If you look at the images on the top of this page, you’ll see photos of trout lily, ramps (wild leeks), and wild garlic, which thrive in the woods at this time of year.

One advantage gardening has over foraging is that I don’t have to worry about disturbing poison ivy. I got out to Harmony Farm early enough yesterday morning to harvest enough chickweed for a week’s worth of salads and side dishes.

The chickweed has engulfed the spinach that had been planted last autumn. Any farmer will tell you that a weed is a plant growing where you don’t want it to grow. No one ever told me weeds were not tasty and nutritious. I trimmed the tops of the chickweed with a scissors, but before I got down to uprooting them, my mentor showed up with more important work for me.

In addition to moving the cabbage seedlings and their tent out of the greenhouse (we’re winning against the moths so far) and watering, I conducted a garden tour to a visitng group of school-age children. The look on their faces as they tasted the chickweed was priceless. For most of these children, eating a fresh-picked green vegetable was a new experience.

Even though I was raised on a farm, the sight of growing seedlings fills me with awe and wonder.

Look how the cabbage and onion plants have grown. This is how they looked on April 8:

Here are the seedlings as of April 22:

The onions are being transplanted as I write.

Tomatoes now dominate the greenhouse:

And the earth is ready for potatoes:

While that group of visitors enjoyed learning about the garden and helping with a few chores, children of working members got to experience the joys of opening black walnuts.