Up until the snow storm on Monday, the snow was looking pretty thin. In fact, snowdrops were seen in bloom in sunny, protected areas. Now we have about 8" of fine-but-dense snow on the ground. Let's hope the warmer temperatures and strengthening March sun will melt the white stuff quickly! Yet, we have already enjoyed our first wild food. It took some local help to identify this plant (pictured above right), but we were sure from early on that it was some kind of cress (also often referred to as being in the mustard or rocket family), which would make it edible -- though with an at-first-unknown level of "bite". The lobed leaf, the early spring growth and blossoming, and the 4-petaled flowers all spoke saying "mustard." Members of the Concord Discussion List identified it as Hairy Bittercress, and indeed it is! A mild-tasting mustard, it is an invader that becomes a pest in garden centers and greenhouses. This particular bed it was growing in was inside our new greenhouse (photo, below right), but the plant first appeared last fall before we had decided we would even HAVE a greenhouse. Perhaps it knew something we didn't?
We are pulling up any individual that flowers, sauteing in garlic and olive oil. A little salt and a touch of lemon and we have our first wild spring green, albeit earlier than a truly wild plant would grow. After having eaten this plant cooked two nights in a row, we found it to be surpringly diuretic; probably best to give it a night off between samplings unless you want to be up multiple times in the night to visit the necessary! Starting with this post, this blog will be talking about the unfolding of the seasons in Concord. We will also be discussing foraging for wild food and medicine, gardening, and about sustainability experiments dealing with growing food, including in non-traditional ways, any and all of which take place in Concord. If you would like to contribute to this topic, please contact us!
