Wild Asparagus

Thought I'd post some pictures of the wild asparagus from last month. It was exciting to find it, I knew the plants were there, but had only seen it in the fall, when I gathered the red berries for my own wintersowing.



The asparagus grows on a hill across the road from us, probably the escapee of some long ago garden. The kids and I would walk over every few days, and scan the spots where last year's old stalks and branches could still be found (the farm is mowed for hay, but with last year's drought, I guess they were able to grow unhindered). We had almost given up, and the kids probably thought I was crazy, but we kept looking. Finally, after a couple of warm, sunny days (and right about the time my asparagus seeds were sprouting), we spotted our first spears.

This is what it looks like coming up out of the ground:

You can see why it can be hard to spot. The sticks in the photo are some of last year's stalks, after they had fallen down. As the grass and weeds grow taller, it becomes harder to find; the stalks and tips take on the same green and dusty purple as that of the surrounding grass and its seedheads, and searching for asparagus becomes a game of hidden pictures.

Asparagus needs to be gathered soon after it emerges, within a day if the soil is warm and growth is fast. The stalk becomes bitter once its scales have opened,

to form branches:

Another interesting thing is a ferny version - this is probably the male or female plant, I've read conflicting viewpoints on that, but I'm guessing female, unless both sexes produce spears and ferns.

What I'm curious about are the small red beetles that seemed to love the ferns, they were on every plant we found. Wish I'd taken the time to observe them more closely; I don't know if they were eating the plant. It's possible that they lay their eggs on it.


Oops, I forgot to mention the eating! Well, I can't yet compare it to garden asparagus, but I can tell you that the store-bought spears I cooked up, while much thicker, were also much tougher; I had to cut off quite a bit as unusable. The wild asparagus, cut within a day or so of appearing, was tender almost to the ground. And oh, so good. Just steam it (or microwave in a covered dish with some water) for a couple of minutes, and it's ready to be eaten (yummy with a cheese sauce!) or canned.

The canned asparagus in the photo is mostly store-bought, with some wild thrown in.

I'll try to add a photo of the mature plants in the fall, if they aren't mown down this year. I also need to find out how to wrap photos into the text, this post looks like one of my infamous Lists!

In the meantime, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons, is a related title that others have recommended; I've had it on my wishlist for a while:

Something Someone Said...

My friend Crys recently wrote, in her blog, Simply Living:

So when we meet someone who actively listens and doesn't pass judgment on our opinions or feelings but rather lets them stand for what they are, we want to be consumed by that person. Our entire lives have been created behind barriers, and now we have the opportunity to tear those down. We don't know how long it will last. We don't know if it will ever come again with another person. We want to be consumed, if only for a moment.

I've been struggling with something similar, lately. I spend so much time with only my family, and even where we are open, we have rituals and routines built into our relationships. Seems doors shut before you can go anywhere new, based on familiarity, or annoyance from pushing one another's buttons. We settle into our roles, to remain comfortable in close quarters.

Then, I venture out into the "world", and suddenly find myself making a connection with someone new, realizing we hold the same thoughts on some favorite author, or discovering that we have something else in common I'd thought long ago buried or forgotten in myself.

I tend to get a little too intense when I find that understanding, even after the individual has moved on. It's not about them, though; it's that I suddenly feel like a whole person, seen through another's eyes. That feeling excites my mind, even sends me into little daydreams about alternate lives and potential.

It's silly, really, because that individual cannot have anywhere near the view of my whole self that my family does. Still, I begin to resent the casual familiarity in my own home; wishing my husband and I stayed up at night debating science or philosophy, without resorting to picking at each other's choice of words; wishing life in a secure relationship didn't sometimes feel so mundane; wishing that my children knew that when I am away from expectations and preconceived notions, sometimes I shine.

But then, I realize that they have no preconceived notions that I have not set for them, that I am the only one limiting how much of myself I share with them, and that in order for them to be able to grow into whole persons, they must be encouraged; they need that same interaction and appreciation. They need to shine, and to know when they do.

There are reasons for these little reminders of how we see ourselves, and of how we choose to interact with others.

Bee Checkup

So, yesterday I went out to check on the bees. They've been happily buzzing around, enjoying the wild roses and other flowers. Looks like they're doing okay, but what do I know?

I'm going to have to ask some real beekeepers (at the beemaster.com forums) about what may be supercedure or swarm cells on the bottom of a couple of the frames. Could be nothing, could be they aren't happy. Could be I'm anxiety-prone. I didn't see the queen during this inspection; I only pulled out two or three frames. But I did see some larvae, so she has to have been around recently, at least.


They are putting up some beautiful honey. I stole a bit from the burr comb that was opened when I removed the inner cover. Light, clear, and sweet. Nothing like the stuff in the bear-shaped bottle from Save-a-Lot. Easily addictive, and my mind instantly went to recipes, buttered biscuits at breakfast-time, and beautiful jars lined up in the pantry. The bees may be telepathic, because at that point they began head-butting my hat and rear end. Time for me to move along!



Still no stings, but go figure, as I was sitting here looking at photos of the hive, something stung me beside my shoulder blade! I ran out to grab some plantain, but had to have hubby put it on the sting, since I could barely reach it.

I'll try to get out and work with them again soon. Today I placed an empty frame between two that were partially filled with honey; they are mainly working in the center of the hive. I need to get some new frames ready and add a super, to give them more space. Hopefully they'll stick around!

Spring cleaning of a blog...

This evening, I transferred some of the posts from my blog at freeminded.literalminded.com , to the I'll Try It section of Live and Learn. They're mostly about the beginnings of this year's beekeeping, although some are just random thoughts, naturally!

It seemed to make more sense to have them here, since they are related to tangents, and learning something new! Besides, it looks like I may start blogging over there about Ron Paul's books and other writings. So, just a bit of rearranging.

I have other projects in the works, too; hope I don't spread myself too thin. Ha!