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

Brain Surgery, Ramps and My Mama!

My verrrrry loved friend Heather had to have emergancy brain surgery a few days ago! Which is why I have been a bit slowed down, exhausted, and my mind has been far far away from it's usual processes. Heather loves me and I love her too... she has been a good friend to me for years now! She had a scary octopus like absess infection in her brain but did not know it till it was paralyzing half her body --- the surgery had to be done ASAP when the test results came back. I am so happy she is talking and alive! She makes me glad to be alive. Heather makes this world a place where you are loved, all things including the most terrible, creepy, disturbing... all is accepted, all is adored. ........................................ When i wasn't pacing, and crying in the woods about Heather.... life went on as it always should. (Appreciate it while you have it! and being i came back from the dead myself, i know i dont want to lose time...) Today... I found the RAMPS i planted last year coming back up!!! I transplanted some that came up where i cut down trees (they don't like the sunshine the way I do)... so i moved them into another patch I had started in a good shaded spot where i will not be cutting anything back.

My mom also came to visit me! She is hillarious... she was singing to all my animals, and she was trying to train the chicken to not come inside the cabin. I have to say she was doing a better job with the chicken then i have...

if ya'll coulda heard her scream when the chicken came in and landed on the stove!!

............... here is a video, of my mom... I could not stop laughing and was acting out a bit to egg her on!



xoxox

Ramps! (Edible Native Mountain Leek)

What's that floatin' in my zodiac glasses, you ask?!? It's the most coveted, prized, celebrated, and hidden native onion plant of the Appalachian Mountains! Technically it's actually a leek, but my gawd it doesn't taste like one - it's a pungent, savory, delicious flavor that may just blow all other onions out the water. When I found these ramps being sold on the side of the road on HWY 209 (Duckett's down in Crabtree) I was ecstatic, because I had not yet found any growing in my little forest -
I was told they need shade but also a slightly open area to propagate, so i walked around till I intuitively felt I had hit good spots under a canopy of trees but with plenty space to grow.
The soil was dark under the leaves, rich, and fluffy - I dug a hole a couple inches down (4 inches or so) and placed 3 bulbs together in each hole. (You can place each one separately also.)

I chose spots where many other native plants are already thriving - this is a good way to know that the soil is right for the ramps.
The most fun part was when I bought these on the roadside the local people who ran the produce place told me "Nobody ever tells anyone else where their ramp patch is, so if you plant these don't ever tell anyone where you planted them..."

I won't tell. But next year when they grow if ya'll ask me for some I will definitely share! :)
Xoxoxo