April 20, 2011
When Digging for Ramps Goes Too Deep

The New York Times picks up on our theme from yesterday and takes a deeper dive on the problem of ramp fetishization leading towards the plant’s possible extinction.

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Filed under: The New York Times Ramps wild plants Foraging 
April 19, 2011
Foraging The Weeds For Wild, Healthy Greens

A great look at foraging in the wilds of the urban landscape. But what is possibly even more important is the sidebar on the damage that “ramp-mania” is doing to wild ramp populations. Ramps are a wild member of the onion family (Allium tricoccum) and have in recent years become fetishized as one of the first edible harbingers of spring. The problem is that ramps grow very slowly. By digging up the bulbs, foragers are damaging future production by the plants. The solution is to harvest only the leaves of the plants, thus allowing the bulbs to multiple slowly underground.

What do you think? Do you fetishize the ramp? Do you forage for wild greens in the spring?

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Filed under: Ramps Spring Foraging Wild Plants 
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