips

4. Our huge garden project update

5. Becoming Rooted Reading

1. Prepare to plant:

Since I can't predict the weather, I always turn and prepare the pea bed on a clear day some time in advance of today, to be ready. As I loosen the soil in the pea bed, I remember that plowing is a sacred act of connection to the Earth Spirit, and to my farmer ancestors back in time.

This year our new pea bed is a circle, with a bamboo tepee for our grandson!

2. Pea Planting Ceremony:

Planting is such a basic act of life, and we will plant maybe a hundred seeds this year. Today we plant peas with attention, and we plant together. We plant peas as an offering to the earth, and an offering to our relationship. 

We also drink a little wine, and spill some on the ground, to bless the soil.

3. Permaculture pea tips:

These tips help to make pea growing more efficient, and make use of the whole plant:

• Staggered planting: I'll sow peas every 3 weeks, so I get a harvest over a longer period (starting now and ending mid-April).
• When harvest starts, I'll pick every other day and freeze any I don't eat: Peas are easy; just bag them and put them in the freezer as soon after picking as possible. There is no need to blanch.
• Succession planting: When the first plants begin to slow down, I will snip them at the base (leaving the nitrogen in the ground) and slip in a spinach plant or two.
• Mulch: I don't like to put pea vines into the compost because they are stringy, so I chop them up with a lopper and spread them around as mulch.
• Save seeds: And finally, I will save a few pea pods that have started to turn brown and just leave the seeds in the pods until fall planting time - early August.

4. Our huge garden project update:

Looking north. Foxglove on the left and fava beans on the right

Since our beloved old apple tree came down we've been working on our backyard, and the vegetable garden of our dreams. 

The first step was to sculpt out the beds and paths from the piles of soil.

Looking east, toward new duck yard

And we put in new fencing around the new duck yard and moved the coop to its new location.

Permelia is standing on the stump of our apple tree, in her sunny new duck yard.

Next, we will begin to plant in the duck yard (roses, day lilies, ferns, and other indestructible plants and shrubs), and get wood chips for the garden paths!

5. Becoming Rooted Reading:

I got the book "Becoming Rooted" by Randy Woodley for Christmas (by request). Some of my friends have been gathering weekly on zoom to discuss this book, as part of the "100 days before Earth Day, Reconnecting with Sacred Earth", organized by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

It's a sweet little devotional book. Today's reading (41: Living with Nature) asks, "What areas in your daily life cause calamity in nature? Choose at least one and make a change so that you begin to live with the land and not just on it."

We've lived in this house, on this small plot of land, for 36 years now, more than half our lives, and more than three-quarters of our time together. We are rooted to this place, and the soil seems familiar as I turn it. 

The areas in my life that cause calamity are many, I'm sure, and I'm not aware of them all. I'm working on not buying plastics; I'm working on my relationship with the rat people who live under my back porch; I'm working on improving my garden soil, and learning better composting techniques; I'm working on buying organic, local foods.