http://theforagerpress.com/fieldguide/aprilfd.htm

The Wild Leek,
also known as the Ramp, or common Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum) is our best wild onion and a source of food and spiciness all year round.

Broad, smooth, light green leaves, often with deep purple or burgundy tints on the lower stems begin arriving in small troops as soon as the snow disappears. Scallion like bulbs are strongly rooted just beneath the surface of the soil. Finish off your identification by tearing a leaf or stem and taking a sniff of the strong and distinctive onion scent of the Leek

Look for soil habitats that are sandy, moist and often on hillsides and near streams. I almost always find them while searching for Morels so a bad day of mushroom hunting can often be a good day for leeks!

The leaves are are very tender early in the Spring and the bulb is edible year round, though they can toughen up in the summer. Don’t bother collecting more then a few handfulls unless you want to blanch and freeze some, because the wild Leek is very pungent. Use it sparingly and you’ll have good luck as the flavor of both the leaves and the bulb are quite strong

Nora, the "nearest" greenhouse, in full flush with salad greens

Spring is here, and with it comes planting, preparing the field, transplanting new growth, and harvesting from the hoophouses!

Monica, hereafter referred to as “Head Chief”, has been planning and scheming on how to make this year even better than last! As the ducks have been finding little pools created by melting snow and rain, and the honorary guest horse Trigger has been neighing in the barn, the Head Chief sat by the fireside with seed catalogs, spreadsheets, and a kitchen table cluttered with paperwork to ensure that things are scheduled appropriately so that you can enjoy tasty, fresh veggies as early into the season as possible.

Seeding the experimental self-feeding chicken plot

As usual, this season will be packed with all sorts of new experiments on the farm, including growing quinoa, creating a self-feeding chicken yard, and a possible straw-bale cooler.

Stay tuned for more Muddy Fork Farm madness as the season begins!

Here is the poem

first said by Anna Bialostosky:

Asparagus of greenish hue

we now present this ode to you

we surely like the way you taste

but now we fear that you will waste

up in that big field yonder

absence will make the heart grow fonder.

Thank you to all of you who came and toured the farm.  I hope you enjoyed yourselves and learned something. Thanks to OEFFA for letting me show off the farm and supporting organic agriculture in Ohio. I  also want to thank the  amazing crew, Chelsea, Damaris, Tania and  Mac, who have worked very hard all season. Especially this week they put in the extra effort to make the farm look great while still doing the regular crop and field maintenance,   planting, harvesting, and  packing produce .  I also want to thank  our reinforcement for the week,  Danya, who jumped into the farm work as if she had been here all season.  I can’t leave  out thanks to my parents who helped us get ready, to  my daughter Lia and my husband  David for being  very supportive of the farm business.

Chelsea, the brave, decided that she could catch a swarm of bees even though she had never handled bees before.   She did.  And then we  did not know what  do with the bees in the box.  We read our bee book that was very  philosophical about the swarming behavior but gave us no practical advice. A phone call to our beekeeper friends was all we needed to learn how to make  a temporary home for the captives  with our limited equipment or experience.   The picture on the right shows the clump of bees on the tree branch and the picture on the left shows Chelsea cutting off the branch.  The box with the lid was to put the bees in it.  We will have a new hive and improved location very soon.