Tomatoes and Herbs - May 25, 2024

I went to work early yesterday, hoping to speed the records organization project along and GET IT OVER WITH.  It took a day and a half just to get the records out of the boxes and sort them by type.  It took another day and a half to sort the piles into A-B-C order.  Yesterday, I began alphabetizing the individual piles.  Alphabetizing is mind-numbing after a few hours.  Around 3:00, I'd finished the As and Bs.  The C stack was huge; it couldn't be finished without staying late and delaying my Friday night margarita.  Plus, I wanted to check on the community garden plot before the weekend, so I cleaned up my workspace and got out of there.

Earlier in the day, the garden manager had sent a group text, warning that nutgrass was springing up in the garden and should be removed before it goes to seed. Since it rained every day this week, I figured that the garden would be a swamp, but it wasn't.  The pea vines were in decline, so I picked the peas and pulled up the vines, then I got a hoe from the shed (thank-you, Home Depot!), chopped out the grass, and hauled all the debris to the compost bin.  

I didn't know what to do about the peas I'd picked.  Gardeners are encouraged to donate some of their harvest to a local food ministry, which is to pick up donations on Friday afternoons for distribution on Saturdays.  There's a cooler in the shed for this purpose.  The bottom was lined with water bottles.  I stuck my hand in; it did not feel very cool.  I wasn't even sure the food ministry people had started their pick-ups, and since I only had about a quart of peas, I decided to just take them home and eat them, myself.

I charted my harvest and headed to a garden center that was advertising half-price vegetable plants to get pepper plants for our personal garden.

On the way, I decided to buy tomatoes for the community garden plot.  My original plan was to use the tomato plants I started from seeds, but they are kind of puny, and we planted the best ones in our own garden.  While I was in the garden center, the community garden manager called and kind of insisted that I donate the peas.  He said he had put frozen bottles of water in the cooler, and that my peas would be fine.  He would call the food ministry to come get them.  Reluctantly, I drove back to the community garden. I put the peas in the cooler and planted the tomatoes and herbs I'd just bought.  While I was there, the food ministry lady came.  I pulled up some lettuce to send with her.  When I opened the bag to add the lettuce to the peas, I saw that one of the fat peas had popped open, and the peas inside were showing.  I fished the pod out and handed it to the lady.  "Here, try these raw." 

She popped them into her mouth.  "OH MY GOD," she said.

I wonder if that little batch of peas made it to the food distribution site.  ;)