Purchase heirloom seedlings from Wisdom Gardens
Babies!
Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. is holding
its first Wisdom Gardens Heirloom Veg-
etable Plant Sale on May 6, from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. at Wisdom Gardens (3203 SE
109 th Ave.).
An array of heirloom vegetable
seedlings for your summer garden will
be available. Unlike the vegetables you
purchase at your local supermarket, heir-
loom seeds are saved and cultivated from
year to year to preserve their unique flavors
and health benefits.
Vegetable plants available at the sale
include purple tomato, cherry tomato,
Red Siberian tomato, tomatillo, golden
beet, Early Wonder beet, summer squash;
Aurora Benji Johns
Aurora Benji Johns was born April
10, 2017, at 8 p.m. at Glendive Medical
Center in Glendive, Mont.
She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and
was 20 inches long.
She is the daughter of Keaston Johns
and Nicholas Boyce.
Lakota winter squash, romaine lettuce,
spinach, kale, Swiss chard; cilantro, ama-
ranth, watercress, basil, edamame, pump-
kin, broccoli, cayenne pepper, Mesclum
lettuce, Oregon sugar pod pea, Armenian
cucumber and English cucumber.
Individual plants are $1 each; pack of
12 plants is $10; and a pack of 25 plants
is $25.
Volunteers needed for
Discovering Our Story TV
Would you like to learn studio televi-
sion production as part of Wisdom’s TV
studio team? Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
is recruiting volunteers interested in learn-
ing studio television production skills.
Don’t forget your sustainable veg-
etable garden guide book available with
any purchase.
Wisdom will pay the training fee for
Native youth and adults interested in serv-
ing on our TV team and will pay tuition
for the training at Open Signal (previously
Portland Community Media TV).
All proceeds from this plant sale will
help purchase and install a high-tunnel
hoop house at Wisdom Gardens.
Contact Wisdom’s multimedia coor-
dinator Tim for more info at 503-775-4014
or tim@wisdomoftheelders.org.
Getting to know nutritious greens by name, learning their benefits
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RD, LD, Siletz
Tribal Head Start Nutrition
As part of my role as a consultant
nutritionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I
offer information for families. This seg-
ment reviews some of the many types of
greens that can be grown locally as well as
purchased at the store. Most people benefit
from having them every day. Greens can be
cooked as a side dish, added to soups and
casseroles, and featured in salads and even
smoothies. You may enjoy some greens
raw and others cooked.
See the alphabetic guide below for
short descriptions. What greens have you
and your children tried? Which ones might
you plan to introduce to your children?
How might you prepare them? Which
ones do you prefer raw and which ones
are better cooked?
When cooking greens, remember that
using lemon or vinegar with some fat
(i.e., olive oil or butter) makes the experi-
ence more pleasant and likely to repeat,
thereby providing good nutrition. Greens
are loaded with nutrients, but you have to
eat them in order to benefit.
Arugula (or rocket): Primarily used
as a salad green. Provides distinctive fla-
vor – resembles mildly spicy watercress,
slightly nutty. Looks like a cross between
dandelion and oak leaf lettuce.
Arugula is higher in calcium than kale
or collards. Delicious as salad greens, used
in sandwiches or as herb (including pesto).
Beet Greens: Edible and delicious
tops are better sources of vitamins and
minerals than the beets themselves. Pos-
sess complex flavor that is earthy yet mild,
with overtones of the sweet beetroot.
Bok Choy: Delicately flavored and
quick-cooking Asian green. Available in
most U.S. supermarkets but generally not
used regularly by American cooks.
A tall plant – 12-18 inches from the
base to the leaf top. The long leaf stalks
are crisp, thick and white. The leaves are
very dark green and slightly thick. Both
the leaves and stalks are edible. Contains
vitamins A and C as well as sulforaphane,
which helps protect against cancer.
Also available as baby bok choy. Can
be stir-fried, added to soups or one-pot
Asian dishes. Often prepared with Asian
seasonings such as tamari or shoyu,
roasted sesame oil and hot peppers.
Broccoli Rabe: A relative of broc-
coli and mix of long thin broccoli-like
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stalks, leafy greens and small florets.
Chop them all together and cook them at
the same time. Broccoli rabe is described
as an aggressive or assertive green with a
pungent, bitter flavor, which adds zest to
blander foods.
Traditionally found in small Italian
and Asian markets. Now frequently found
on restaurant menus. Italians commonly
serve broccoli rabe as a side dish, cooked
with garlic and olive oil.
Cabbage: One of the world’s most
widely grown vegetables. Can be steamed,
stir-fried, boiled, added to soups and
pickled. Common types include green,
red and savoy.
Chard: One of the most mild-tasting
cooking greens – sweet, slightly earthy
and succulent. It is also one of the most
versatile. It can be used, leaf and stalk, as
a vegetable in its own right – the leaves or
stalks can be used in soups and the leaves
make a light wrap for fish and grains.
This green is quite easy to prepare and
is loaded with vitamins A and C. Long
growing season. Common forms include
Swiss, rhubarb (or red) chard or rainbow
chard. Takes well to olive oil and lemon
juice. Quick cooking like spinach – from
the same family.
Collard Greens: Most commonly
prepared in the South in a large pot of water
flavored with smoked ham or ham hock.
Nutritionally, collards are a goldmine.
