Foraging..

As I write this, the lowlands and valleys are cloud-free... yet the mountainside is under an endless cloud bank offering non-stop drizzle and showers... gloomy yes, but intensifying the green to the point of dazzling. Ocasionally, when the clouds shift a bit, getting un-stuck from the mountaintop, the sun shines in sideways bringing with it a light so full of life it is both startling and breathtaking.

The rivers have been (blessedly) bank-full for 6 weeks.. and the garden is, largely, an unplanted patch of mud and weeds... I reassure myself that since there was just snow a week ago (even though it was 2000 ft higher up!) that there is still time for planting.

One of the great thrills of mountain life, (wow, where do I start??) for me, anyway, is growing my own food... Something I learned as a boy, and began on my own as soon as I had the room. (yes, even in the Navy, living in California, I grew tomatoes and potatoes in my 1'X3 ' patch of "soil")
Something even more fundamental than growing your own, however is foraging... and in a year of unending spring showers and cool to cold temperatures.. foraging is the best game in town.

And I'm not talking about survival food.. I'm talking about delicacies from the wild. Right outside the back door. From dandelion greens, fiddleheads and poke, to morels and wild asparagus.. Natures bounty, free for the responsible (read: sustainable) taking.

How very sweet it is.