The air is brisk, the ground is cold, and the river is filled with ice. Spring, however, is just around the corner, and that means ramps are just about to push their beautiful green leaves through the earth.
Ramps won't be hitting markets until April, but you can book some one-on-one time with them now. On the weekend of April 18th, The Arnold House (about 2 hours upstate, in Livingston Manor, NY) will be hosting a Ramp Picking Weekend. Organizer and innkeeper Kirsten Harlow Foster filled us in on the magical weekend, "It will likely become an annual event. [We] only opened the inn last May, so this is our first Spring season and we are very much looking forward to sharing what is one of our own favorite pastimes with our guests! It will be a fun weekend for anyone interested in these delicious wild onions—we will be taking guests onto our own private property where we have a wild ramp field. We will only do this event once a year, as we are very mindful of taking care with not over foraging—they are sensitive little buggers and don't like to be overpriced!"
For $549 (to $799, depending on room) you'll get a two-night stay with breakfast, one foraging kit ("gloves to keep clean, a foraging book on wild edible plants in the Northeast and of course some gum to help out with the, ahem, after effects of eating too many ramps"), and a foraging field trip to a nearby wild ramps field. You will leave with a mason jar filled with pickled ramps as well as some fresh ramps, and while there you'll be able to partake in an afternoon ramp pasta making class, ramp pickling, and a special ramp dinner.
If you know a lady who loves ramps, this certainly would be the way to win her over! But you could even turn this ramp weekend into a full on party—there will, after all, also be ramp cocktails.
Spring Break Rampscation Forever. Spring Break Rampscation Forever. Spring Break Rampscation Forever.
[h/t Michelle Dozois]
