Late fall and early winter have always been the saddest time of year for me. This is the furthest point in the calendar year from tending to growing fruits and vegetables. I think this must be why somebody bunched so many holidays together at this time…to help us forget the bleak frozen dirt outside our doors.

But I’m never one to give up easily. Which is why I keep planting well into fall, and make sure that at least a few of our 52 garden beds have something hardy and green in them for as long as mother nature-ly possible.

We’ve had many frosts this year, but luckily they’ve been fairly shallow. We were able to harvest a full range of garden fresh vegetables for the Thanksgiving table. And we hope to continue through Christmas with a little sun and continued luck.

Then in January, the seed catalogs start coming…and I can spot the light at the end of the tunnel.

Take a look at our garden as of the end of November in the slide show below. (Captions below pictures.) Maybe you’ll get some ideas to extend your own garden next winter:

Winter Spinach

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Last year, our Bloomsdale Spinach lived through the winter. A heavy snowfall that doesn't thaw can actually serve to insulate plants. We're hoping for the same this year.

Ramp it up.

Doesn’t everyone love getting something for free?  We certainly do!  That’s why we love finding the hidden stashes of Mother Nature.  When we returned home from this season’s wild leek scavenger hunt, we couldn’t wait to eat them (like everything, the shorter the time between their home in the ground and their home in your stomach, the better)

Wild Leeks (ramp) have a very mild flavor which is why they are commonly used to season soups and salads, but we think they are delicious enough to eat all on their own, and a simple preparation is better (and quicker) than a more complex one.

Wild Leek Sautee

Ingredients:

One tablespoon of bacon renderings

Tw0-three dozen ramps

Preparation:

Clean the ramps thoroughly of dirt and grit.  Cut off the roots from the bulb and the top one inch of leaves and discard in your compost pot.

Next, cut off the bulb portion and place in sautee pan with renderings on low-to-medium heat (the bulb takes longer to cook than the leaves)

While the bulb is starting to cook, cut the leaves into approximately one-inch pieces then toss into sautee pan.

Cook on low heat for 10 minutes or until bulbs are tender.

We tossed in a handful of pine nuts because they happened to be sitting in the pantry.

Serving suggestion:

We served the ramps with a fresh egg from the chicken coop and a piece of rosemary focaccia.   Simple and simply delicious.

Learn more about leeks at our Garden Party. If you’ve got a great recipe, don’t be stingy.  Share it with the rest of us in the comment section below.

Wild leeks, Spring Onions, Ramps, or Ramsons.

Our friend Bob Sutherland (who you’ll remember helps us plant our garden seedlings) sent us a email a while back asking if we’d like to join some friends of his on their annual wild leek hunt.

Yes! We replied. Yes yes yes! Having lived in New York city for so many years, we’re well aware of the mysterious awe and gustatory celebration of the very short season of the Allium tricoccum. Chefs around the city prepare special dishes that stay on menus for only a week or two during their availability. In New York city, they’re mainly referred to as “ramps,” but they’re also known around America and Europe as “wild leeks,” “spring onions,” or “ramsons.”

Okay, Bob responded, but there’s one condition – you can’t reveal their location to anyone.

We’re always up for espionage of any sort. Especially if it ends with a meal. And especially if it ends with a meal including ramps.

Though tiny in size, ramps have a powerful flavor – almost a cross between an onion and garlic. But although they have an outsized flavor, they’re still somewhat milder than onions or garlic. They don’t have the stinging bite of their larger, domesticated cousins.

Bob recently emailed again to let us know that the ramps had appeared, and we’d have one shot at harvesting some for ourselves. So we hopped in the truck to drive out to meet Bob at the property of his friends – Kim and Jeff. (No last names to protect the innocent…leeks.)  We were instructed to bring a spade and a basket for carrying our haul. We half-expected to be blindfolded and led into the woods, but apparently we looked trustworthy enough.

This location is a secret. Shh.

