soupnancy

The first fiddleheads are out!  Not abundant yet, a sparse smattering of sprouts in far off, hard to get out locations, boot suit or not; François has been working hard.  Meanwhile, I helped him with the greens.  Amidst the bumps of fiddlehead clusters trying to break the turf on the forest floor along the river bed, there are tufts of mini-everything - live-forever, stinging nettle, cat's tongue, soon to be carpets of edible greens.  It's muddy, and hard going to get a pound of anything, but it smells like spring!  Intoxicating.

 live-forever

ortie/stinging nettle - the little one

erythrone/adder's leaf/cat's tongueThe live-forever and cat's tongue will go into a salad, the dog's tooth as a garnish.  The fiddleheads will make a salad or fricassée side (probably both).  The nettle will go into soup for sure, and maybe also a pesto/purée type sauce for fish or an egg and ham or smoked duck combo.  We will start drying the greens and flowers too, for tisane and herb mixes.  C'est partie!  As hockey season approaches the end, ours gets kicking.