Recently, I took my two older sons, Maxwell and Bailey, on a fun foraging trip in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, along with some good friends. We aimed to find wild ramps—those tasty spring onions I and many others adore.
The ramp season is short, lasting just a few weeks in the spring. As the soil warms, they pop up earlier in the warmer southern areas and later in the north. At first, they are small and tender, but they get bigger and bushier before the leaves turn yellow and go to seed. It is a natural process that is all about the right timing.
Ramps are rare in Southern Delaware due to our sandy soil. But they grow well in Northern Delaware and some parts of Pennsylvania. We are lucky to have a special spot with ramps stretching for a mile through the woods, with green patches as far as the eye can see. Even with plenty of ramps available to pick, I instruct my boys about foraging responsibly: We take just a few leaves from each plant and leave most bulbs intact to help the plants grow back. We do pick a few bulbs to pickle, which allows us to savor each later in the year.
Along the way, we also found garlic mustard, sweet cicely, wild chives, sweet woodruff, and some spicebush leaves—each a little treasure of the season. I realized these trips are not all about the greens we bring home. They are about our connection to nature, each other, and the land—a bond that runs deeper than the roots of the ramps.
