After the peas

Over Summer we grow a large variety of peas and beans.

Many of these are eaten and sold as they are, some are dried on racks for eating in soups and stews over Winter, some are frozen and some are saved for replanting next season.

When they are in season bean and pea plants are so prolific that at times we harvest them several times a day.

I love harvesting them and getting lost in all that green.


After the first frosts come the plants turn brown very quickly and we gather the last of the pods.

This is what it looked like after the chooks had spent a few weeks in there eating the leftovers, scratching the ground and generally cleaning it up and fertilizing it with their poo.

I can't believe this is my fourteenth post and already I am talking about poo!

After the chooks have done their thing we pull down the trellises and yank up the irrigation lines.

The ground is then plowed up and we sow a crop of oats that will grow lush and green over Winter and be plowed back into the soil in Spring to add organic matter and carbon to it. This is called a green manure crop.

Over Winter the soil grows a crop that feeds it and come Spring it will be ready to start planting lots of organic vegie goodies all over again.

It is funny to think that in six months time the last photo will look like the first photo all over again.