Tag: midwest
“Rampant” Overharvesting: Digging Too Deep for Wild Leeks
An early spring ephemeral, the wild leek—or ramps—is an aromatic, delicious wild onion. The bulb sweetens when roasted, pickles well for martinis, and has tops that are delicious as garnish or incorporated into a spring salad. While they may seem to carpet the floor of the woods in the spring, there is growing concern …
Holiday Cooking with Pines, Spruce & Firs
From firs to pines to spruces– these favorite evergreens adorned many homes for the holidays with their fragrant boughs. Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to take down the trimmings– but wait! The boughs can serve an additional purpose: Before directing that greenery out to the compost or to the curb for recycling, …
Autumn Olive: An Underworld Fruit
Spent time in the woods gathering autumn olive berries yesterday from trees still heavy with ripe fruit. I hope we can reimagine these delightful fruits as life-giving and nourishing because of their abundance (or invasiveness, depending on perspective). The rain, falling leaves and dark day’s weather were symbolic of the slow transition to winter; these …