On our walk through the woods, Jeff and Kim pointed out their favorite spots to find mushrooms. They’ve collected over 15 different varieties over the years, and have found many dozens more. They’re justifiably cautious about eating any of them until they’ve certified their species beyond a doubt. Wild leeks are an indicator plant for morel mushrooms, alerting a forager to locations where they might find morels a few months hence.

A short distance into the woods Kim pointed out several “Blue Cohosh” sprouts just peeking out from spring earth. Blue Cohosh is related to Black Cohosh, which is used for several holisitic health remedies.

Blue Cohosh shoot.

Soon we came upon islands of green bursting out atop of last autumn’s leaves. The forest floor all around was still grey and brown except for these few patches – some of which measured almost fifty feet square.

Islands of wild leeks (or "ramps.")

Start digging, Kim instructed. She further advised that we dig only one or two shovelfuls from each patch, to allow them to regenerate for the next year.

An early springtime handful of wild leeks.

As we dug, she explained that while the bulbs leaves die back after only a week or so, the flower stalk appears several months later – all by itself. She found a dried flower with a few seeds from the previous year to show us.

The dried flower and seed pod of a wild leek, or ramp.

We each pulled and separated a basketful to bring home with us.

Baskets are great for carrying harvested wild leeks. Excess dirt will be shaken off while walking and fall to the ground.

All around us the forest filled with a heady sweet onion scent. Though fairly mild tasting, the Allium tricoccum has a potent smell….just ask anyone riding the train back into the city with us later that evening.

Garlic

THROW OUT THE GARLIC SUPPLEMENTS and pick up a clove.

The sulfur containing compound in garlic that gives it the pungent odor is called allicin.  Allicin promotes anti-oxidant activity and gives garlic natural anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.

Chopping or mincing the garlic and then letting it sit for 5-10 minutes before cooking enhances it health benefits. When garlic is cut, cell membranes are ruptured, bringing certain enzymes in contact with one another and producing more allicin (this is why garlic doesn’t smell until you start to cut it).

While garlic supplements purport to contain allicin, they certainly don’t contain the array of other nutrients and enzymes that work together to make this vegetable one of the healthiest foods.

LEEKS, WHICH HAVE A MILDER and more delicate flavor than other alliums such as onions and garlic.  France, Belgium, and the Netherlands are the biggest producers of leeks in the world, but they are gradually growing popularity in the U.S.  They have similar amounts of the beneficial phytonutrients as their more pungent cousins.  But get this:  only 16 calories in a whole cup of cooked leeks!  I’m waiting for someone to write the book on the Great Leek Diet

WHEN I WAS A CHILD (and much less concerned about how my breath smelled), I used to eat sandwiches all the time made of sliced onions and mayonnaise.  I still do this some weekends at the farm when I know its just going to be me and the goats.  They don’t mind.

Onions are loaded with phytonutrients which have been show to reduce the risk of heart disease, lower cholesterol and reduce blood pressure.  Their sulfur-containing phytonutrients  (which cause the bad breath and the watery eyes) and the high level of chromium are also important in helping control blood glucose levels.  The same sulfur-containing nutrients are also anti-inflammatory and can serve as a natural antibiotic.

Onion

WE TRIED PLANTING SOME ONIONS IN THE SPRING LAST YEAR. But the weather turned to hot too quickly and the vast majority of them never bulbed out. Hopefully we’ve fixed that little issue this year by planting them in the fall, like we’re supposed to up here in northern Zone 5.  Garlic too. There they sit, under the snow. Hopefully dreaming big, fat dreams for next year.  We’ll see. All of our neighbors grow the most beautiful garlic. There’s even a Garlic Festival in Sharon Springs each fall. Maybe this year we’ll enter. If the fates allow.

We planted nearly every kind of heirloom garlic that Landreth sells. We’ll let you know what our favorites are come fall. But right now we’re really looking for any advice you all have about growing either onions or garlic. Let us know what you know in the comment section below the photos. If we’re successful, we’ll give you a big hug. No kisses though…garlic, you know…