Collard Greens

I am lucky to have really great neighbors, and while working in my garden I've made a wonderful bunch of "gardening friends" who enjoy sharing tips and tricks. One of my neighbors is also an excellent and generous cook. She prepares authentic "soul food" and Southern recipes, and she promised me that if I grew collard greens, she would teach me how to cook them.

Not wanting to miss out on this offer, I planted a few little collard plants in my bed. After learning the hard way about cabbage worms, the collards really took off and became big and bountiful. And my neighbor came through on her promise and taught me her signature recipe for collard greens (which is so good, her 7-year old grandson has told me it's his "favorite food"!) She even gave me some of her secret ingredient: smoked turkey tails.

Here's yesterday's harvest, making their way into my first "mess o greens"!

Collard greens harvest, July 24

I followed my neighbor's recipe exactly - slow cooking the greens for 3.5 hours - and it came out really well!