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Southern Peas (Vigna unguiculata) are a warm-season crop originating in Africa and are well-adapted to the hot and humid climate of the Southeastern U.S. While there is no shortage of cowpea varieties in the Southeast, the Blue Goose is special because it is a vigorous, high-yielding crop, is relatively well-behaved, having a large semi-bush habit; it cooks up quickly and tastes great; and the seed has a wonderfully unique blue-gray color.
Directly sow these seeds in a location with full sun after all danger of frost has passed. They may benefit from staking, but do not require a trellis. Dry peas will be ready in 100-130 days.
Mark Dempsy acquired Blue Goose from the USDA’s seed bank while trialing about 30 cowpeas and close relatives in Swannanoa, NC. While there is no shortage of cowpea varieties in the Southeast, the Blue Goose really grabbed his attention and checked all the boxes:
It is a vigorous, high-yielding crop
It is relatively well-behaved, having a large semi-bush habit
It cooks up quickly and tastes great
The seed has a wonderfully unique blue-gray color
In Mark’s experience growing Blue Goose over the last 7 years, it has averaged about 15 lbs seed per 100 row-ft.
In 2024, Mark Dempsey was studying at Clemson for a PhD in plant breeding, so Pat Battle grew a crop of Blue Goose for the Appalachian Growers Seed Collective. In 2025, new collective member Delia Jovel Dubón of Tierra Fértil Coop grew out a batch for AGSC.
Patryk Battle, Sparkling Earth Farm, Celo, NC
Patryk Battle is a teacher, mentor, seed saver, gardener, and is the director of a downsized, but still actively educating, Living Web Farms. He deems full-throttle support of regional seed sovereignty a great "retirement" project.
Delia Jovel Dubón, Tierra Fértil Coop, Newfound Community, NC
“Tierra Fértil Coop is a social and economic initiative of a group of Hispanic community members living in Henderson County, North Carolina. This project stemmed from personal and collective dreams of promoting access to resources and capacity to produce food and in this way, stimulate food justice and racial equity in the local food and agricultural system.
Through a farmer cooperative that is “an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet our common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise” we are not just filling personal aspirations but prioritizing community ambitions that include food autonomy and access to healthy nutritious and culturally appropriate food.
As Tierra Fértil Coop, we want to honor the hard work, expertise, and legacy of farm workers in Henderson County and western NC by creating an opportunity for present and future generations of Latinx people to make radical changes on the food, health, agricultural, and labor system.”
