The better you feel...

PEAS AND CARROTS SITTING IN THE FRIDGE (Hebrew song..)
and not like in the song, they were not cold there. They are both winter crops and now with the rain they are really, really enjoying the weather.

The peas and some other leguminous brothers (like hummus and Fava Beans) were planted when it was really, really cold during this crazy winter. Usually during the winter there is a period of six weeks that we take a break from sowing and planting because it is so cold that growth will be so slow that actually nothing is gained by planting or seeding during this period.
This crazy winter began at high temperatures, which made me think that there is still more time for growing. It is always good to plant legumes because their roots work in symbiosis with the bacterium which binds nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen enriches the soil.
I think that there is no point to have garden patches in which nothing is growing. It is better to sow beans even if the crop will not be great due to the cold, because growing legumes will enrich the soil for the following crops.... So we sowed Fava Beans, chick peas and green peas, This crazy winter brought cold temperatures at night so our legumes germinated and began to grow slowly, slowly, slowly.... and now with the somewhat spring weather, the green peas started giving fruit. This last rainy weekend contributed to an especially rich and sweet harvest. We have lots of Chinese peas!
The pea is a crop among the oldest known to mankind. It is native to the Middle East, East Asia and Ethiopia. You can find here wild species that are the ancestors of today's cultivated species. Evidence of acculturation and eating peas were found in tombs from about 10 000 years ago in Turkey, Iraq and Israel.
Several years ago, a number of professors focused on wild peas when studying the societal benefit of the transition from foraging edible plants in open areas to growing cultivated crops near home .
So for a decent serving of soup - between 250-500 g peas is required (the study was on dry peas.... so if fresh, that's about double). They found that in order to gather enough peas for such a bowl of soup it takes between an hour and two hours, and that of course depends on the year and kind of pea....Growing your own was clearly more efficient.
Also today, picking peas is a job that requires time, patience and peace of mind.... it takes a lot of time picking one pea at a time... slowly... and it takes a long time until the eye gets used to finding the pods on the plant because the color of the pods and the foliage is so similar and the plant climbs and twists.

The task of collecting pods requires meticulous hand and eye coordination (and not just because it is tempting to snack on the way), On the "Plant Council" website they explain that this is the reason for the reduction in pea growing in Israel. Pea growers for the industry (canning and freezing) use a special combine harvester for picking peas and a human hand does not touch the crop.
So why cultivate peas?
It seems to me that 10,000 years ago they did not know of the pea's magical powers of being able to distinguish real princesses (the Princess and the pea) or being able to grow to the sky in order to give every child the opportunity to pursue his dreams, to save his family and to be the man! (Jack and the beanstalk, in Hebrew it is a green pea :) of the same family).
The reason is nutrition. The green pea is easily digested and rich in protein (like all the beans); it has many amino acids, vitamins A, B , K and C and a very long list of minerals... and it really maintains the high quality of its components even after cooking. Fresh peas require only a short cooking period! They taste better that way.
But there may be another reason why the pea is the trigger for this complex change in societal behavior to cultivated growing. Like most of the reasons for the changes in life, it makes people feel good!

In peas there is an essential amino acid (that the body cannot produce and must get from food) called tryptophan. Tryptophan is involved in the production of serotonin in the brain, a chemical that gives us a good feeling.
Wikipedia (translated from Hebrew): " This amino acid ( tryptophan ) causes relaxation of tension and induces sleep. Tryptophan reduces anxiety and depression, helps prevent migraines, reduces risk of cardiovascular seizures... helps reduce cholesterol levels and helps the proper functioning of the immune system."
The pea is unique and special. Sweet Pea / Chinese Pea / snow pea - whatever you choose to call it, is indeed sweet; the Chinese really embraced it; and its flowers are as white as snow.

There are many other names and each culture describes it differently. It is called in French "mange tout", which means "eat entirely".

Eat it all: raw, sautéed, in soup... it is great raw as a tasty snack or in salad; a brief sauté with butter or oil with nuts, seeds, onions, garlic, cheese is great alone or to put on rice, pasta, etc. It is very easy to integrate into any meal.
I wrote about it many times before
(precisely in Purim last year, maybe the weather is not so different after all...) Following are more recipes in Hebrew..
So health for body and soul!
Yours,
Maggie and the garden staff

And I expect in our festive baskets (draft only):
Carrots
Kale
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Onion
Cabbage
Ramiro peppers
Green garlic
And kohlrabi

Larger ones also:
Parsley
Garden or Snow peas
Sweet potato
And Fennel

Fruit baskets:
Sweeties
Oranges
And clementines