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, 49 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:

1. Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Review essential intentions

3. Pea planting ceremony

4. Permaculture pea tips

5. Penology Journal

1. Read "The Serviceberry":

Today I'm reading from "The Serviceberry", by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024). I got this sweet little book for Christmas. 

"In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away."

2. Review Essential Intentions:

This week I'm reviewing and recommitting to my core values, and writing new intentions. I ask-

How do I define each of my values?

Why do I value them? Why is it so important to me?

What right action or good deeds do I intend each day?

How do I intend to live, to support and demonstrate my values?

When I turn my values into intentions, they become a pledge for action in the moment - they remind me of my deepest, most essential, most passionate reasons for leading a valuable life. It's vital for me to define my values and principles in a way that touches me at my core, and hone each one down to a phrase that will be useful, day in and day out.

I'm working at this a little each day:

I intend to be an Earth-Caregiver - I will love and nurture the nature I live with, ground myself in the reality of the environmental situation, be a strong voice for the earth, discern the actions I am led to take, and act with bravery and integrity, because Earthcare is the essential, overarching priority for action; we have no other planet to live on.

3. Pea Planting Ceremony:

Planting is such a basic act of life, and we will plant maybe a hundred seeds this year. Today we plant the first seeds - a few 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.

4. Permaculture pea tips:

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

• Soak the seed: Last night I put a few peas (for planting today) into a bowl with some warm water.
• 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.

5. Phenology journal:

Phenology is the study of cyclic and seasonal changes in nature. It's nature's calendar - when flowers bloom, leaves break bud, birds begin migrating, leaves change color and begin to fall, and so on. Farmers and gardeners use phenology to develop a planting schedule. Researchers observe changes in phenology as an indicator of the vulnerability of species and communities to changes in climate.

This year I've been recording the phenology in my garden to broaden my awareness, deepen my connection to the wildlife around me, and to better understand the calendar of my environment and how it is changing. I'm focusing on a few native plants and personal favorites in my yard, the birds at my feeder, and some specific patches of leaf mulch (for insects).

We had generally colder and drier weather than usual in early February, with the coldest temperature being 20ºF on February 12th. (I only had to break the duck water a couple of times, though - not as bad as January.) We had a little snow, and some wintery mix, but our precipitation is half of our norm. For the last week it's been in the balmy 50's, with a high of 56ºF on February 20th.

February 22, 2025, Phenology Notes:

• 

  Red flowering currant

  General: Sunrise = 6:58 am; Sunset = 5:53 pm; Day length = almost 11 hours (almost an hour longer than last month!). Temperature high = 56; Low = 20.

• Rainfall so far this year: 6.8 in.

• Birds: Fewer birds overall than last month, but still our regular array of chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, stellar jay's, and finches. Also, my Anna's hummer. And a varied thrush in our back hedge.

• Plants: Oregon Sunshine - no new buds; Daffodils - taller; Yarrow- lots of new growth; Red-flowering currant- swelling buds; Snowberry- bare; Milkweed- dormant. 

Camellia #1 has begun to bloom; Pretty clump of Snowdrop in back opened this week, and also crocuses in front.

• Insects: Found a box elder bug indoors this week - Grandson #1 saved it.

• Fungi