165. Grains and Legumes

Where I live the forest meets the prairie. You can see the deep greens of the forested hills against the seemingly endless rolling Palouse hills of the amber waves of grain. At this time of year, the harvest is complete and the fields have even given their straw stubble up to a muddy golden mix. The evergreen forests have taken on a menacing darkness that makes them seem black. Soon the frosting of white on those mountains will descend to the prairie and it will all be covered in white.

But when spring comes and the hills are giving up their frosted sides to a chocolate brown you will see a slow transition from a mint-chocolate look to a full on verdancy of endless golf-course beauty. That green will ripen in July to those amber waves and the bread basket of the world will soon be ready for harvest. This is wheat country and the dry pea and lentil capital of the world, rich in canola, peas, and garbanzo beans.

There are all kinds of reasons to love grain and legumes. First and foremost is its sustenance for everyone I know. At this time of year, we eat all kinds of cakes and cookies and breads, all of which come from the flour of the wheat that covers all of these rolling hills around me. I’m also a fan of beer and that comes from the barley so abundant here. It isn’t really the normal food of people around here as far as tradition goes, but humus is a middle eastern food made from the chick peas that we have around here. Then there are all those alcohols that come from grains. It’s decadent. But grains are also humble with simple things like split pea soup, lentil stew, or beef barley soup. And just plain bread. And, of course, fried food can easily be cooked in the canola oil that comes from those golden flowering fields.

Grains and legumes grace our hills around here with beauty. They sustain the farmers that grow them and they fill the bellies of the world. So yes, I’m grateful for all the grains and legumes.