macmex said: "Âwhenever I talk about branching out with cowpeas, the wife gets nervous and tells me that I better keep her beloved Penny Riles!"

ThatÂs what George wrote last year when I was asking for recommendations on what cowpeas to plant. So, I said to myself, "SELF, if she (Jerreth) feels THAT strongly about Penny Rile, who am I to disagree?" So, I ordered some Penny Rile from Sand Hill (along with some other things *smile*).

Well, long story short, I ran out of prime locations in the garden pretty quick, and the Penny Rile ended up in a secondary garden plot, along with IWK and Carolina Red Lima. This plot is less than ideal, being shaded all morning and into the afternoon, until about 2pm. Then, full sun the rest of the day. I didnÂt expect much, but I had the seed and I thought IÂd give them a try.

I planted both ends of an arched cattle panel (18 seeds) of each kind. The IWK was a complete bust. They really struggled and only produced a handful of pods (3 oz). The CRL and the Penny Rile fared much better, with CRL producing 19 oz of seed and the Penny Rile 20 oz. Not too shabby.

Well, the County Fair is held here toward the end of August every year. We started entering things in 2008, just for fun. So, this past August we were heading out the door to go submit our entries and I thought about those Penny Riles. I grabbed the Fair catalog and was going through the different categories and came across "Dried Products-Vegetables-Beans". DidnÂt know there was such a thing only being our second year, but I figured what the heck. So I grabbed a jelly jar, filled it with Penny Rile, and off we went. Well, a few days after the judging was over we went to the Fair, and much to our surprise, the Penny Riles had a Second Place red ribbon hanging on them! And, of course, that means weÂre into cash money. We won $2.50 for that 2nd place finish. Yee-doggie! Lol

I had mentioned to George earlier this spring that I had a story to tell about Penny Rile, but IÂve been too busy to tell it. Now itÂs done. George, thanks for recommending Penny Rile, and tell Jerreth thank you as well. IÂm not sure I would have tried them without her enthusiastic "recommendation". And, after cooking up several batches, we see why she was so insistent. TheyÂre not only cute enough for second place, they are delicious as well.

Rick

HereÂs a few pics.