Text also here for adaptive translation:
Fall share is turning out to be a bountiful one. The greens grow big, succulent and sweet. They love this weather. We finally add sweet potatoes now to the other carbo staples--potatoes and butternut squash. Yet we still have some zucchini to offer from our late season row! Sometimes we can push the envelope on timing like that, to enjoy a summer crop into October.
Sweet potato digging was so much fun! About 30 people digging in the dirt together, learning about where their food comes from and helping to grow it. My favorite thing. Phil ran the plow through to loosen the soil and bring the sweets to the top, then people of all ages enjoyed gathering the sweets, packing them into crates and stacking them under cover to cure. Great team work! The sweets need to cure for about a week in warm, moist conditions in order for the starches to become sugar. And sweet, they are! Our heirloom variety is the best, we grow the brown sugar right into the sweet potato.
Collards are a big tough leaf that can be slow-cooked in a stew with beans or ham. Another way to tenderize the leaves is to tightly roll up a leaf, then slice thinly like you would a carrot. The thin slices fall off as lovely delicate ribbons. Sautee lightly on the stove top. I love collard greens now that I know how to cut them into ribbons. (thank you, Denise, for the tip!)
