#heirloompeas

[seedkeeping]

The beauty of peas: Pois Geant sans Parchemin blooms and young Risser Sickle Pea pods. Peas are hermaphroditic, each flower containing male and female parts, and usually transferring pollen within one flower, but occasionally getting help from bees and other insects. The oldest remains of peas have been found in Greece, Syria, Turkey and Jordan, and soon after in Egypt. #heirloompeas https://www.instagram.com/p/ByBusIpASXT/?igshid=13uh4mkif7zyu

[seedkeeping]

Blue Pod Capucijner Pea is shelling variety grown in Holland perhaps as early as the 1580s. William Woys Weaver argues that while the Capuchin monks may have had developed and grown a similar pea in their cloister gardens in the late Middle Ages, it is likely this variety was perfected much later by Dutch seedsmen. Peas (Pisum sativum) have been cultivated by humans for at least 7000 years. Some of the earliest remains were found in Egypt (4800-4400 BC). They are native to the entire Mediterranean Basin, and parts of the Middle East over to India. Originally, peas were mainly used as a dry-seeded pulse that helped people survive the winters. Much later in modern Europe and China they were selected for their fresh shelled peas, then their entire fresh pods (mange-tout), and later still their de-skinned split peas for soup. (Thanks hand model Julia) #seedkeeping #williamwoysweaver #roughwoodseedcollection #bluepodcapucijner #heirloompeas #pisumsativum

[seedkeeping]

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Zoe’s grandma Ruth helps her pronounce Przebowska Oliwkowa - the name of a Polish pea. I asked the Truelove Seeds apprentices to consider connecting with ancestral crops this year, and was looking for Polish varieties for Zoe when this packet popped up. William Woys Weaver gave it to me at some point over the last few years as he let go of aging packets from the Roughwood Seed Collection. These seeds are eight years old and the peas are soooooo small (and olive-colored, as the name suggests). We were thrilled to see them sprouting. What can you learn from your grandma today? #Przebowskaoliwkowa #polishfood #polishpea #heirloompeas #ancestralfood

[seedkeeping]

Pois Gèant sans Parchemin (Pisum sativum). Pea seed - cleaned and ready for storage, germination testing, and seed packets! This pea was described by Charles Darwin in his book "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication" in 1868. It's a delicious sugar pea with thin, gigantic pods. #poisgèantsansparchemin #seedkeeping #pisumsativum #heirloompeas (at Delaware County, Pennsylvania)

[seedkeeping]

Pois Gèant sans Parchemin (Pisum sativum) is a real looker. #poisgèantsansparchemin #charlesdarwin #1868 #heirloompeas #pisumsativum #seedkeeping #vilmorin (at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania)

[seedkeeping]

Signs of Spring. 1. Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna), a noxious weed also known as Pilewort, and apparently good for hemorrhoids; 2. Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), which I remember thrashing as a kid to release extra smell (kids are jerks sometimes); 3. Honeybee (Apis mellifera) getting some fresh air and some alone time; 4. Reading about isolating Peas (Pisum sativum) in The Organic Seed Grower by John Navazio, now of @johnnys_seeds; 5. The Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana), native to China and Vietnam, is ornamental, and started blooming a few days ago all over Philly; 6. Random photo of me about to soak Pois Géant Sans Parchemin (Pisum sativum), an heirloom pea variety featured in Vilmorin-Andrieux (1883) and shared with me by William Woys Weaver.