Monday, February 25, 2019
Winter Greens
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Cold Gray Wet - Must be winter in NC
It has been a soggy week. The ground is saturated. Rivers are full. The moss lawn is green and lovely. The water table is filling up! I have low hopes for survival of my sugar snap peas. Wondering if they've rotted in the ground?
On the delicious side...
We finally had our first taste of collards this season! Beautiful thick dark green leaves, cut into chiffonade, dropped into salted boiling water for ~ 7 minutes, drained and cooled until time to eat. Then, reheated and seasoned with salt & pepper and perfectly caramelized onions sautéed in bacon fat. Now, THAT is some good eating!
I love the winter garden! It quietly does its thing under cover, requiring little attention. This year we've been enjoying a variety of lettuces and spinach, making for some very fresh and satisfying salads and additions to soup, beans, eggs... not to mention the occasional "mess" of tender and tasty turnip and mustard greens.
Plus, there are usually few bugs this time of year. But this week, as I harvested the first batch of collards, I noticed one leaf felt dirty on the underside. All the plants had been clean (one of the benefits of having them under cover - little to no rain splash) so I turned it over in my hand to look. It was covered in aphids! Eeewwww! I pulled up that entire infested plant and checked the others. It was the only one effected. I took it in the house, soaked it in salt water to remove the varmints, and ate the leaves anyway.
On the delicious side...
We finally had our first taste of collards this season! Beautiful thick dark green leaves, cut into chiffonade, dropped into salted boiling water for ~ 7 minutes, drained and cooled until time to eat. Then, reheated and seasoned with salt & pepper and perfectly caramelized onions sautéed in bacon fat. Now, THAT is some good eating!
 |
| Collards Chiffonade (ribbons) - ready to be immersed in boiling water |
I love the winter garden! It quietly does its thing under cover, requiring little attention. This year we've been enjoying a variety of lettuces and spinach, making for some very fresh and satisfying salads and additions to soup, beans, eggs... not to mention the occasional "mess" of tender and tasty turnip and mustard greens.
Plus, there are usually few bugs this time of year. But this week, as I harvested the first batch of collards, I noticed one leaf felt dirty on the underside. All the plants had been clean (one of the benefits of having them under cover - little to no rain splash) so I turned it over in my hand to look. It was covered in aphids! Eeewwww! I pulled up that entire infested plant and checked the others. It was the only one effected. I took it in the house, soaked it in salt water to remove the varmints, and ate the leaves anyway.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
80 Degrees Today
What a day to play in the garden! I'm really happy to live in NC, where the frogs sing and the garden grows in the middle of winter. Despite being planted late in the season, the greens have been growing slowly but surely under their row covers and are ready for eating. The collard leaves are finally getting some size to them. Fresh salads have graced our table several times this week.
Today's chores:
~ Cutting the mustard
~ Thinning the lettuce
~ Planting the sugar snaps
~ Watering everything
Tonight, we eat mustard greens!
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