Thursday, April 14, 2011

Stairway To Ramp Heaven

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Yesterday me , JuJu the donkey and a good friend went ramp huntin' in the woods... there was alot of pointing, turning around, following ridges, judging terrain, and memory sharing - of where local people said they had found them before. Impressively JuJu pushed right through the forest with me, stepping over fallen trees & always guarding our back, stopping when i stopped, maybe even smiling a donkey smile.

After a hike so up and downhill that my legs are actually sore... we came upon the BIGGEST most heavenly, grandest HUGE insane ramp patch I have ever seen, and most likely will ever see! Thousands and thousands of them, more then i could take in standing in one place... going downhill, uphill... 360 degrees all around. I had the urge to lay down in it and roll around till I smelled like an onion.

For anyone who might not be familiar with "ramps", they are a delicious wild edible leek, or onion type plant. (see more close up pics here.) They have a strong odor & flavor - people love them so dearly here in the mountains that they have festivals sharing all their ramp recipes & NO ONE ever tells where the ramp patch they've found is. No one, including me. :)
We dug up about enough to fill a half gallon jar, some to eat, some to replant in our own hiding places.
When you first dig um' up, you have to pull back a rotten looking layer of brown-ish skin, to reveal the beautiful white root of the ramp (see pic below).

Digging down a few inches, cause ya can't pull the plant up by it's leaves (it will break)! The whole entire thing is edible....mmmmmmmm. And did i mention they taste sooooooo gooooood?!!
Xoxoxox

4 comments:

  1. awesome--we have wild onion here but it's really small. Do you pickle them or dry them?

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  2. What a wonderful thing, to find wild treats in the forest. I used to do some of this, including cattails in the spring for a flour-like powder that made great pancakes. Yummy stuff, free and healthy.

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  3. What a beautiful plant.
    It's really like a heaven.
    Miss VooDoo, Where is at?

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  4. i dig your style. ramp love!

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