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I really like mustard greens. I might even love them. I don’t like turnips at all but the turnip greens are pretty good. I don’t care for collard greens or plain cooked spinach. Mom used to make poke, but I never had a fondness for it. The kale that I see in the grocery feels like that thick leatherette paper from the craft store, so I haven’t been interested in trying it. Mustard greens are my favorite by far. When a green is such tasty, perfection, why look elsewhere?
Dad used to plant mustard in his garden in the fall, but picking it was a literal pain. It grows low to the ground and you have to pick a lot of it to make a mess. A big fairly full trash bag will cook down and only make a few bags for the freezer.
So, you have to stoop over to pick low-growing greens, and you have to stay that way for quite a while to pick enough to be worthwhile. Dad’s back hurts and I get faint when I bend over and then stand back up. So, picking a big bag of greens can be difficult.
Well, I kept seeing folks using raised beds to grow some of their garden stuffs and I mentioned it to Dad and Mom. Mom thought it was a good idea so she ordered three. By the time we got them put together the first year, it was getting pretty late. Dad did sow some mustard and we managed to get a mess to eat and a few bags for the freezer.
Well, the next spring, Dad planted some leaf lettuce, green onions and a few mustard greens. We had a couple messes of lettuce and onions and a small mess or two of greens. We hadn’t had lettuce and onions in decades and it sure was gooooood!!
Dad sowed mustard in all three beds this fall, but we were late again and then Dad ended up in the hospital for several days. I even ended up in the hospital a day or two. The greens were neglected. I think that it was too dry for them to get a good start. When Dad got to feeling better, he resowed the mustard and they started growing. Since it was so late in the season, Cam, Dad, and I made greenhouse frames to fit over the raised beds. We are hoping that the winter won’t be too bad and our greenhouses will let us have mustard most of the winter. One can dream!
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So, with the costs of the raised beds, the seeds, the soil mixture to fill them, the materials used to make our greenhouses, Dad jokes that our greens only cost their weight in gold per serving! Every mess we get, the price per serving goes down a mite. However much they end of costing, they surely are tender and tasty!
So, a while back, Dad and I picked the greens and got two bags for the freezer. They are so easy to pick in their raised beds!
Place cooled greens into labeled and dated freezer bags.
When completely cool, put into freezer..
If you don’t want to freeze your greens, after draining off excess water, add some oil, salt and whatever seasonings you prefer. Stir as necessary. Cook over med-med-low heat until tender. Enjoy with a little lemon juice, vinegar, hot sauce…
As I was picking the mustard, I enjoyed the beautiful green of the leaves and the lovely pungent fragrance of them. I was thinking about the family members over the generations who had likely done the same.
Greens are more tolerant of cool weather than many other garden vegetables. Folks could plant them in early spring or late summer/fall when cool weather might occur. Dad says that his parents would sow turnips and mustard in late summer/fall. He says that most other garden produce was gone by the time the greens and turnips came in. Those greens and turnips were welcome bits of fresh produce for the family who had been consuming the preserved produce from Grandma’s canning closet or the root cellar. In the spring, fresh greens would have been a welcome treat before the rest of the garden came in. Mom says that they didn’t grow mustard or turnip greens in the spring, but they would comb the hillsides for the greens of plantain, dandelion, and lamb’s quarters. Mammy would cook them and they could also enjoy some fresh greens.
I imagine that that bit of fresh produce lifted spirits a bit in anticipation of the garden produce that could be enjoyed during the summer. It is no wonder that eating spring greens was considered a spring tonic!
As I was picking the greens, I was singing to myself, “Bringing in the greens, bringing in the greens, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the greens!”
Bringing in the Sheaves was written in 1874. I know that the sheaves brought in in the song had a figurative meaning other than the harvesting of produce from the garden; but I just can’t help but imagine the rejoicing that my family members must have known when they had good harvests. Their minds could rest a bit easier knowing that their families would have nourishment during the lean times of winter and early spring. I imagine that those past family members born after the hymn became popular may have, just like me, picked greens while singing “Bringing in the greens, bringing in the greens, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the greens!”
As I was picking the mustard, I enjoyed the beautiful green of the leaves and the lovely pungent fragrance of them. I was thinking about the family members over the generations who had likely done the same.
Greens are more tolerant of cool weather than many other garden vegetables. Folks could plant them in early spring or late summer/fall when cool weather might occur. Dad says that his parents would sow turnips and mustard in late summer/fall. He says that most other garden produce was gone by the time the greens and turnips came in. Those greens and turnips were welcome bits of fresh produce for the family who had been consuming the preserved produce from Grandma’s canning closet or the root cellar. In the spring, fresh greens would have been a welcome treat before the rest of the garden came in. Mom says that they didn’t grow mustard or turnip greens in the spring, but they would comb the hillsides for the greens of plantain, dandelion, and lamb’s quarters. Mammy would cook them and they could also enjoy some fresh greens.
I imagine that that bit of fresh produce lifted spirits a bit in anticipation of the garden produce that could be enjoyed during the summer. It is no wonder that eating spring greens was considered a spring tonic!
As I was picking the greens, I was singing to myself, “Bringing in the greens, bringing in the greens, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the greens!”
Bringing in the Sheaves was written in 1874. I know that the sheaves brought in in the song had a figurative meaning other than the harvesting of produce from the garden; but I just can’t help but imagine the rejoicing that my family members must have known when they had good harvests. Their minds could rest a bit easier knowing that their families would have nourishment during the lean times of winter and early spring. I imagine that those past family members born after the hymn became popular may have, just like me, picked greens while singing “Bringing in the greens, bringing in the greens, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the greens!”
