Foraging For Ramps

In the early spring when the deciduous trees are still bare, in special hidden places, wild ramps grow in profusion. I say hidden because some people find them and harvest the lot for big bucks. They are very popular in high-end restaurants. So locals keep their locations private. We are lucky to have friends that clued us in and this is our second year harvesting enough for our own personal use. There are thousands in our location and we only take a few from one spot.

It's a lovely hike as well and we picked a beautiful day.

We carefully dig around a clump of them and
take only a few.

The forest floor here is covered with them.

We enjoy the first wildflowers as well - here, gold thread

Tiny yellow violets

Lovely pink striped on white Spring Beauties

We then walked around Spring Lake on our way back to the
 car. This pristine lake is 1 mile up the road from us and is
reachable only by a narrow rutted dirt track.

There are only a couple of summer camps on the lake and
this one is owned by friends of our's.

Looking down Spring Lake towards Killington Peak

Before heading home we visited the new piglets at
Spring Lake Ranch.

Some were still having lunch

And here are the ramps all washed and ready to cook. I grilled most of them but made an amazing compound butter with some. One pound of butter, blanched ramps, lemon juice and zest, salt & pepper. Most went in the freezer in cylinders for future meals, but some melted over our salmon for dinner that night.