On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
Since October first, life has been a little crazy here in the mountains. Hubby was scheduled for a simple procedure that turned out to be not so simple, leading to tests, more doctor visits and complete but temporary diet changes.
At one point he was only having clear liquids such as jello, broth and clear beverages. I have to confess that the days of clear liquids were a mini no cooking vacation for me.
Eventually, the clear liquids worked and he is on the mend.
What I really want to write about today is collard greens. I have wonderful memories of cleaning and preparing collards with my mom and I look forward each fall to going to the produce market to choose a couple of bunches.
According to my mom, the secret of tasty collard greens is they must be harvested after the first frost, or at least once the temperatures drop into the lower 40s.
This week, the temperatures dropped and on one of our fun road trips for doctor visits, we stopped and shopped. I bought two double, lovely bunches.
My mom taught me to cut the bottom stems off, then run a knife along the leaf stems to remove them. I prefer to do this messy job on the porch but the day was too cold for sitting outside. The weather forecast for the following day was warmer and i stored them in the refrigerator.
On Collard day I gathered up knives and the necessary paraphernalia and set up on the porch.
The first two bundles went by quickly. As I began the third bundle, I began to think I may have bought too many. By the time I finished the final bundle I was sure I had bought too many.
I put 2 bunches of collards in the kitchen sink and began swirling them in the water. Fortunately they had a scant amount of dirt and only required one wash.
I have the large pot my mom used to cook collards in and I was able to fit all of the washed ones into the pot.
Then the nightmare began. I like my collards to be tender and these collards would not cooperate. I think I cooked them for three hours.
Then I had to chop them up.
I use a Rada hand chopper. It does a good job. I love all of the Rada products.
Photo credit Rada website.
Finally that batch was finished and put into the fridge. I washed the second batch and that was as far as I got. I left them out to drain the water off them and went to bed.
The next day I decided there had to be a better way than my mom did it.
I asked Grok if collards could be cooked in an electric pressure cooker. Grok said yes and even gave me cooking instructions. Using the pressure cooker was so much easier.
The cooked collards are now sitting in my fridge and in the morning I will divide them up for the freezer.
I should have enough collards to last until next fall.
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I’m a general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.
Old Things R New 
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