Just a few warm days and we start to see a little green out there. Today on my hike in the woods, a noticed the skunk cabbages were blooming. Now the don't look like your common flower. The are one of the few plants that blooms before the leaves come out. They are a few inches across and about three to four inches high but are hard to see because they blend in so well with the ground and other debri on the ground. They only grow in swampy area.
In the same area as the skunk cabbage grows I pick a few tiny wild onions, not the leeks that will be about abundantly in just a few week. These are much milder and have small round bulbs about the size of a pencil pea or a little bigger.
I also picked some tender young Dame's Rocket leaves. The first time I ever ate these was last year. It took me a bit of research to find out if they were edible. When they bloom later in spring they are very pretty and have a lovely fragrance that you can smell in the evening air. They are actually becoming an invasive plant and in some ares considered a noxious weed along with the garlic mustard plant. They are a domestic plant gone wild. Ten years ago I had never even seen or hear of Dames Rocket and now we have beautiful purple flower that last for over a month all around our property.
For the people who had to live off the land this is one of the more dangerous times of the year, as food was starting to run out and one hadn't had fresh green in months. It is kind of deceptive as spring is in the air but it is still a ways away from harvesting much. The most important food at this time is the fish that spawn in the rivers. No! If your living off the land you would not survive very long if you were a vegetarian. With out fridges, freezers and the store, your kitchen cupboard during the winter months and early spring was out their running in the woods or swimming in the water. I was reminded of this as I saw two beautiful trout in the creek.
