First Asparagus Harvest of the Season in the Midwest

In the Midwestern United States, we're never certain it's really Spring until the first harvest of asparagus. Some years the snow winds down in February, some years enough for forts, fights, and angels comes down in April. It actually snowed on prom night, making for some very cold, bare shouldered teenage girls in 2005. Maybe Springtime plays a similar game in your part of the world. Chilly then warm; a splash of sunshine, then a freeze. But when the asparagus finally arrives, we know we've made it.

So here's what an Ohio asparagus patch looks like when it's ready for it's first harvest. This patch is on the large side of a non-commercial garden patch, measuring something like 12' by 5'. You can see the bravest asparagus souls are first to liberate themselves from the soil, so the first harvest is the smallest. Picking today brought a little more than half a pound of the most beloved of perennial vegetables. Later in the season it will be ready to give ten pounds or more a week. Along with plenty of burdock, and thistles thistles thistles in this patch.

"I believe in vegetables in general, and this one in particular." -Barbara Kingsolver in Animal Vegetable Miracle