Feast or famine? Plus a nice little surprise

Appalachian Trail, Killington, Vermont, June 8,2019

When I mention my interest in wild edibles, people will often say, “Cool! Can you take me out in the woods and show me what plants to eat?“

Sorry, but the forest has relatively poor foraging potential, as compared to fields, farms, yards and gardens. To wit: Exhibits A and B, above.*

Why? To quote the great American poet Robert Frost: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.“ Meaning, there’s not a whole lot of sunlight that reaches the ground. It’s all shadowed out by those tall trees and their high upper limbs and leaves (called “the overstory”).** Hard to believe, but the pines and beeches that look so tall to us today are relatively young. As recently as 100-150 years ago, these wooded hills were all farmland. No trees--just fields. When you come across a stone wall in the middle of the woods, you’re finding the border of some long-ago farm. ***

Stone wall in Vermont

Imagine how rich the soil was after thousands and thousands of years fallen, decaying, composting leaves. It’s still wonderfully earthy and spongy after only a hundred or so cycles of fall and rebirth. Now , imagine clearing away those light-blocking trees, and giving every wayward seed access to that rich, thick deep, soil.

Ah, but there is bounty around us! Now that I have trash-talked the plenitude of the forest, I must reveal that, right next to our campsite, I found a patch of wild leeks (also known as ramps). I remember that my French Canadian grandfather would collect these much-prized herbs in the Spring. Besides the elongated leaves and pinkish stems, you will recognize them by their strong oniony/garlicky scent.

Ramps, also known as wild leeks. Note the elongated leaves and pinkish stems.

I dug up half and left the rest to spread in the Spring.

And now for my first recipe: Gryure-Leek Pie, one of the richest and tastiest dishes I've ever eaten: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/81537/french-leek-pie/ . If you can't find wild leeks to use, don't worry--I won't tell if you use store-bought.

ramps bulbs, about 3-4" underground, below the leaves

*Even if the flora is underwhelming, the forest has many other attractions— listen here to the song of the wood thrush—the most beautiful music ever, to my ear

**If you want to learn more about the role of sunlight in forest growth, and why plants flower when they do, you can't do better than The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature by David George Haskell. Scientific in its detail, but very readable and engaging.

***The native peoples of New England also felled trees and cleared forested areas and planted crops (though not on such a total scale.). The Millyard Museum of the Manchester (NH) Historical Society has (or used to have) an outstanding visual exhibit about the changing New England landscape--highly recommended. https://www.manchesterhistoric.org/millyard-museum