Peanuts: come shell or high water

Since Rural Studio Farm is a not a commercial farm, we get to grow a wide variety of crops that many other small-scale organic farms might find inefficient to grow, in terms of space and time. Lately, we have been enjoying such a treat: peanuts.

A tiny peanut sprout emerges from a soil block

We began peanuts in soil blocks way back in May before transplanting to the field. As they grow, the plants produce little yellow flowers, which then fade and produce a peg, called a peduncle, that pushes several inches underground to produce the tasty little morsels. Typically, they require around four months to mature, but are low maintenance and pest-free, making them a great crop for us to grow during the summer when Eric was without his usual student workers.

Students dig up peanut plants and collect any stray peanuts

Two students delicately dig up a peanut plant, revealing all the peanuts that have grown underground

A few weeks ago, we dug up the plants and left them to dry in the greenhouse for several days.

Students pick dried peanuts off the peanut plants

Eric holds a ten-gallon tub of dried peanuts en route to the kitchen

Then we separated the peanuts from the plant and took them to kitchen where our cook, Catherine, made some delicious boiled peanuts for our lunches. We got 10 gallons of dried peanuts from about 80 linear feet of plants.