February Blues

February takes forever.  Even when the sun is out, the landscape is bare, brown, and stark.  The trees tumbled by Hurricane Sandy still lie scattered, shorn of branches and leaves, like so many gigantic tuning forks on the side of the road.

The garden is just hunkered down waiting for better days, and since we're actually having a winter this year, so is most of the wildlife.  I've seen a few deer tracks, but it appears that most of the does and last year's fawns must be bedded down deep in the woods. 

But just when I'm ready to go into hibernation myself (which would not bode well for all those pressing projects at the office), Mr. Mulch reminds me that we still have one harvestable crop out there!  So we suit up and head for the otherwise barren beds, and find... Cavolo Nero!
 
Tuscan Kale, with tall, slim dark corrugated leaves -- a plant so hardy that even the deep freeze we had last week only nipped a couple of tips.  It has a fresh coat of fluffy snow from last night's quick moving storm, but once we brush that off, we have a nice sized harvest.








I'm so happy to have some of our own fresh veggies that didn't come out of our freezer stores that I don't even mind the 20 minutes it takes to strip all the leaves from the inedible stalks.  I have a lovely recipe for Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw that Mr. Mulch has been lobbying for, and this will go nicely with some boiled potatoes and the skate in black butter sauce I had on the menu for tonight.

Maybe February won't be so bad this year after all!




Addendum:  Here's what the Kale Slaw looks like when assembled, and here's a link to the recipe.  It was absolutely delicious!  Definitely a keeper -- thanks Charlotte!