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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Ramp Salt, Real Milk, Hummingbirds,and Randoms

57°f this morning, about 16° C. Huge thunderstorm in the night put on quite a show. 
The wind was crazy yesterday! Blew hard all day, big gusts that made the clouds scoot quickly across the sky. An uneasy kind of day. High of 80°f, too hot for this time of year.

We dehydrated the ramps I brought back from the mountains this past weekend, and boy did my porch stink for a couple days! Unless you have had some experience with ramps, it might be hard to believe that such an innocuous looking little onion could be so powerful, but believe me, it is. A newspaper editor here in WV once decided to use ramp juice in his printing ink so people from other places would know what they smelled like. The US Postal Service refused to deliver any more papers from him unless he promised not to pull that stunt again--post offices across the country reeked for days, apparently! Click here to learn the scientific name and description of ramps, which are also called rampion or rapunzel---the plant in the Grimm's fairytale Rapunzel that the expectant mother craved.

I decided to use some of them to make ramp seasoning salt.


Simplest thing in the world: put some dried ramps and a bunch of salt in the blender and whiz it up. I used three large handfuls of the dried leaves to about a cup and a half of salt.

The rest of the ramps I chopped up in the food processor, to be used in cooking whenever we want. Once dried, the ramps lose that over-the-top potency, and just have an excellent, unique flavor. 

Ramp salt and chopped, dehydrated ramps. Took about 3 pounds to make this much.

In other news, we found a source of fresh milk!



I am so excited. I used to have 2 Jersey milk cows until about 1990, I guess, when we had to put down our last old girl. I have really missed that good milk. So now we will be able to get a gallon a week, plenty for the two of us. 

And just look who's back! Mr. Hummingbird, and we rather foolishly want to believe it's Little Mister, a hummer who has been coming for years, and always perches in the same tree. Probably it is just a random fellow, but still...


A few more photos from the weekend:


Quite a horseshoe bend.


The old mill at Millpoint, WV:


An interesting screened porch in Richwood, WV.


In Craigsville, WV:


At camp:


and along the road:





Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

11 comments:

  1. I've never had ramps. As I'm not fond of onions unless cooked, not sure I'd go for ramps...but of course if opportunity knocks I'll sure try them. So glad you have several ways to use them. Welcome back to Mr. hummer!

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    1. I don't like onions unless cooked either, Barb. But I sure use a lot of them in cooking!

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  2. That Ramp story is so funny. Quite ingenious actually.

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    1. The editor, Jim Comstock, was quite a character, and well known for his humor. I am just sad I never met him.

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  3. That house with the screened porch looks like it could use a coat or two of paint but otherwise an interesting structure. I wonder if it was built for a single family.

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    1. The house is right beside a very pretty, ornate church, so I think it may have been the parsonage. But it sure is big.

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  4. Never tried ramps but have heard of them. Have a good weekend. Kathy

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    1. Hi Kathy! I hope you have a good weekend too!

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  5. Oh, boy,what a story about that editor!!!! Help me, oh, no!
    I just got the series "Grimm" - meep, I´ll open the window when this tale comes up!
    When Ingo was a kid he got warm, fresh milk from the farmer for his baby-brother - I never had real fresh milk. Do you really taste a difference?
    Your video is from now? Looks still like winter, brrr...
    The last pic makes up for that! (I must post Spring-pics, too!)

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    1. That editor was quite a character, known for his odd humor!
      Yes, the milk tastes different, much richer. Although I bet European milk is much better than the watered down stuff in our stores.
      The video was from last Sunday, and the elevation there is quite high so Spribg is further behind. I drove through some sleet on that mountain a few days before! Driving across this state at this time of year you feel like you are driving back in time, as there is a month's difference in the growing season. By mid- June everything has caught up---although in some remote, higher elevation snow in June is not uncommon either. Usually light snow that doesn't last, but still!

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  6. Never heard of ramps, and I am not sure from your description that I am missing much. 😊

    However, you have caused me to recall how strong our little patch of chives was last autumn. We've had that patch for many years and had never experienced that.

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