Tennessee Bean, Sausage, and Mixed Greens Soup

When Tennessee was part of the Virginia Territory in the eighteenth century, settled mostly by the English and Scotch Irish, cooking in the hill country revolved mainly around roasted meats, country hams, stews, and hearty soups such as this one based on dried beans, sausages smoked at hog-killing time, and the bounty of various greens. Today, the soup might well be enriched by ramps (wild leeks), which still grow abundantly in the Tennessee mountains and are even celebrated each spring at