Our main winter fresh vegetable is kale that we grow in our greenhouse. About this time every year, the greenhouse is full of kale plants that are at least 5 feet tall. Because it is getting so warm in the greenhouse, most of it has bolted and gone to flower. Which means it is time to… (drum roll, please) process the kale.
Processing the kale involves the following steps:
- Pull up the kale
- Pull all the leaves off the stems
- Steam the kale to blanch it
- Chop the kale
- Bag the kale
- Freeze the kale (or pressure can it)
Everybody takes part in the processing of the kale. Greyden and Indigo pull most of the leaves off of the stems. I’m not sure why, but Indigo is actually the best one at this job. She is very thorough and very quick. She’ll sit and do it for a very long time. When we have kale for dinner, she’s the one who gets it ready to be steamed, so she’s had a lot of practice.
Fletcher also helps out.
While all the kale leaves are being removed, Brett is inside doing the steaming. Emery is the one who pulls up and moves the kale to the pile. This time, Colter got a free pass and got to plant beans.
We mainly use the kale in pasta dishes such as lasagna. But Indigo, Brett, and I have gotten into the habit of sauteing it with butter, garlic, and lemon juice and eating it like that. Jim thinks it is completely gross, but we like it!
