Kale, Glorious Kale!

My mother found yet ANOTHER gem for me...a whole book on KALE!  It's called The Book of Kale: The Easy-To-Grow Superfood by Sharon Hanna. 

I read the whole thing in one night, so it's a good resource for those of you who don't have a lot of time (isn't that EVERYONE?).  It starts with the health benefits of kale, shocker that it ranks high in EVERYTHING healthy! Then it goes into a very interesting history of kale. (I do realize how incredibly dorky that last sentence sounded...but I found it fascinating that a veggie that is depicted on ancient Egyptian's Pharaoh's tombs and was speculated by paleobotanists to have covered the Earth in the time of the dinosaurs, was such a staple in the diet of the olde Irish that they had "kail fairies", was encouraged in WWII British Isles Victory Gardens, could be such a little known gem in 2012 USA.) 
The next section is about how to grow kale, which is surprisingly easy to grow.  There are TONS of ideas for growing in containers or making planting kale work in almost ANY home, even those without a garden.  Hanna also has a chapter called Kids and Kale, which talks about helping kids grow kale.  Then there are the recipes, over 80 to be exact. 

My favorite part of the book, was learning how kale can be grown all through the winter. The author says that after frost, kale actually tastes sweet, which I'm excited to try once I find some kale seeds and plant my own.  You can keep harvesting the kale all winter, but it won't really start to grow again until early spring.  How great to be able to harvest all winter long!  Ellie and I just harvested some green beans for dinner tonight and she was so excited and proud to have everyone eat "her" beans.  I'd love to be able to continue that after most of our garden is dormant. 

SO this is an official call to action....if you see kale seeds for sale in the Canton area, PLEASE let me know!  I've been looking for them since late spring when I planted my garden, but have had a hard time finding any.  There are references in the back of the kale book, but the shipping costs were a little steep ($6 shipping on a $3 pack of seeds!) so I'm looking for something more local.  Any suggestions are MUCH appreciated! 

As promised, more pictures.  This is a 1 year old Vince enjoying his kale chips!