Winter Greens
TO ME, GREEN is not just a holiday color. It is, more specifically, a winter color. Through the years, my husband, George, and I grew collards and turnips and kale and spinach. He loved kale. I love collards. Since George passed away, I haven’t planted a garden, and I miss it from time to time. Oh, I don’t miss pulling the weeds or hoeing the rows, but I do miss pulling food from the ground and putting it on the table. And, I especially miss having a hot pot of fresh, homegrown collard greens.
Last fall, I was at my favorite produce stand (Wingard’s Market in Andalusia, Alabama) buying some fresh collards. As I sorted through the selection looking for the deepest green leaves, an elderly man approached me and said, “You know you can plant that stalk?” In fact, I did not know that, so I asked him a few questions. He went on to explain, “After you cut the leaves from the stalk, you go straight away and plant the butt end of that stalk in some good dirt, about three or four inches in the ground.”
I declare! I had
