Happy new year!

Happy new year everyone! After a well deserved winter break, mus is back. I love the holidays, because even though they are busy in many ways, they are the only time of the year when you can go away and your garden will be totally fine when you come back a few weeks later. Allright, maybe a few more weeds in our neck of the woods, but that´s highly acceptable in exchange for the renewed motivation to go out there and pull them. So today, I have done my first gardening act of the year (ecxept harvesting a few rutabagas and picking a bagful of greens last weekend). I have started a flat of my first vegetable seedlings for the new year. In addition to some oldies goldies (onions, green onions, leeks, various kinds of greens, and my favorite Lacinato (aka tuscan or dinosaur) kale, I have seeded a few varieties of cabbages and brassica that I brought home from the old country. My favorite is the green kale (Grünkohl), which used to be a northern German winter staple in the times before 8000 mile Chilean midwinter raspberries. It is slow cooked together with a little onion, cured meats, and sausages (some people even add goose lard). It is then eaten either by itself or as part of the chistmas dinner, along with potatoes, red cabbage, and apple-stuffed goose. If this sounds heavy, that´s cause it is. But on a cold winter day, combined with a Jever beer and a Korn (schnaps) for those who like it, it is unapologetically satisfying.