Suburban Girls Shellin’ Peas

This afternoon, my 5-year-old daughter did something few suburban kids do these days: She helped me shell fresh peas for dinner. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever done this, having been raised a suburban girl myself. It was great fun! I bought the peas on Saturday at the market, and I’ll admit I thought they were sugar snap peas at first. With a great big smile on his wise and knowing face, the farmer corrected me. I laughed at my mistake and happily purchased them.

So today we sat outside in the spring sunshine with a colander and a bowl for the husks. My daughter struggled a bit at first, but soon got the hang of “unzipping” the peapods. We quickly got a rhythm going. I’m not sure what my favorite part of this activity was: watching my daughter take part in this wholesome and kind of "old-fashioned" activity or listening to her personal insights about the peas. “Each one is unique. Some have small peas, big peas, and medium peas. Some have five and some only have two!” she pronounced with enthusiasm. She also told me she couldn’t believe how good she was at shelling peas the first time she tried. Indeed!