Grandma, Greens & Chocolate Golden Girls

I know I promised to talk about Grandma Mary and my mother Janice today, but the writing spirits led me in another direction.  This past weekend, I spent time with my Grandma Eliza.  Eliza turned 98 a little over a month ago and is still the feisty fireball she's always been.  When I go to rural South Carolina to take care of Grandma, I also spend time with her partners in crime I affectionately refer to as The Chocolate Golden Girls.  Her sister, Geneva, affectionately known as Aunt Gee, lives in the next town over on a large piece of land where she plants a pretty reasonably sized garden throughout the year.  Just next door to Grandma is Henrietta, her sister-in-law affectionately known as Aunt T.  Neither Aunt Gee or Aunt T have ever been married or had children.  Their days are filled with different activities mostly revolving around working in the church and education.  They are all characters in their own right, and when I'm in South Carolina, they keep me entertained.

During my last trip, Aunt Gee insisted that I come to her house to get some greens from her garden.  Since there were bags and bags of lovely frozen mustards and collards all over my grandmother's freezer, I figured she only had a nice bag or two of cut and cleaned greens for me.  Aunt Gee greeted me with her pleasant, sing-song voice that always made it easy for me to visualize her greeting her students back in her teacher days.  After a thirty minute conversation about church happenings, recent deaths and town gossip she presented me with 4 heads of fresh collards, 6 small cabbages and then walked me to the garden to pick a bag of mustard greens.

The next day it took me hours to cut, clean, blanch and bag the greens for freezing.  Here were my results.

It's hard to tell, but this bowl has a couple of pounds  of collards, mustards & dark green cabbage leaves.

Sometimes, it takes a dose of home and some hard work to remind you just how much care goes into creating your food.  It also makes me appreciate my country girl roots and the people who take time to share simple foods.  These fresh greens have been more delicious than any greens I could buy anywhere else and have truly been a treat for my stomach and soul.