I need peas. Lots of peas.

Not sure where you are in NC, but try Reedy Farm Organic in Elon, NC. They mill all organic, soy and non-soy feeds.

OK, I will be a butt and giggle a bit...if soy is mocking estrogen wouldn't that make soy your friend? no wait...

um, I think you want to say that soy mimics estrogen. which an overload of a hormone does a body whack, yes.

don't eat a lot of soy myself, only in soy sauce or tofu(rarely, very rarely ha)

(just trying to get the science straight carry on!)

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Is it safe to assume that you don't drink the milk from any of your turnip eating cows?...........If so, I call your Whew and raise you a bleh, nasty nasty stuff!!

Most all large seed producers have 50 lb bags of Black eye peas. I have bout them from River City Seeds Company in North Little Rock. Any body that sells seed to retailers have them. Go to your local seed store or hardware store to find the nearest one.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.

I didn't take the time to read all the replies but I think if it were me I'd add peanuts to the mix. They go good in that area don't they?Just a thought.


Wade

I don't know if anyone grows peanuts around here or not. That doesn't mean they won't grow though. May as well add them. Looking to grow a crop and fix the soil.

You know - I totally forgot about that place in Elon. It's definitely an easy drive. I will call them - thanks.

I'm east of Charlotte about 45 miles.

There shouldn't be any trouble with raising yellow field peas in your area... Austrian and field peas grown in late winter will set seed and make a crop. Just need pulled and put under cover before they start to mildew once they are ripe.

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I found this sight last night while hunting seed, https://www.forageseeds.com/index.php?route=common/home, might be worth checking out.

Ever try onion or bitter weed flavored milk?

Willhite Seed, Poolville, TX.
Lots of different kinds of Southern or Cow or Field type peas in bags up to 50-lbs. Pretty good prices and might talk on that a bit. Farmers all over the country use them and get good seed at good prices. If they're too far away from you, they'll probably refer you to a good supplier close to home.
I've planted their blackeyed peas (a Calif. variety, BTW) with great success. Good luck.

oeb2

Thank you for starting this P P.
I feel the same way but as soon as I get my ground healed I want to start raising my own 3 Sister Native American garden on an acre out back.
Corn planted in 30 inch rows 30 inches apart two stalks together.
Peas to grow up the corn stalks between each hill of corn.
Winter squash planted every five feet down the middle between each row.
Some of those squash will end up being pie pumpkins.
The squash and pumpkins are people food and the corn and peas will be pig and chicken food.
Just a single acre will be nothing to harvest by hand.
One hand pulled wagon for the squash/pumpkins and another with two baskets on it. One for peas and one for corn.
The corn will go into a corn crib I am designing to be used the next August in this machine.

I am thinking the corn crib will have wheels like a wagon to be pulled onto my trailer to go to the show.
I will take the peas to the show too and grind and mix the feed right there.
I have six or seven feed grinders and three corn shellers like the one in my video.

I will just mow the acre after the crops are removed then plant a cover crop. I like the whole cover the ground idea of this with the peas feeding the corn. Comments welcome.

One of our local high-protein alternatives is pumpkin (squash) seed. It tests about 30% protein, and since it is farmed here in the valley for seed, the broken or too-small seed is available for animal feed. There are studies on-line somewhere that showed pumpkin seed and pumpkin pulp were excellent for raising pigs as exclusive feed, and the seed also works as a wormer.
I'm using ground seed with my turkey's feed to increase the protein % of cheaper commercial feed.
I have no idea what is grown commercially in your area, but there may be other unusual alternatives.
Kit

We grow our own catfish in a couple small ponds. Harvested some last night, had fried catfish, new potatoes and green beans, all grown within a 100yds of the kitchen. Also filleted enough to put four more meals of fish in the freezer.

I don't think that's really fair Gravytrain. I have a friend in Japan who tells me that the conditions in that area are far worse than what is being said in the media.

PP... what did you end up planting?

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That is really great info there Kit.
I have been thinking that acre would give us more squash and pumpkins than we could eat. I will have to build my root cellar to store them. If I can just bust them up and feed them to pigs that would be great. We need to find the link to that study.

Peas are a "short season" crop. Most of them are grown in Canada or the states around Colorado and north. There are several kinds: Austrian, maple, "Canadian". The peas aren't really that expensive, but the packaging and transportation is, so by the time the get to NC they are going to be fairly expensive. The peas that sell for 5 bucks in Canada, will cost you close to $20/50lbs I think. I am not sure, I haven't used them for about 15 years.

If you know anyone around who raises pigeons, they will know a source. There are "field peas" in the South, but I have never lived in that area so I don't know much about them. They are known in general as "cow peas" which includes crowder, black-eyed, etc. They, in fact, are not peas but beans. The Canadian-Northern US varieties are true peas. Dried beans have some problems, same as soy beans, whereas the true peas do not.

Soybeans will work as well, but you have to roast them first because they have too much Tryptophan (sp?) to feed raw. One can do this in their oven, but it is not reasonable for any substantial amount.

I would check around at feed stores for large pigeon breeders, they will have the best information.

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

If you need protein for livestock, lard your pasture with clover. If the goats get protein in their browse, they don't need so much protein in their grain that they get while you are milking.

I grow snow peas for my family. The people eat the peas, either fresh or frozen, and the livestock gets the pea plants, which are their favorite treat of all time.

Alfalfa pellets at probably as cheap, if not cheaper, than cow peas.

Some of the hay around here contains a bit of field pea plant, but not much, and it is only for cows. I would think that the local cattlemen would feed more field pea if it were good feed, but they don't. That is something to check out.

Lots of peas! I got 100# of pink eye purple hull peas and I have rows and rows and rows of them. And may plant more!!

I will do clover as a cover crop (or something-not sure yet) but I don't want my goats eating off the ground. While I may pull it up and feed it to them, this year I've got them in the woods behind the house and am spending a small fortune on hay. We were struggling with worms and this seems to be the best option until I can get a rotation going for the pasture. Luckily I've got two small children who love to pull up weeds and hand deliver them to the goats ... as well as pull low hanging branches from trees and giggle while they hold them over the fence like a fishing pole and watch the goats strip the leaves from them.