Eastern Oregon Pea Crop

This what a pea field looks like about two weeks before harvest. Peas ripen extremely fast, and go from "ripe" to "ruined" in hours. The fields are carefully planted so that harvest with a limited amount of machinery can move from field to field as they reach maturity. The lower fields will be harvested while the ones 500 feet up in elevation might be a week or two from ready. However, it is all mapped and planted by a very strict schedule, so as to assure that the harvesting can all be done at the exact right moment. Peas are picked by equipment that looks a lot like a combine, and go from hanging in the field to fully processed and frozen within less than 3 hours. Most occurs faster than two hours.