Peas and such

The other day, Kade and I sat at the kitchen table with a huge bowl of shelling peas that we had picked from the garden. His pea picking abilities have increased significantly this season. He has learned to look through the vines, spotting those peas who's shell bulges out from the fat peas within. He has even learned the delicate art of picking the peas while holding the vine, preventing the tendrills from detaching - which would lead to fallen vines. So we sat shelling them, each pea shell yielding with a snap, cracking open to reveal the peas within. We scraped each pea from it's pod, placing them into a small bowl. One thing that stood out was the fact that all of the peas varied in size. Some were large and fat, stretching their sheer skin. Others were small and ovoid. Yet, mixed together they will all be sweet and Delicious additions to stir fries, soups and salads.

It made me ponder the fact that so much of what we have done, to make life "simpler" has in fact made it so much less satisfying. How much easier would it be to just go to the store and buy a bag of frozen peas! - every pea uniform in size, not varying by more than a millimeter or 2. How much easier than digging the cold spring soil, turning in the sunken leaves, planting those tiny peas, driving in stakes, erecting a fence, watering, helping the tendrils curl in the right direction, watching the sweet flowers emerge, waiting until just the right pea length and fullness and finally picking the peas! And now - sitting here shelling all those peas - of all different sizes - starting from a huge bowl - left with a small cereal bowl of peas to be frozen and a huge pile of pods on the table. Those pods will be tossed into the compost pile, sweltering and breaking down all summer, awaiting to be returned to the garden this fall.

It is important to me that my children be connected to the food they eat - that they don't lose all idea of where food really comes from - i.e. not a grocery store! We are really enjoying our CSA, eating such a variety of healthful, organic foods. I recently heard an author discussing how organic food is so much harder to grow because the soil must be cared for exquisitely. Yet for conventional produce, the "dirt" is merely an anchor and a medium in which the plants are fed artificially. Yuck! Although, it is so obviously true.

Those peas - all different sizes - also makes me feel grateful for God's creations and the diversity of our species. Even my children - so similar deep down - deep enough to have almost identical genes - and yet so different in personality, size. How we can all be so different yet work so wonderfully together....