Heirloom peas have a much longer history than most people realize, feeding mankind since before the Stone age.
The movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and your heirloom garden are more closely related than you thought!
Heirloom peas or garden peas originated in middle Asia, from northwest India through Afghanistan and adjacent areas. A second area of development lies in the Near East, and a third includes the plateau and mountains of Ethiopia. In these areas wild field peas have been found, along with many cultivated forms of P. sativum, but wild P. sativum has never been found. Vast areas in southern Russia and southern Europe still have large tracts of field peas growing wild. The garden pea was an early introduction in northern Europe and Asia and as far west as England and east as far as China.
Early heirloom peas were cultivated for their dry seed, similar to today’s “split peas” for soup. The varieties known a thousand years ago had seeds that were much smaller, dark colored from the modern garden peas. They were an ideal supplement to an early hunter gatherer lifestyle that was just beginning to transition into agriculture. They were durable, easily carried and their germination lasted for several years. They needed only a short season to produce food for both man and animals and flourish in soils too poor for early cereal grains which were being adapted to early agriculture at about the same time. No doubt that during times of scarcity of animals to hunt, peas became a chief source of protein.
Primitive garden peas have been found during excavations beneath houses of the Swiss lake dwellers around Morssedorf, Switzerland dating back to both the Bronze and Stone Age. Peas also were found in a Hungarian cave dwelling, believed to date back even further. Charles Pickering says in his 1879 Chronological History of Plants, “Of culinary vegetables, Pisum sativum the only kind that can with certainty be traced as far back as the Stone Age;…” He also mentions a type of Fava bean, parsnips and carrots found in the excavation.
Garden peas have been found in the excavations of ancient Troy. The Aryans from the East are thought to have introduced peas to the Greeks and Romans, who grew them in ancient times. Theophrastus, considered by many to be the Father of Botany, described peas in detail and their cultivation in his Enquiry into Plants in Chapter 8 which is devoted to cereals and peas. He is the author of the oldest existing treatise on botany, having died in 287 BC. U. P. Hedrick wrote about Theophrastus in his 1928 book The Vegetables of New York, “He wrote at a time when gardening, farming, orcharding, and the cultivation of flowers and medicinal plants were far advanced, when all food plants derived from the Old World had been named, domesticated, had their varieties and had been cultivated for many centuries. He was writing in a advanced stage of agriculture and civilization; quotes other books about plants and had much of his information from predecessors whom he looked upon as ancient as we look upon him as belonging to an age long, long ago.”
Heirloom peas were one of the most widely grown vegetables of northern Europe during the Middle ages, as their description and cultivation was evident in almost every early gardening or agricultural book of any language in middle and northern Europe. They were almost as widely grown as the early cereals as an easily produced storehouse of nutrition for the population and for food for the armies of the time. In 1066 they were one of the chief crops grown in England, and by 1400 peas were frequently mentioned in the “Expenses of Collegiate and Monastic Houses”. From the 1400s to the mid 1600s, peas were so commonly eaten that “pottage” and “porridge” were terms meaning peas as well as the dishes made from them. Sugar peas were common and described in John Worlidge’s Systema Horticulture, or the Art of Gardening in 1677.
Eating freshly shelled peas, or what were called green peas became a very popular delicacy with the aristocracy after the restoration of Charles II when they were parched, fried or boiled. Louis XIV was highly fond of them, and so was his entire Royal court. In a letter written by Madame de Maintenon dated 10 May 1696, she describes, “The subject of Peas, continues to absorb all others, the anxiety to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the desire to eat them again, are the three great matters which have been discussed by our Princes for four days past. …It is both a fashion and a madness.” Commoners didn’t partake of “green peas” until the early 18th Century.
Heirloom peas were introduced very early on by European explorers, possibly starting with Columbus himself on his 2nd voyage. It seems they were widely traded and spread rapidly. In 1535 Cartier mentions the natives of Hochelaga (now Montreal) growing peas, and in 1613 French traders obtained peas grown by the Ottowa River by the native tribes. Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado mentions “small white peas” in New Mexico in 1540. In 1614 peas were a food staple of the New England native tribes.
