Planting Peas & Finding Eggs...Spring is Coming!!

We planted Alaska Peas today in the garden. I've not planted them before, but here's what Victory Seeds has to say about them:

Alaska (Earliest of All)
55 days — This variety was introduced in 1881 in England as 'Earliest of All', by pea breeder Thomas Laxton. A cross of 'Ringleader' and 'Little Gem', it became the parent of many subsequent varieties. First offered in the United States in 1882 by James J. H. Gregory and was in several seed catalogs by 1883. It seems that it was renamed in 1884 by A. B. Cleveland of Cape Vincent, New York and given away as a premium for subscriptions to the periodical The Rural New Yorker. The name stuck.

The plants are twenty four to thirty six inches tall and grow well in cool soils. There are typically five to eight smooth peas in each round pod. Classically used for canning or freezing, also fine fresh or dry (in eighty days) for soups. Not a super sweet variety. Seeds are smooth.

We also got a surprise in the chicken coop today...an egg!! We've been without fresh eggs all winter and seeing an egg in the nesting box was pure bliss! Don't let anyone tell you that fresh, homegrown eggs aren't better than the store ones...my 7-year-old said the store ones were a bit like rubber when scrambled one morning. We're very excited to see that our flock is back in business! It's also a sure sign that spring is on the way!