Monday, May 5, 2008

The Pirate goes gardening!

If you've been watching the Sagewood Farm home page, then you know we 'land pirates' took to the seas this past weekend. We had a blast on the water, with our landlubbin' dogs even. They too had a grand time. But, pirate booty was not the only booty to be found! NAH!!

When arriving home, I knew that come the next day, 'a pickin' we would go'! And that's exactly what I did. The Turnip greens had gotten up big enough to need their first thinning, and 'grooming' of the leaves they currently had.

I took my handy basket (not the new one yet) to the garden and plopped my butt between the four rows of Turnips and begin the laborous process. It took a little while, but now it looks like the turnips took a trip to the local barbar shop!
They are thinned, and trimmed. But ohh the basket of greens I had in front of me...ohmy oh my..wanna see??
Young, tender leaves, barely big enough to hold their own, but lordy did I have a basket FULL of them!

Cooking time on these little guys..was..get them to boiling in VERY LITTE water..turn em over and turn em off. Then of course, I did like my mama did..and fried em real quick in a hot skillet with a wee bit of bacon grease and bacon pieces in them. OHMY GOODNESS! Served up with some apple cider vinegar and of course, HOT SAUCE! Greens just ain't right without hot sauce ya know!. It's a staple at my house. Yep, I'm guilty, I even eat it on my fried chicken. Texas Pete and me, we go back a long way.

Here's something I snapped this morning while strolling round the yard, the squash plant that will be having squash ready to harvest by weeks end..oh yes, an the newly cropped, thinned and eaten turnip beds are in front of here, much less bushy then they were in the last photo of them.


Not sure you can see the 'fruits' under there, but I sure do hope so! I'll be stir-frying up some of those at the end of the week for sure!


Well, it's time to hit the old hammock. Today, since I didn't do much garden work today, that means I have to do nap work. So here's my secret hide out, don't tell anyone where to find me, it's all in a days work ya know!

My brother gave me this hammock many years ago, if he only knew how many naps it has produced since! It's getting old enough now, that I have begun to worry, I'm sure I'll be replacing it after this summer. The weather down here is a killer on many outdoor furnishings. Even Hammocks.

2 comments:

Rebecca of Sunny Morning Farm said...

Your turnip greens sound yummy!! So much easier and better for you than the way some people cook them for almost 2 hours in a pot!!!! LOL!! I'll have to give them a try!

Sage said...

That's the way I cook the youngin's..the ones very tender. When they get older, I may cook em about..ohhh 15 to 20 min, MAX..then stir fry em up (cutting em up as I do so) with the bacon and drippins (other wise known as grease)...OHman! My mom would sometime sautee onions in the skillet just before adding the greens too. You can't beat it!