Peaviners

It is time to harvest peas in the valley. Peas are usually harvested in June or July but due to the strange, wet and cold spring we had everything is late. Peas used to be the number one crop years ago. Now the small farmers mantra is 'diversify' and that is what one has to do to stay vital. Most of the pea harvest goes to Twin City Foods in Stanwood, a processing plant. The harvest machines are huge and 4-5 are used on one field and they scoop up the pea vines, somehow separate the peas, remove them from their pods, put them in a hopper and shoot the vines out the back of the machine and when the hopper is full the peas are dumped into a large truck and the truck speed to the processing plant where the peas are frozen. And after the vines dry out they are baled for cow feed.