Ramps are available now in a few local stores and Claui gave us a bunch. Their roots were attached and, though the foliage had wilted, an overnight soak and they perked right up.
I chopped up some to sauté in butter with some shitake (John picked a basketful yesterday.) The tasty result will be added to rice for a side dish at dinner.
But the rest went in the ground to add to the little ramp patch I've been cultivating behind our house.
I add to it most springs and the ramps are doing well -- though only a few have reached enough maturity to multiply. In the wild, the bulbs double and redouble till the ground is a mat of the green blades.
If we have ramps growing wild on our property, they're probably on the steep, mostly inaccessible, slopes. So this little nearby patch, gives me a great deal of pleasure. Who knows, someday, it may become prolific enough to actually harvest more than a careful few leaves.
