2004-10-03 - 8:30 a.m.
I grow mustard greens as a winter cover crop for several reasons. First, they cover the ground well and keep the soil from washing in heavy rains. Second, they usally die in late winter when the temps get into the teens which gives them time to rot by spring so they're easy to till in. Third, and most importantly, my wife and in-laws love to eat them.
Now I for the life of me don't know what they see in them, but you'd swear they tasted like candy by the way they eat them. I personally think they're gross, but I'm definitly in the minority around here. When Sue cooks a big pot full of them I about have to leave the house for the smell. Each year Sue says I need to try them and learn to like them, but so far I'm a slow learner in this class and I keep flunking out.
I never put up a sign to sell greens but I always have folks asking about them and we sell quite a few. When I hand them a sack full of leaves I'm still mystified at the joy that comes over their face. Oh well, maybe one day I'll understand what folks see in them, but so far all that moves me to a smile about them is that studies have found that when tilled into the ground they have anti-nematode properties.
