3 Days or $3

Every summer I love the abundance of vegetables and try to buy enough so I can freeze some for later in the year. Pepper Place is a really neat market that runs Saturday mornings from May to October at the old Dr. Pepper bottling facility downtown and it is only about 3 miles from the house. They have live music and cooking demos and artists vending as well as local produce. And everyone puts out bowls of water for the variety of doggie visitors. That's where I usually shop.

But last Saturday my neighbor and I went to the big farmers' market in my search for a bushel of lady peas. And I found them. But then came the dilemma - to shell or not to shell.

I like shelling peas. Something about it takes me back to my youth. The stand where I found the lady peas offered to shell them for an additional $3. Not a bad deal at all, but I said I like to shell them. They were polite enough to turn away before rolling their eyes. My neighbor bought a pound of them already shelled for $3.50. I was convinced I was getting a better deal.

So I lugged the sack of peas home and set up all the required supplies on the front porch - my yellow Tupperware bowl, a dish towel, a paper sack, and a cool beverage. And my neighbor came down and visited for at least a couple of hours and mentioned periodically that $3 was not a lot of money.

I shelled into the night Saturday and Sunday and last night I finished shelling peas. I think I have about 9 pounds before culling out the bad ones. That comes to about $2.65 per pound. So I did save a little money. But I think next time I'll part with $3 and spend 3 days quilting instead!