Winter Greens
I love the story of the farm mouse and the city mouse. Anyone who lives on a farm knows the feeling of guilty neglect when you miss harvesting something at it’s prime, or suffer a setback because you have been off having fun or had your mind on other things. The flip side of that is the smug satisfaction you get when the cold weather comes and you know you have all kinds of treasures squirreled away, jars of preserves, a freezer full of meat and fruit, enough home grown garlic to last the year. This fall was particularily mild, and when I returned in mid November from my annual trip to Italy my garden was still green and lush. I am proud to say I have not yet bought any produce other than onions and celery this winter. All that changed this week with the onslaught of a foot of snow and temperatures cold enough to turn the cellulose structure of even my hardiest kale to mush. But three days beforehand, after listening to the weather forecast I headed out to the garden and filled two buspans with beautiful winter greens, escarole, radicchio, mustard greens and arugula. I picked the last tops of sprouting broccoli, harvested fresh chives and parsley and filled the produce drawers of my refrigerator with green and purple cabbages.
Let it snow.