Greee* (for Gree*)

There are plenty of greens in our vegetable gardens this time of year, including mesclun, collards, chard, mustard, and often, most strikingly, kale. But how to realistically consume all this vitamin-rich, leafy, high-fiber greenery? I recently discovered that you can satisfyingly (and surreptitiously) add it to a smoothie, which is also a good way to avoid heating up the kitchen on a hot summer day. Put the green stuff in the blender first and turn it up till it makes a noise sort of like today's typo. Then add the softer, sweeter ingredients (banana, avocado, berries, whatever you like). Delicious and nutritious! An ape called Kanzi, profiled in Time magazine last week, might have been wishing he had had a blender too when he used the words "Slow Lettuce" to indicate the kale he'd been given for lunch, an apparent reference to the fact that kale takes a long time to chew. I was equally enchanted the other day to learn that James Barrie had been a member of the so-called "Kailyard School." These were authors who wrote about rural life in turn of the century Scotland. (Kailyard is Scottish for "kale field.") According to one such story, the town of Kilmaurs was justly esteemed for its excellent kale, and had been offered a princely sum for some seeds. The "cunning" farmers of Kilmaurs (perhaps greedily) agreed, but gave the seeds a "gentle roasting" on a shovel over some hot coals before delivery, thus guaranteeing that the greens wouldn't grow for the neighbors. Greee* has bloomed 38 times in OhioLINK and should, in virtually every case, be pruned to a more manageable gree*.

(Ornamental kale blooming in January in Washington, DC., by Terren, 2008, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid