Winter Greens

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Sweet tender collards, dusky Russian kale, and succulent leaves of fava call me to the garden. They are summer’s leftovers, dreaming of sun and bracing against the frosts of February. I’ve written to you about the sugars of kale setting in at the chill, but I’m not sure how to describe the rugged thickness of the leaves that guard that sugar or the crispness of their crunch.

I am in awe that the earth and I have this arrangement, that I plant and feed and water these dear ones and am given in return nourishment that bolsters my hearty soups. Nutrient-dense winter greens strengthen us, too, against the cold. And all with such sweetness locked in their leathery leaves.

There’s a lesson. What I enjoy most in these plants, what’s most delectable and nourishing in the darkest months of the year, is elegantly protected by the structure of the plant itself.

When we are strong, resolved in what is ours and what is not, are we not also our sweetest selves? How might we learn to appreciate our boundaries more by enjoying companionship with collards?