WILD LEEK WEEK April 15-28, 2011

Comments

1. Russ Cohen says:

   April 17, 2011 at 11:17 am

   Hello – while I love the taste of ramps as well as anyone, and look forward to them every year, I am concerned about potential damage to ramp patches and the sensitive rich woods habitats they grow in the Berkshires due to large-scale, commecially-driven over-collecting (particularly digging), triggered by promotional events like “Wild Leek Week”. (See my previous comment on this at http://berkshiregrown.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post.html) sharing more specifics about the damage I’ve already observed from irresponsible ramp digging.

   I am sorry that the photo accompanying this blog posting shows several dug-up ramps with the bulb and root attached, implying that is the proper way to harvest the plants, when digging up ramps (especially on a large scale) is unsustainable.

   It would have been great if the photo had a caption something like “here’s what a whole ramp plant looks like, but a more sustainable harvesting practice is to refrain from digging up the plants and harvest the leaves only”.

   I would encourage everyone (particularly anyone that is picking for more than personal consumption) to follow the sustainable harvesting practice of harvesting only one leaf per plant, leaving the bulb in the ground. That way you (and the restaurants or produce markets you may be picking for) get to celebrate the wonderful taste of the ramp without depleting the patch or harming the sensitive forest habitat where ramps like to grow.

   I am looking forward to reading on the menus of restaurants participating in Wild Leek Week and Farmed and Foraged events that they are only utilizing sustainably-gathered ramp leaves and are not seeking or accepting whole ramp plants with the bulbs attached.

   Last but not least – there are many other edible wild plants in the Berkshires where the adverse ecological impacts of harvesting them (even at a commercial scale) are minimal. These include common weeds and invasive species like Dandelions, Japanese Knotweed, Garlic Mustard, Dame’s Rocket, Black Locust and Autumn Olive. See, for example, my recipes posted at http://www.newenglandwild.org/protect/invasive-plants/japanese-knotweed-recipes.html)

   I encourage restaurant chefs to come up with good recipes for these plants and then share them with their patrons and other folks like me seeking to connect to the outdoors through our taste buds.

   Thanks for considering these suggestions.

   • Laura Meister says:

     April 21, 2011 at 12:27 pm

     Hello–

     The organizers of Wild Leek week share your concern about the negative ecological ramifications of the U.S.-wide irresponsible harvesting of ramps and other foraged edibles. We assure you that the wild leeks brought to the table from our farms and forests are harvested with the highest level of care, discretion, and vision for longterm sustainability of these plants–the very same health and environmental standards we exercise for cultivating vegetables remain in place for foraging.

     We must all take responsibility for stewarding the land we live on and educating one another respectfully about its care–speaking of which, you are welcome to contact the organizers of Wild Leek week directly to hear about our practices–specifically you are welcome to visit Wild and Cultivated Farm and accompany Anna as she digs the ramps on her land and be assured that she is not among the irresponsible over-harvesters to whom you refer.