Taylor Pea and Bean Sheller Review

[Mike CHS]

I mentioned ordering the Taylor Pea and Bean sheller in another thread and was asked o post what I thought of it. We love Purple Hull Peas but looking at about 5 bushels of those things and thinking about sitting there for hours shelling them made it an easy choice. I know in the old days part of socializing with family was when peas go processed but at this point in my life I have plenty of other things I would rather do.

The sheller was easy to put together and the adjustment to start shelling was also easy. We weren't really very selective when we were harvesting and since we mostly just wanted to be done with pea season, we picked everything (green and dried). A neighbor was visiting and kept the area where the shells were discharged picked up so the pile didn't accumulate. Teresa and I fed the peas through the rollers from both sides and it literally took everything as fast as we could feed them. We processed right at 25 gallons as picked peas in under an hour.

Since we are wanting to do some Farmers Market selling next year we would definitely buy it again. I haven't grown any peas in years primarily because of in order to eat those tasty things you have to get them out of the shell.

 

[babsbag]

I am not a pea lover so I don't grow them but it sounds like you got a good piece of equipment. My DH would probably like me to grow some as he does the cooking and likes to use them in stews and soups but since I would prefer he leave them out I don't grow them.

I am planting green beans next month. The variety I bought said to plant in August if you live in a hot summer area. We'll see, I have never planted beans in August but we cna grow until the end of Oct. and sometimes later so maybe it will work. I have to plan Fort Knox to keep the birds and chickens from eating the seedlings.

 

[Latestarter]

Ohhhhh love reaching out and picking a (some) green bean(s) off the plant and munching it right down! Sooooo good! Can't really blame the animals for wanting them too... Hope the August planting works for you.

glad the machine worked for you Mike... have never seen one or seen how it operates, so I'm clueless.

 

[Mike CHS]

I've had better harvest with green beans in the fall than spring. I'm still learning the TN climate so that may not work but we shall find out since I picked up a 1/2 of green beans the other day. What little we planted last month is putting on good but like the tomatoes, there just isn't enough of them.

 

[babsbag]

Fortunately for me it is just two of us, kids are grown and gone. But beans are a HUGE staple around the house so I need a lot of them. Next year I will get a few more horse troughs for root crops (I have strawberries in mine) and then figure out a way to store onions and garlic, we buy a ton of those too.

 

[Mike CHS]

We started chopping and freezing onions in vacuum sealed bags so the only limit is freezer space. We have two big freezers plus the two refrigerators so that isn't an issue. Just having the time to get garden beds in now is a pleasant relief.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Have you tried dehydrating them? I do a lot of produce that way and then seal in heat sealed bags or eve canning jars - depending on what it is.

 

[babsbag]

I dehydrated onions a few years ago as I let them go to seed and I knew that they wouldn't store well as whole onions. I just need more room to store stuff, frozen, dried, and canned, where we can actually see it to use it. It seems to get lost...oh to be organized and have a big pantry.

 

[Baymule]

Glad the pea sheller worked so well for you. What about a picture? You knew I was going to ask for pictures! Did you forget?

 

[Mike CHS]

Here is the last batch we processed. We gave about that much more to a neighbor. The picture of Teresa and the sheller was when we first got started and didn't have peas covering everything.