Early Spring Hiking Foraging and Gardening

Early Spring Hiking Foraging and Gardening

I took a long hike in a new area yesterday, through the sun-dappled woods and over rocky outcrops. It is private land where public hiking is permitted. I was delighted to be out on a sunny, warm day but what I found delights me more. I knew there were woodland plants growing in this area, but I did not expect to see a great abundance of things like bloodroot! (see photo) There were small patches of it everywhere! It is illegal to remove or damage wild bloodroot here in NY state, but I was happy just to see an endangered plant thriving. I'll buy my bloodroot from an organic farm until my own is big enough to harvest from. There was cut-leaf toothwort in abundance too. The small rhizomes are edible, and I tried one. It tasted like bitter, peppery horseradish and was a bit much for my taste. Trillium were coming up, although not blooming yet. Trout lily was everywhere but again, few were blooming this early. As I got further into the woods and the land became rockier and drier I unexpectedly stumbled on several good-sized patches of motherwort and took one home to add to my garden. It is one of the few things I have never seen deer touch. A bit further on I discovered that most coveted spring plant, ramps! They are a wild leek and have a unique onion/garlic taste. They appear for a short time in early spring. Some other hikers appeared and expressed interest, so it was an opportunity to teach them how to harvest leeks sustainably. Greater celandine was in this area. This early there was just the basal rosette, but bright yellow flowers will follow. Carolina spring beauty was blossoming here and there it truly is a petite and charming flower. I will be writing blog posts about each of these plants with photos. I look forward to returning in a few weeks with a better camera and getting some nice close-ups of these beautiful plants.

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