Crowder Succotash

Kind of a bummer day. I was stuck at home with my sick daughter. We both had head colds, mine came with an ear-ache. (God, when was the last time I had an ear-ache? When I was six?). It was hot and humid this morning, then it poured rain all afternoon (more than an inch and counting). We managed to plant some beets, peas and lettuce before the deluge commenced. Oh, I also mowed under some crowder peas, but not before I harvested a few gallons, along with okra and peppers ('Pimientos de Padron'). So, tonight I made a sort of succotash, and served it over mashed sweet potatoes. Very tasty -- more than made up for the wasted day.

Crowder Pea Succotash
- a few rashers (4-6 oz.) of smoked bacon, diced medium
- 2 pounds of sweet potatoes (preferably the white "Japanese" ones), peeled and diced in 1" chunks
- 2 medium onions, diced
- a couple of spicy red peppers, sliced into 1/4" rounds
- a few handfuls of okra, sliced medium
- 3 cups of shelled crowders, with some young beans broken into 1-inch pieces*
- 2 cups of corn (fresh or frozen)
- a can (28 oz.) of tomatoes (I really like Muir Glenn's fire-roasted diced tomatoes)
-"sweet" fresh herbs (like parsley, basil, chives), chopped fine
- salt (I like really flaky sea salt) and freshly ground place pepper, to taste (lots!)

*(or substitue canned black-eyed peas)

In a large cast-iron skillet that you can cover, slowly fry the bacon until crispy. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, boil the sweet potatoes in salted water until tender. Mash the sweet potatoes, and season to taste with salt, pepper, warm milk, and butter (and we add goat cheese, which binds the potatoes nicely).

When the bacon has crisped, remove it, leaving behind the drippings. Over medium heat, slowly fry onions until they color. Chuck in the pepper, okra, peas, corn and cook slowly for a few minutes.

When everything has softened a bit, dump in the tomatoes, raise the heat, and bring to a merry simmer. Clap the top on, lower the heat to low, and let cook until the okra (in particular) has softened. Serve the succotash over the mashed sweet potatoes, with chopped herbs & reserved bacon sprinkled on top.

Mmmmmm.....

Mississippi Crowders

Mississippi Crowder Peas (Cowpeas, Southern Peas, Vigna uniguiculata). Aren't they lovely? The top are the seeds I'm saving for next summer; the bottom, some freshly-shucked peas for tomorrow's sup.

Veg Garden Cleanup

I spent the morning ripping out virtually everything from my veg garden, excepting some peppers, crowder peas, one cherry tomato, an eggplant ('Little Fingers'), a patch of okra, and my sweet potatoes...

Well, I know that sounds like a lot is left, but the garden looks empty. (I'll try to remember to post a picture of it tomorrow.) I laid down about one-hundred pounds of well-aged compost from my bins, a thick layer of newspaper of that compost, and then a thick layer of pine needles (the needles are more aesthetic than functional). In a patch of crowders that I started a few weeks ago, I transplanted the corn I started in jiffy-cups a couple of weeks ago. (Kind of an abbreviated version of the 'three sisters' approach to growing corn.) Next week, I'll plant out the cukes and tomatoes.

It's very dry here, but I've been irrigating and the growing conditions are otherwise perfect. My new 'Lady of Guadalupe' roses are just amazing -- the form of hybrid-teas on a floribunda bush. The cuttings I started last month are coming along well, too. Everything but the agastache rooted.