Chelcass, be aware if you have a mountain lion they are bigger than bobcat, Beautiful face & long tail about 2 ft. on 1 I faced. Maybe I mentioned it on here before but I was going to nursery part of hardware store & noticed large hole in chain link fence, the freeway is right behind it & there is grassy strip so very easy for hungry animals to come into the city from the mountains 1 mile above the store. I was walking & wondered what kind of dog was walking toward me, he had such a long tail, I couldn't see his face as there were some potted plants out in the aisle & he was looking towards area where parents send their kids while they shop. about 100 ft from me he had to go around a pot & I saw his beautiful face & realized it was a wild animal but I wasn't sure what, I backed up but they are very fast & if he wanted me for lunch he could have, it was on anniversary of my hubby's death so was really unsettling, anyway I told them about it & told them I did not want to read about 1 of those kids mauled & killed. The ducks were completely enclosed even top so he would have had to work at getting in. We went out (no kids were there that day)& looked for it(how dumb was that) none of us looked up, they go up in trees.(or roofs etc. & several are sighted every year, 1 in Santa Clarita couple of days later, could have been one I saw. It weighted more than most dogs. Chelcass, you don't want to run into 1. If they are hungry you will be supper! Glad to hear you are green now, that's an improvement!!Jan

Well, now I'm questioning my supposition, Reefisher. Usually, powdery mildew is a late season problem in my garden. Many plants get it but squash & melons seem to be the most susceptible. The peas from an April planting are long gone by late Summer/early Autumn but the vines have some mildew by the time they are pulled in July. Planting Oregon SugarPod in August doesn't really allow for pod development here - therefore, we are just growing them for the tendrils. They don't get tall enuf before frosts begin (usually after mid-September) to even require a trellis. Older bean plants also get mildew but the ground for early peas usually provides a home for a July planting of green beans. Seems to work without much trouble altho' if I run very late into the month - frost may kill the beans before I get a crop. If your March crop got mildew in May, I think you've just found that this variety prefers Autumn growing conditions. Maybe, we can "tear a page from your garden notebook" and plant Ho Lan Dow late. I don't see a "VPs003" behind the name but Stokes sells Ho Lan Dow - which means I don't really have an excuse for not giving 'em a try over all these years of pea-pickin'. I've got to say that your temps in December look to be warmer than ours were in late September but . . . you never can tell. Steve

I think I can answer the original question from info passed down from my dad, born in 1899 on a small farm in central Arkansas. Much of the population in the last half of the 1800s lived on small farms where the well being of the family was closely tied to their skill as gardeners. Which was done without the aid of fertilizers, hybrids, or insecticides. Blackeyed peas were a common crop. Since they stored well as dried peas they could provide the family with a good food source for many months. Southern peas are a legume that uses symbiotic bacteria to supply itself with nitrogen, so a good crop could be had on relative infertile soils. Even better, in many soils of the southeast, the nitrogen fixed by the bacteria persisted into the following year, leading to better crops of any kind. Crop rotation from peas to other crops was known to be a good practice. Now for the Good Luck. Those families that had planted so much of their land in peas that they were still eating them at the new year had, by doing so, enriched their soil with the nitrogen that would lead to better crops in the following year. The scenario repeated itself enough til people began to associate peas on new years day as a sign of good luck to follow, and a superstition was born.

Yes, must have hoppin' John and some sort of greens. If you're lazy, you can do like I'm doing tomorrow: HOPPIN� JOHN (Foodgawker) 1 pound dry black eyed peas, soaked overnight 4 cups chicken broth 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced 1/2 cup instant rice (or use 1 cup already cooked rice, and stir it in at the very end) 1 (10.5-ounce) can Rotel 1 bunch of collard greens or kale, chopped 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Soak your beans overnight in a bunch of water and drain well in the morning and rinse in cool water. Put the beans directly into your slow cooker. Add broth and sliced sausage. Stir in the rice and rotel. Add greens, and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Cover ( you may need to shove in greens to get the lid on nicely) and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or until the beans are soft. Stir well before serving. (I'm using regular rice added toward the end.)