Market watch: Collard greens and more

By Rick Nelson, Star Tribune

July 13, 2011

Here’s how late the growing season is this year: Last Saturday was the first time farmer Moses Momanyi was able to harvest enough produce to set up a stand at the Mill City Farmers Market. And what a nice selection: broccoli and cauliflower, nurtured from raised beds inside a greenhouse, along with green onions, kohlrabi and beautiful teardrop-shaped cabbages.

A third of his stand was devoted to great-looking leafy greens: shiny, crinkled-leafed Swiss chard, purple-streaked Russian kale and collard greens, their soft green-gray leaves traced with an almost reptilian pattern. Turns out that it has been a decent year, weather-wise, for leafy greens. “They’re tolerant of the cold,” said Momanyi.