Crow Wing Energized Names the Pea as 2024 Vegetable Of The Year

Last week, Crow Wing County crowned the pea as the 2023 Vegetable of the Year at Essentia Health St. Joseph’s-Brainerd Clinic.

The program “One Vegetable, One Community” holds the contest each year to promote healthy eating and veggie-packed diets.

The pea competed against the cabbage, kohlrabi, radish, and zucchini for county top spot in this year’s Crow Wing County Fair, but proved to be un-beet-able in the end.

“One thing with our movement, with Crow Wing Energized, we really look at that whole person realizing everything is everything is intertwined,” said Crow Wing Energized Community Health Specialist Karen Johnson. “Mental well-being, physical health, active living. You can’t have one without the other. So we really talk about – we have a lot of programs that we have on mental health, try to make any program that we do or event in our community free of charge. We want to eliminate any barrier for somebody to attend. So from a mental health aspect, we really try to have events and programs in our area that they can attend free of charge.”

Laura Dilley – better known as the Pea – will visit grade schools in the spring, attend community events, and share hints on how to properly grow and prepare peas over the next year.