According to the USDA Composition of
Foods, collard greens outrank broccoli,
spinach and mustard greens in nutritional
value. Collard greens are low in calories,
high in fiber and rich in beta-carotene,
vitamin C, calcium and B vitamins.
Depending on the cooking method,
collards can have a mild, likable taste,
though not as sweet as kale. They lack bit-
terness. Generally consumed cooked since
they taste grassy when eaten raw in a salad.
They taste great when simply pre-
pared with olive oil and onions, leeks or
garlic. Strong flavorings such as hot pep-
per, ginger, curry, vinegar, hot sauce and
bacon also enhance the flavor. Slivered
collard greens taste good in soups and
bean stews. Flavor and texture is generally
preferred when prepared in boiling water
as compared to steaming. Be sure to save
the cooking water for soup stock.
Dandelion Greens: Inherently bitter.
Choose ways to mask or reduce bitterness
in preparations. According to Peter Gail,
author of The Dandelion Celebration: A
Guide to Unexpected Cuisine (Cleveland:
May 2017
Goosefoot Acres Press, 1994), the foods
that complement and best reduce the bit-
terness are olive oil, garlic, pork fat in
some form, eggs, vinegar, lemon juice,
cheese, tomatoes and bread.
Gail’s basic method is as follows:
Wash the greens thoroughly in warm
water, cut off any roots or tough stems
and sprinkle the greens with salt. Cook
the greens in a covered skillet, with just
the water clinging to the washed leaves,
for 5-10 minutes. Drain and chop. At this
point, sauté and add your seasonings, or
add the greens to a particular dish such as
lasagna or quiche.
Alternatively, blanch greens in boiling
water for 2-5 minutes. Some of the green’s
bitter compounds will leach into the
water, making the greens more palatable.
Be careful with your source if harvesting
your own.
Kale: Often found on a salad bar
between the bowls even though kale is
often placed on the list of the top 10
healthiest foods you can eat. Also referred
to as the “king of calcium.” One cup con-
tains more than 5 grams of fiber (more
than a serving of oat bran cereal) but only
43 calories. That same cup provides the
daily requirements for vitamins A and C
and 134 mg of calcium.
Kale has a pleasantly mellow flavor of
its own, not quite so mild as spinach or
Swiss chard, but not so strong tasting as
mustard greens. The way it is cooked can
enhance its flavor. Best boiled in water. Be
sure to save the cooking water (pot likker).
Delicious in soups, stir-fries and even
grilled. Enhanced by olive oil, garlic,
onion and/or leeks. Many different vari-
eties of kale are available, including Red
Russian and Italian.
Mustard Greens: Bright green with
frilly-edged leaves and a mustardy per-
fume in the fresh state. When cooked, they
often turn a drab green and have a rather
stringy, thin texture. Some recipes make
the best of their unique flavors.
Mustard greens do not lend them-
selves to steaming, but mix well with other
milder greens or beans, and other sweet
vegetables such as carrots, corn, sweet
potatoes and leeks. Add to soups, gumbos
or stews to contribute a hint of spiciness.
Mustard greens take well to stir-frying or
sautéing with other vegetables.
Parsley: Another way to add green
leaves to your menu. Parsley is one of the
most widely used herbs. Offers bright
fresh green flavor while still able to blend
into many dishes. Use in soups, salads,
pesto, pasta, vegetables, eggs and pota-
toes. Most common varieties are Italian
flat leaf or curly leaf.
Spinach: One of the most versatile
and mild-tasting greens. When sautéed,
spinach wilts and cooks in 2-4 minutes.
Spinach is high in antioxidant vita-
mins A, C and E. Spinach makes the top
10 list for fruits and vegetables highest
in carotenoids (including beta carotene).
Spinach fulfills the daily requirement
for folacin (folic acid), an important
B-vitamin.
Spinach also is high in oxalic acid,
which binds with calcium and iron to make
them less available for nutrition. For best
sources of calcium and iron, consume
kale, turnip greens and watercress.
Turnip Greens: Difficult to find
in the stores as they often are confused
with mustard greens, from the same fam-
ily. Both are among the bitter dark leafy
greens. Use cooking methods similar to
mustard greens.
Turnip greens are one of the best
sources of calcium among the dark leafy
greens. Other key nutrients include fiber,
vitamin A, vitamin E, iron and potassium.
Watercress: Incredibly nutritious.
It is high in vitamins C, B1 and B2; has
almost three times the calcium of spinach;
and is comparable to carrots as a source
for vitamin A. It is also a source of copper,
iron and magnesium.
With its pungent flavor and beautiful
dark green color, watercress is a welcome
addition to many recipes. Its peppery and
spicy leaves boost the flavor and appear-
ance of salads with milder greens. Soups
shine when watercress is stirred in at the
last minute to offer a more subtle taste.
Wild Greens: There is a lot to be
said for picking and eating wild greens.
Some people harvest their weeds (greens)
from their own backyards! Wild greens
often surpass their cultivated cousins in
vitamins and minerals. Common edible
wild greens include amaranth, chickweed,
chicory, curled dock, dandelion, lamb’s
quarters, mustard greens, nettles, poke-
weed, purslane and violet leaves.
Siletz Tribal Head Start offers my
time at no cost to you to support family
nutrition over the telephone. Please con-
tact me if you have nutrition concerns
about your Head Start child. Healthy
children make for healthy communities.
We are in this together.