Sunday, January 16, 2011

Trust me on this

Slug patrol

Risa went for a walk with Beloved this morning, down to the park on the Mighty River amid cries of flocks of geese. We stopped to admire the fresh legs of a frog which had been dropped near the road, perhaps by a passing blue heron. The wetlands in the park had flooded across the entry road and finding a way down to the riverbank turned out to be an exercise in wetting shoes till they were squeaky. The river itself, brown and filled with unfamiliar standing waves, was roaring past like a Union Pacific freight making up time, and trees that had fallen part way in were dancing frenetically in the current. Not kayak conditions!

In the garden the slug patrol continued their merry quest. When the soil is saturated their opportunities expand exponentially and their little shovel beaks go everywhere in the loosened soil, accompanied by cries of gluttony.

This is all good, but Risa, who is down in the dumps, is fighting off a spell of gluttony of her own, brought on by signs of mortality among her relations and perhaps by the effect that winter darkness in Oregon sometimes has, especially during a sequence of "Pineapple Express" storms. The harder it rains, the more she digs in the pantry for stuff she shouldn't even be consuming on holidays (if she knows what's good for her). A couple of times she's made it into the garden, though, to see what alternatives there are.

The ducks, she's noticed, do nibble at the chard and the beet greens, but largely avoid the kale and collards. These are popular if thrown over the fence to them when they are fenced out, but in the garden they have enough to do that they have, apparently, no need for these greens. The chickens, who are fenced out all winter after two glorious weeks in the garden, would have no such restraint, but they are rewarded from time to time with a whole brassica, hacked off by machete and heaved over into the pasture with a satisfying thump.

Risa also regularly cooks up butternut, hubbard or delicata squash for them on the wood heat stove. In days gone by, she cut up the fruits obligingly and used a saucepan, but now she simply drops a whole one in a twenty-quart stock pot on the stove and fills the pot with enough water to do the job -- half a day later, pulls the pot off the stove to cool, sets the water aside as stock or takes it out to pour along the south side of the house as compost tea, then grabs the softened squash and lobs it over the fence to smash itself into suitable chicken feed. It's gone within an hour or so, seeds and all -- nothing but the stem remaining.

The collards are almost a year old now and show no sign of giving up, after repeated hard freezes. They are forming loose cabbage-like heads of light green foliage that resembles Napa cabbage in flavor. Risa has taken to bringing these in and using them in salads and stir fries and the like, and this is helping a lot with the darkness-induced gluttony. But the walks to the river -- some three miles round trip -- help best.

If you steam winter collards they will have a mild and nutty flavor that goes well with salt and fats or oils as needed -- Southern cuisine has many pairings of collards with pork, for example -- and the leftover water -- traditionally called "pot likker" -- is incomparably nutritious, and would get you through a winter in which no other vegetables are available. Use as a standard stock in baking and soups, or just drink the stuff.

If you have let yourself slip a bit, as Risa has, it will build up your immunity and restore some of your sanity. Trust me on this.

9 comments:

  1. The reality of life is difficult sometimes, isn't it?

    This year I'm hoping to grow a whole lot more to feed our animals, both grain and vegetables. I've heard collards are good for goats, so I was interested that yours has done so well this winter. I must say though, that I haven't lived in the South long enough to actually want to eat them myself, LOL, but maybe that will change once we start growing them.

    Good idea too about cooking the squash. My winter squash harvest was fair to middlin' this first year, but I see that I need to aim for as much surplus as possible. Nothing ever goes to waste: human food, animal food, or compost, everything gets fed one way or another.

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  2. It improves greatly after a freeze. An idea that helps is to separate the flat bits from the big midribs and steam the chunks first, then add back the leaves. Evens out the consistency. Collards is one of those things that benefits from salt and butter, for them as can have 'em.

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  3. Oh, I don't know, Risa. Coffee was the only thing that got me through the dark, rainy winter in Eugene...

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  4. Anonymous8:18 PM

    Good to know that they taste better after a freeze. Ours are still happy, but we've only eaten them once; I was really not impressed with pork and collards when my DH made them this past summer. We've been feeding them to the chickens and they love them, but I'll give them another try.

    I still don't know which is better, a sudden passing or watching them fade. My grandfather passed slowly from cancer, which was terrible to watch but at least everyone got to say their goodbye's; my mom died suddenly and I still regret not saying the things a daughter should say or to let her know how much she was loved.

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  5. Anonymous12:57 PM

    I dreamed once that my mom and I were together again, and I realized I could finally tell her that I loved her. But I couldn't--I could not make the words come out of my mouth. My mom gave me a knowing, merry look that was typical of her, and said: "Let's go shopping!"

    When I woke up, I felt much better. I realized that my mom knew; she always knew. And I understood that the time we spent together was our way of being loving, and that was enough. Nothing as formal as words was necessary between us. (from Lonni)

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  6. Gee, you guys are much more willing to talk about this here than I am -- and say such helpful things. Today my dentist asked me about my folks and I cried like a baby -- and not about the broken tooth, either.

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  7. Anonymous6:07 PM

    Hope the sun shines soon. We got snow, a treat to make snowmen. The winner was one in a beach chair with a bikini in a field with sun, that made it look like the beach.
    Tomorrow the school has a book talk to go to. The fireplace inspired me to build a mantle, being retired offers many opportunities including that walk.
    Epicurus has a wonderful take on life before and after.

    Lisa

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  8. I like hearing about your life. Enjoy!

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  9. Anonymous6:21 PM

    Here's the expound on my collards question, Thank you, Risa! I really chuckled about the starling, give the next one a poke for me too-dang things! :) Wow, I forgot how green, grass can be, nothing here in midwest but snow and some brown patches- blech- and really cold-I miss walking/hiking. Glad you can do that, it does help smooth the uncertainties.
    Cry when you need to,, chop wood or shovel when ya get angry, that will work it off.
    Take care and you and Beloved hang in there!
    JO:)

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Stony Run Farm: Life on One Acre