Pea-Shelling 101 (be prepared to get sick)

Everyone knows we live on a farm.  Shawn and his dad, and the kids grow a garden every year.  One of the things that is grown is purple-hull peas.  What are those?  Like a black-eye pea, but these have a purple "eye" instead of a black one.  It's a southern staple around here.  Growing up in the south most of my life (lived in Alabama until I was 11 1/2), the only southern thing I had and didn't like were lima beans.  We only had those at the Jenne's house.  Thank goodness that my parents were displaced Californians at the time, and didn't learn to cook the true southern way. LOL!!  

So now my kids have the opportunity to grow, shell and eat purple-hull peas.  And they do the shelling at Mamaw's house, as I don't shell them nor cook them, and ONLY ate them while I was pregnant with Joey because she offered to cook dinner, and I was like great since I didn't have to cook then.  WHILE they weren't bad, they weren't something that I was going to make, ever!  But for them to cook & eat, they have to be shelled.  For the first few years, the kids shelled them by hand.  Past few years they have been using the electric pea-sheller.  And the girls know then, but especially now, that hair has to be put up in a pony-tail!  

If not, accidents will happen:

Yep.  You saw it right.  No hair!  Lindsey was just busy helping to realize that her hair was about to go through the pea-sheller.  The thing yanked her hair out so fast that she had no time to even try to work it out.  No blood.  Just no hair.  This happened on 8 July 2010.  As of Sunday night, her hair is growing back, but it will take a very long time to ever get it back to how it was.  She has short hair all over the top.  I took her to get her hair trimmed the other day, and Kelly said not to give her bangs, and maybe when it grows a bit more, to go get extensions in it.  I figured that is what Britney Spears did right?  

So until then, we just pull it into a small pony-tail on the side and finish it with a bow.  I need to go get more ribbon since school is about to start.  

The wider the ribbon, the better I like:

I had my Mom-in-law, Mom and sister Holly to swear to secrecy about it, and you all should be happy to know that your most awful secrets are safe with them!  I decided to tell because 1) we went to the beach with my brother's family, and cousins do tell.  =) and 2) School is starting soon.  And while I have it cute in a band and ribbon, it doesn't always stay in place.  I am just glad that the brother I went to the beach with is an attorney.