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May
19
It’s asparagus season (in theory)
Filed Under Act, Explore, Home food prep, Local-regional food
The wild asparagus that grows on our ditch banks and at the edge of our meadows so prolifically is normally up by mid May. However, this spring has been so cold that as of May 18th I haven’t seen even one spear start to peak its head through the soil.
On May 1st it was 13 degrees F in the morning and it hadn’t warmed up much beyond that until this past weekend (May 17th -18th). This is the latest we can ever remember having to keep burning wood to heat our home!
Now that it’s finally warmed up some I’m hoping we’ll see asparagus appear in the next few days.
My May and June ritual is to try to go pick it about every 3 or 4 days. If I’m able to stay on it, and not let it go to seed, it can continue to produce until well into July. But if something comes up and I’m not able to get to it for more than a week most opportunity is lost, as the majority of plants have gone to seed, and once they do that they won’t produce any more spears for that year.
This year, I’m really excited to pick because our most productive patch is so much more accessible and easy to get to. Our best asparagus grows in one of our meadow called the “Cowden” (named for the family who owned it before we did, 80 years ago). Because the Cowden is always so wet this time of year with irrigation water, and it has no built up roads, it’s impossible to drive on. So in the past I had to walk a mile and a half one way, in irrigating boots, to pick that asparagus. Don’t get me wrong, I love the walking, and it’s great exercise, but it does take up an awful lot of time.
Now, however, I can drive right to the asparagus in the Cowden! Last December we purchased land from a neighbor that is contiguous with the Cowden, and the great thing is, it has a built up road that goes straight to the east end of the property which is just over the fence from my best asparagus patch.
I guess in the past I could have asked the neighbors that we bought if from for permission to use the road when they owned it, but honestly, it never occurred to me, for whatever reason.
My goal this year is to pick a minimum of 50 pounds of asparagus, and freeze at least 30 pounds of it to eat throughout the year.
There’s a new article on our web site about asparagus, its health benefits, how to freeze it, and a beef and asparagus recipe, as well as a cream of asparagus soup recipe.
If you live in a northern climate where it is intermittently wet and dry, or near irrigated agriculture (or both) you may have wild asparagus growing in your area. If you do it could well be worth it, for the sake of your health and enjoyment, to cultivate relationships with landowners who may let you pick it on their property.
It’s easy to tell that asparagus cleans the kidney, with distinct evidence I won’t go into, but some people are even claiming that a daily regimen of asparagus cured their cancer! At any rate, asparagus is packed with an abundance of great nutrients, and if you eat with the seasons, (in northern climates) it’s the first fresh vegetable available in the Spring.
In our Grasss Fed and Healthy Tip of the Week this coming Wednesday I will share a way to fix asparagus so that even little kids will love it. In fact, when I discovered it, our daughter was still in Jr. High, and I got her to try it, her response was that it was better than French Fries. That’s quite an endorsement coming from a 12 year old.
If you think there might be wild asparagus growing in your area, you owe it to yourself to find a way to get some. One word of caution though, if it’s on a public roadside make sure that the county or state doesn’t spray the roadside with herbicide for weed control. You don’t want to ingest herbicides and undo all the good things you’re doing for your health by eating the asparagus in the first place.
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