The tradition of picking, shelling and selling peas is very much alive among one extended family in Christ Church.
Movita Archer, 88, and her sister Eutavine Griffith, 80, both learnt the art at their mother’s feet and have passed it on their children, grandchildren and even the great grands.
The DAILY NATION caught up with Movita’s granddaughter Allison Archer in the pea ground at Yorkshire plantation, Christ Church, yesterday morning.
“We go out to various pea grounds yearly and we pick peas and it is a variety of pea grounds. There’s always a crowd, a large crowd, a large gathering I should say, and we do this as a traditional thing where we sell our peas. We pick them, we shell them, and so we shall sell them,” Allison said.
She was working alongside two of her cousins, Jennifer and Sophia. Jennifer picked 37 pounds and Allison, 38. There is a still a way to go for the family this season, with trips planned to Halton Plantation in St Philip and Featherbed Lane in St John.
45 pints
“It’s been a pleasure picking peas with my cousins because it is fun. We don’t realise that you’re out there picking peas in the sun. We talk, we laugh, it’s exercise, the brain juggles, so you don’t feel anything.”
Allison was also filling an order for 45 pints. She went into the ground because she was a few pints short, but aimed to satisfy all of her customers, including Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
The DAILY NATION team later caught up with Allison at home in Kendal Hill. Her grandmother Movita was in the veranda with a big bowl of peas, happily shelling a batch she said would take her about two days.
“My mom used to work on the plantation. She’d just bring the peas, put them there, I shelled them, and bagged them for her to sell. So I raise with that in me all the time. I love this job. Don’t mind the fingers hurt, but I love the job,” she said.
She was helping Allison fill the big order and noted how the price increased over time. Peas are retailing at $15 a pint this year, $2 more than last year.
Like her mother before her, Movita raised ten children, virtually on her own since their father died young, but she said it “wasn’t as rough as now” because food was easier to get.
In nearby Silver Hill, her sister Eutavine was steadily going through an equally big batch of peas, assisted by her daughter Jennifer and great grandchildren Tequori Callender, 6, and Jazayla Archer, 12.
“I have a lady that wants 10 pints,” she said as her hands stayed busy. “She might want 10 pints now and then she’ll send and say she wants more because she will send some overseas.” Eutavine said she used to go to the grounds to pick peas, but deferred to the younger ones now due to failing eyesight.
(SAT)
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