“You should harvest mustard greens while they’re still young and tender. Older leaves will get tough and increasingly bitter as they get older. Discard any yellow leaves that may appear on the plant. Mustard seeds can be used fresh, but like other herbs and spices, if you plan on storing them long term, they will need to be dried.” – Growing Mustard Seed: How to Plant Mustard Seeds
There is a mustard plant that sits at the bottom of a container that houses an eclectic assortment of items. This includes a pin with a smiling cartoon character, a personalized mug, a deck of cards with 52 individual reasons why someone loved somebody else, and hand-written notes, lists, and letters. The plant has long since dried out, and with each passing year slowly disintegrates into dust.
On the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles, there are farms that will sell you avocados six for a dollar, and weeds that grow wildly without being tended to. About three weeks into dating, we decided to take a trip to San Francisco, and on our way back spotted mustard growing on the side of the road. It was bright yellow and vibrant, and deliciously dangerous to attempt to grab. He slowed down the car ever so slightly, and I rolled down the passenger side window. Reaching my hand and torso out of the car, I grabbed wildly for the mustard, and pulled whatever might come back with me.
Periodically, after adding something new to the container, I will see the mustard there, and consider carefully removing the other items, grabbing a paper towel, and cleaning the mess that has gathered at the bottom. But instead I let it stay there, and close the lid until I have to add something else.
A Composition of Self by Alexis Rivera 