LEGUMES

This shelf contains legumes we grew at the joy project during the growing season 2022, our inaugural year. We sourced the ‘fish eyed peas’ from true love seeds and here is an excerpt from the listing on their website:

‘We received these seeds from seed keeper extraordinaire Kris Hubbard, of Artemus, Kentucky, who has travelled the Appalachan hollows as a healer, ethnobotanist, and educator for decades, collecting seeds and stories along the way. The Ezelle family is originally descended from Mali, West Africa. They were first enslaved on a plantation in Hahnville Parish, Louisiana from 1820-1860s. They were later split up and some were relocated to Chickasaw County, Mississippi. Kris received these seeds in the early/mid 1990s from an old-timer in his 80s named Ezelle who had married a Choctaw woman Kris knew. Mr. Ezelle said his grandmother had carried the pea from Louisiana by placing a few into a wilted leaf tucked under her hair. His mother who called the pea "Fish Eye" cared for them until he had his own garden.’

We also grew peanuts and red ripper peas

Red peas, like this fisheye pea is native to west Africa and was brought to the Americas by Africans. The pictures below are photos taken during a 2018 trip to Ghana. These legumes which staples in America foodways are an example of Africa’s influence on American culture