It would be fun to say my “Postcards from the Po’ Farm” blog is back due to popular demand. The truth is I just decided to start back writing it.
As the cool weather has returned the past few days, my mind wanders back to the time when we grew turnip greens (which we called turnip salad), mustard and collards and sold them mostly John Shipp Produce at the Farmers Market in Forest Park.
This time of the year, the cool weather keeps the weeds and bugs at bay, so cutting greens is much easier than during hot weather.
Since we were just a short drive away, we often were called on to deliver greens on short notice. We’d get an order by phone before daylight and have them on the dock at Shipp’s by about 1 p.m.
(The wholesale houses generally did much of their business overnight and closed mid-afternoon.)
Most of our morning orders were for between 50 and 125 bushels, and sometimes we’d get another order for delivery late that night.
The greens were planted in rows of four inside a six-foot space, using four Planet Jr. planters on a toolbar attached to a tractor. In the fall, with few weeds and no leaves ruined by insects and the greens growing in rows, you could grab a big bunch with one hand and cut it with the other and mow them down in a hurry.
Lots of those greens were cut by a little old lady named Artie Mae Gooden and her daughters Frances and Sara Anne.
(pictured: Ms. Artie Mae Gooden; photo courtesy of: Corethia Johnson)
For years Artie Mae was known all over the county for her speed and efficiency on the farm. She could chop (or thin out) collard plants with a hoe faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. She could cut within millimeters of a young plant and not damage it, and do just as well pushing the hoe away from her as pulling it in.
She was just as fast cutting greens, and her baskets always held the expected 18 pounds with no bad leaves and a few handfuls for good measure.
One thing you didn’t do was mess with Artie Mae’s hoe or her salad knife. She used an Old Hickory butcher knife and the only time anyone else could touch it was to sharpen it.
When Stephanie was little and Joanne was teaching Spanish in school, it sometimes fell to just Artie Mae and me to fill an early morning order.
Once, when Artie Mae was in her late 70s, she and I cut 100 bushels of turnip greens and had them on the dock at the market just after 1 p.m. (Joanne could cut her share as well, and her personal best was 75 bushels in one day.).
I really enjoyed those times back in the day and I cherish the memories, but I don’t think I could do it again.