I’m delighted that one of my fellow CSA members at Harmony Farm has joined me in eating the rhizomes and roots of the thistles we are weeding to make room for the cultivated vegetables.

While Sam Thayer advocates peeling the larger leaves and eating the leaf rib, I doubt Matt (our  new farmer), will let the thistles get that big. The roots and rhizomes have no spines or thorns, which makes it much easier to gather and prepare them.

Once dug, thistle roots can be cooked in several ways.

Every flowering tree is in bloom. I love the way the air smells at this time. The rain has made it easy for the ground cover plants to thrive.

Wildflowers are spectacular this year the striped violet and the may apple flowers are rare finds.

For a while, black morels fruited in greater abundance than I’ve ever seen. I only found a few grey morels  and one yellow morel before the weather cooled down again.

I was really surprised to find winecaps this early, but they are fruiting.

Whatever else is going on in the world, it’s affirming to see the rebirth of fungi, plants and animals.