Frostbitten greens and a single digit night

It got down to 8 (eight) -- yes, that's 8 degrees here in the valley night before last.

It had snowed all day Friday, and so we already felt pretty wintry. But there's nothing like a night in the single digits to let you know it's winter for real.

What with the extreme cold and the wetness, some of our greens got zapped, even under the floating row covers.

Above: greens before the frostbite. Afterwards, they looked much less perky.

We are still working on the post mortem -- was it just too cold for them, or did the wet snow cause the reemay to cave in enough to cause a "wet blanket effect" of cold wet row cover on top of the plants? Perhaps we'll never know.

Nonetheless, we ate well from the garden tonight with Dana-Dee -- dried black beans from the fall harvest, along with some of our garlic and the last of the peppers, and some nettles fritters made with nettles that Alan froze. And for dessert, some OUTSTANDING pumpkin bread baked by D. from a "Tennessee Vining Pumpkin" that she bought at the farmers market.

Dana noted that I think about food a lot (it's true) and we discussed such nerdy topics as the history of the French Broad River and water catchment. A delightful evening.

And there are still plenty of greens coming on in the garden -- lettuces, kales, chards, and lots and lots of mustards, bless their hearty little souls.