So yesterday we planted the cat grass, which is doing nicely on the sun facing windowsill. It should be ready in about a week. The cats haven't really paid much attention to it yet, apart from the odd sniff. But they will.
We also purchased 4 more bags of organic cat grass so we should be good for a while yet.
Happy cats = happy home
Today we decided to plant some more, we started with peas and that led off into a whole lesson in itself.
Peas and Math
It all started with a free sample, which we potted and placed on the sunny windowsill.
Then I asked the girls 'how many different types varieties (cultivars) of peas they thought there were. P said 7 and S said 12 so I went with 10.
There are lots.
Snap peas, snow peas and garden peas. English peas and shelling peas....
They can be fresh, canned, frozen or dried.
Not only that but peas have a fascinating history.
If you want to find out more click here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea
How many peas in a pod?
From 1-12 depending on the kind of pea. Or you might get super lucky and find more
What is a pea?
A pea is a vegetable that is grown on the plant pisum sativum.
Peas grow as seeds in the pod and can be eaten both in the pod or as a pea.
So this got us thinking larger. And we wondered how many grams in a cup of peas?
One cup is equivalent to 55 grams of peas (or 5oz).
How many calories in peas?
118 calories in a 1 cup serving of green peas.
4% of those calories are from fat, 73 percent are carbs and 23% protein.
How many quarts of peas makes a bushel?
Peatastic! or as John Lennon might say "Give peas a chance".
28 Fun And Interesting Facts About Peas
The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas, which can be either green or yellow. While many people think that peas are vegetables, they’re actually botanically fruit. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about peas.
1. Peas are an annual plant, with a life cycle of one year.
2. Peas are a cool-season crop grown in many parts of the world. Planting can take place from winter to early summer depending on location.
3. Immature peas are used as a vegetable, fresh, frozen or canned. Varieties of the species typically called field peas are grown to produce dry peas like the split pea shelled from the matured pod.
4. In Europe, eating fresh immature green peas was an innovation of Early Modern cuisine.
5. The earliest archaeological finds of peas date from the late Neolithic era of current Greece, Syria, Turkey and Jordan.
6. The pea was present in Georgia in the 5th millennium BC. They were also present in Afghanistan in 2000 BC, in Harappa, Pakistan, and in northwest India in 2250 BC.
7. In early times, peas were grown mostly for their dry seeds.
8. In the first century AD, Columella mentions peas in “De re rustica,” when Roman legionaries still gathered wild peas from the sandy soils of Numidia and Judea to supplement their rations.
9. In the Middle Ages, field peas are constantly mentioned, as they were the staple that kept famine at bay, as Charles the Good, count of Flanders, noted explicitly in 1124.
10. Green peas, eaten immature and fresh, were an innovative luxury of Early Modern Europe.
11. Fossil evidence indicate that people ate peas even during the Bronze Age.
12. There are hundreds of varieties of peas that are mostly cultivated in cooler climates, on a well drained and fertile soil.
13. Pea is a fragile plant that can grow as a low-ground plant or as a vine. They develop snake-like tendrils which support the plant by attaching to the surrounding structures and objects. They can grow up to 6 feet in height.
14. Pea plants have compound leaves that consist of two or more leaflets. The leaves are alternately arranged on the stem.
15. Pea plants have white or pink flowers. They contain both male and female reproductive organs which mature at the same time.
16. Some types of peas have edible pods. However, the majority of pea species have inedible pods that need to be removed before consumption.
17. Peas quickly lose their sweet taste after the harvest. This is why peas should be eaten quickly after their removal from the pods.
18. The most popular varieties of pea are snow peas, snap peas and sugar peas.
19. Peas are an excellent source of dietary fibers, proteins, vitamin C, vitamin B3, vitamin B9, beta-carotene, zinc and iron.
20. Gregor Mendel is the father of modern genetics. He discovered basic laws of inheritance in the 19th century by planting and cross-breeding peas of different color, size and type of seed.
21. Peas are an integral part of French and Asian cuisine for the past 1000 years. They can be eaten raw, or cooked in the form of soups, curries, omelettes, porridges and casseroles.
22. The oldest pea was found in Thailand. It was over 3,000 years old.
23. 35,000 hectares of peas are grown in the United Kingdom in a single year.
24. The first frozen peas were frozen in the 1920s by Clarence Birdseye.
25. The proper etiquette for eating peas is to squish them on the back of your fork.
26. In 1969, the first television commercial broadcast in color was for Birds Eye frozen peas.
27. In 1989, there was a television program about peas that lived in overgrown flowerpots at the bottom of a garden. The show was called “The Poddington Peas.”
28. The word “pea” originates from the Latin word “pisum,” which is the latinisation of the Greek word “pison.”
http://tonsoffacts.com/28-fun-and-interesting-facts-about-peas/
http://tonsoffacts.com/28-fun-and-interesting-facts-about-peas/
So today is day 1, it will be interesting to see how quickly they grow or if indeed they survive the inquisitive cats, who might think they are cat grass.
Feeding Vegetables to Cats
Cats can eat some vegetables.
Just because you need plenty of vegetables in your diet doesn’t mean your cat does. Cats need mostly proteins to lead a healthy life because they are carnivores. But if your cat is more tubby than tabby, you might want to introduce some veggie treats.
Benefits
Although cats are meat-eaters, when they hunt and eat their natural prey, they eat the vegetable matter in the prey’s gut. Cats are built to tolerate a certain amount of roughage in their diets. If your cat is overweight, adding some veggies to her diet can help keep her weight down. Feeding your cat vegetables can also boost her immune system and can lessen the effects of aging.
Good and Bad
Good vegetables to offer your cat are chopped carrots, peas, frozen corn, broccoli florets, green beans, zucchini, lettuce, spinach and catnip. Do not offer garlic, onions, tomatoes, avocados or mushrooms. These foods are either toxic to cats or are difficult for them to digest. Vegetables can replace packaged pet snacks you can get at the grocery store, but give them only sparingly. Treats are just something extra you offer your cat in addition to her regular diet, not as a replacement for her meal.
How to Offer
Bake or steam the vegetables and cut them into small pieces. Offer the vegetables alone, or puree them and mix them into your cat’s regular food. Offer only a small amount at a time. You don’t want to overload your cat with carbs. Lisa A. Pierson, DVM, of CatInfo.org said, “Cats do not have a physiologic requirement for vegetables and actually lack the enzymes needed to break down this food source for efficient utilization.”
Too Much is Bad
Look at the ingredients of the cat food you buy. Many foods, especially dry food, contain too much plant-based protein instead of animal-based protein. A muscle meat should be the first ingredient and will be on the label as “chicken” or “turkey,” for example. A cat food that contains corn, wheat or soy as the main ingredient is not a good choice. The amount of carbohydrates in commercial cat food should be no more than 3 to 5 percent of the total ingredients.
We learn something new everyday!
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