The Farm Stand Opens for your New Year's Plate

---

Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2013 13:17:43 -0500
Subject: The Farm Stand Opens for your New Year's Plate!
From: pastures1051@gmail.com
To:

Hey there folks!  This week we come to you a little early to catch you in time for a great Southern New Year's tradition to add to your "Hoppin' John" black eyed peas dish.  This New Year, our garden abounds with collards and this Tuesday, you can find us on the farm 12 - 3 pm (1051 Rose Creek Drive, the signs on Colham Ferry will lead you there!) for your collard greens, New Years fix!  And if you don't know what the heck collards has to do with New Year's or just need a refresher and a recipe....read on!

Traditions & Superstitions.

It's not just the South...traditions and superstitions traverse the globe and find their way into our hearts and homes each New Year's.  They are there - no matter how wacky and weird - to set an intention of gracious hearts and a renewed hope for good things to come...

In Spain, you eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight - 1 grape for each month of the year...a sweet grape will be a good month, a sour grape...well that month may be a little unsavory.

In Colombia, if you walk around the block with an empty suitcase your year will be full of travel.

Germans and Poles eat pickled herring at the stroke of midnight for good luck.

In Russia, you'd write down a wish on a piece of paper, burn it, then throw it into a champagne glass and drink before 12:01.

In Argentina, it's a brand new pair of pink underpants to attract love (that goes for you too, boys!).

...And on almost every stove top South of the Mason Dixon line, you'll find "peas for pennies, corn bread for gold...and collards for dollars."

"Eat Poor on New Year's & eat FAT for the rest of the year."

Black eyed peas, corn bread, and collards....It's a tradition with it's roots in humility and a lack of vanity with a hope for prosperity and blessings.  A tradition as old as the antebellum South....

There a number of folklores surrounding the tradition of this meal...

One of the most popular dates back to Sherman and the Civil War when the Union troops turned up their noses at the greens and peas, leaving them behind - seeing them fit only as animal fodder and nothing more.  Thinking they had starved the Southerners into desperation and oblivion - the sagacious South knew better and used that rich and humble food to survive and since has evolved into a Southern holiday tradition.

Upon further digging into the history of collards and black eyed peas, you will also find it's true roots with the slave population in the antebellum days of the South when African families tried to replicate meals from home using beans, rice, and greens.  When Sarah Rutledge, "Lady of Charleston" and daughter of Edward Rutledge (signer of the Declaration of Independence), mentioned greens and beans in the 1855 edition of "The Carolina Housewife" it spread like wild fire and became a signature "Southern" dish, which then evolved into a New Year's tradition.

Whatever the origins...greens and beans have become a Southern staple and an important way to kick off the New Year in the South.

Bring the Green!

Cornbread represents gold, black eyed peas - coins...and collards make up a plateful of folded bills.  Eat 'em at the stroke of midnight or New Year's Day.  

It is said that each bite of collards is worth $1,000 dollars in the New Year.  And if you really want to make it extra special...

...Pair it with black eyes peas and hide a dime in 'em for a true "Hoppin' John" dish - the one to uncover the dime reaps extra wealth and blessings in the year to come!

...and don't forget to save some fresh, uncooked greens to tack to your ceiling and hang from the door to ward away evil spirits!

So, this year...make every bite count!  And stock up on collards this Tuesday at our New Year's Eve Farm Stand from 12 - 3 pm.  

A recipe (from the Southern Queen, Paula Deen).

ingredients.

• 1/2 lb smoked meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings, or smoke neck bones)
  
• 1 tbsp house seasoning (4:1:1 ratio salt, pepper, garlic powder)
• 1 tbsp seasoned salt
• t tbsp hot sauce
• 1 large bunch collard greens
• 1 tbsp butter
  

method.

1. In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add smoked meat, house seasoning, seasoned salt, and hot sauce.
2. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour
3. Wash collard and remove the stems.
4. Stack 6-8 leaves together, roll up, and slice into 1/2 - 1 inch thick slices.
5. Place greens in pot with meat and butter.
6. Cook 45 min - 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
7. When done, taste and adjust seasoning.

And if we don't see you tomorrow on the farm, we wish you all a happy New Year filled with greens and things and all that they represent!

(And see you in the New Year at the Bishop Central Market, Jan 4, 10 am - 2 pm!)

For the love of community and all things farming...

Your local farmers,

Will, John, Dana and the farm fam

The Pastures of Rose Creek, LLC
1051 Rose Creek Drive
Watkinsville, GA 30677
706.254.9391
575.613.2029