Subsequently, American gardeners have embraced heirloom peas wholeheartedly with many breeders improving yields, flavor and pod size. We have a nice selection in our Heirloom Pea Department for you to enjoy!
First off, watch the trailer about this crazy Australian who comes to America and spends 60 days on a complete juice fast-
Now you’re wondering- “What in the world does that have to do with my home garden?”
Surprisingly more than you think!
In “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, Joe Cross regained his health, lost weight and ditched a lot of prescription drugs (with his doctors approval!) by changing his diet and eating better. Specifically- eating a lot of fruits and veggies and losing the processed, packaged industrial foods that put him in that corner to begin with.
Here’s where your heirloom garden comes in; right in your backyard, on your porch or balcony. It can be easily explained in one simple, overused word- nutrition. You have much more positive influence on your health with a home garden than you would think. By tending to your garden and growing just some of your own food, you will be eating much better from both a dietary and nutritional viewpoint than almost any other way.
Let’s look at how this works-
Creating and maintaining biologically sustainable, healthy and fertile soil is the first step. This builds the foundation for strong, healthy, productive and disease/pest resistant plants that grow food that is not only healthy but highly delicious as well. This can be done no matter the size of the garden, all the way down to a few containers or an Earthbox.
Many folks don’t stop and think about how important the soil is to the overall flavor and nutrition of the produce. In biological, sustainable agriculture a term called “Brix” is used a lot. It means the amount of plant sugars that are present in a drop of sap from the stem, leaves or fruit. The higher the Brix, the healthier the plant and the sweeter (and tastier) the veggie or fruit. Higher Brix plants also have fewer pest and disease pressures.
Very few people have tasted high Brix vegetables, and those that have remember that they tasted like no other. For example, a simple bell pepper that has a Brix of 4 will taste bland, unremarkable and somewhat bitter. Now raise that Brix reading to 12 or 16 and it will taste like an apple in its sweetness! Not only will it be sweet, but rich and complex in flavors that you have not tasted in a bell pepper before. Another example is green beans. 4 Brix green beans need some sugar before kids will eat them, yet at the 8-10 Brix level kids will go out to the garden to pick them fresh and few make it to the kitchen. Most green beans at the supermarket are in the 4-5 Brix range.
High quality seeds are the next step. They provide the next link in the chain of growing food, but are often thought of as a commodity and not very important to spend time on getting the quality needed. While it is true that great soil can grow mediocre seeds, you don’t really want to go there do you? After the time spent in getting the garden planned, soil built and amended why use second-rate seeds?
The nutrient-dense, highly nutritious and delicious vegetables from your heirloom garden are the final result. Here’s where all of this ties into “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, as Joe found that drinking juice made from several different kinds of vegetables gave him the nutritional boost to get his systems back in order, his health back and lose the weight from years of not eating right. He bought his veggies from stores, and talks a bit about buying organic instead of conventional vegetables. He had no choice in growing his vegetables, as he was traveling. If his remarkable progress is possible with store-bought produce, can you imagine what you can do with nutrient-dense vegetables that you’ve grown in your own soil?
I’m not talking about just growing for juicing, but eating the produce from your own garden can have a similar positive impact on your health, when grown as described above. If you have the space and can grow veggies for juicing, you will see even more beneficial results in addition to eating them.
Pretty amazing to see what benefits a home heirloom garden can have, isn’t it?
Please realize that this article is not advocating eating only vegetables, only juice or not eating meat, but is looking at how we can achieve some impressive results with tools and opportunities that many of us already have. The absolute fact is that most Americans really need more vegetables in their diets with a corresponding reduction of the processed, packaged industrial foods that are all around us every day.
It is well worth watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and visiting Joe’s website- FatSickandNearlyDead.com. The movie is available through Hulu and Netflix, among others.
Just imagine- eating nutrient-dense fresh vegetables and drinking juices made from them grown in your own garden as a method of greatly improved health. Pretty radical thought, isn’t it?
The History of Heirloom Peas
Heirloom peas have a much longer history than most people realize, feeding mankind since before the Stone age.
“Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and Your Heirloom Garden
The movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and your heirloom garden are more closely related than you thought!