It's the height of the growing season in Wisconsin. Tomatoes, peppers and apples are in full abundance, and many leafy greens are being planted once again. At Alice's Garden Urban Farm in Milwaukee, Executive Director Venice Williams has been busy picking, planting and preparing foods with folks from the community.
Lake Effect's Joy Powers met up with her ahead of a class teaching people how to cook a mix of greens fresh from the garden.
"Collard greens, three different types of kale," explains Williams, looking out at the garden plots. "We will cook some mustard [greens] in those, maybe some turnips, ... we will also add some of those sweet potato leaves, and sweet potato vines."
Mixing greens can seem daunting, with different flavors coming together. But Williams has some tips on how to ensure that everything blends together and how to control for some potentially bitter leaves.
"My favorite thing to add to a pot of savory greens to just deal with the bitterness a little bit is a tiny bit of fresh apple cider. ... In the African American community, what went into that pot of greens was that ham bone and what made that ham bone, along with the bone itself, have so much flavor is that it still had meat on it from that very sweet ham. So you get to still have some of the sweetness and the flavor," says Williams.
