Pickin' Peanuts

This year we had a peanut plant that came up volunteer.  We didn't even have to plant it!  The seed just stayed in the ground until the conditions were right and it grew and thrived.  Isn't it strange how we try so hard to take care of plants and try our best to have a productive crop and then we witness plants vigorously growing that we did absolutely nothing to them.

I watched the peanut put on flowers and broaden out.  It grew and grew and finally in the heat, the leaves began to turn yellow.  I decided it was time to harvest our lone peanut plant.

I took a shovel and gently loosened the wood chips and soil beneath it.  Peanuts were growing on pegs.  

Each part of the plant I pulled had numerous peanuts growing on it.

I weaved the peanut plants through a livestock panel to allow the peanuts to dry in the sun.

Here is a good shot of the peanuts.  It's crazy.  This may be my best yield ever, and I never even planted them!

Once they've dried, I'll bring them inside.

The boys and I used to roast them in the oven and then put them in a food processor with a little oil and make homemade peanut butter.  One year we experimented and made cinnamon peanut butter and chocolate peanut butter.  That was my favorite.  Maybe we can try that again!