Conversations on Wild Asparagus
In 1962, Euell Gibbons offered some thoughts on wild food. In Stalking the Wild Asparagus—his best-selling book that is still a classic on the subject—Gibbons wasn’t talking about strange doughnuts made with golden beets and ginger or the latest extreme culinary craze. He wrote about taking a walk on the wild side at a time when Americans were living in urban apartments or split-level suburban homes with manicured lawns. The world as he saw it when I was in my last year of high school had become a vast and complex place.
Growing up poor in New Mexico, Gibbons learned early on to forage for food to feed his family. Later, when he published his thoughts on the benefits of wild food, he realized most Americans don’t go into the woods or up to the mountains or virgin forestlands to search for wild food plants unless they are on a camping trip.
Interestingly, he pointed out that these were among the poorest places to look. The best foraging sites, he wrote are “abandoned farmsteads, old fields, fence rows, burned-off areas, roadsides, along streams, woodlots, around farm ponds, swampy areas, and even vacant lots.”
In last week’s blog I wrote about finding an old asparagus bed along a fence row at Breakfast Creek—the country home where Kit and I lived in Missouri from 1988 until 2005. At Boomerang Creek where we moved after a brief move to New Mexico where Gibbons foraged for food half a century earlier, I planted a proper asparagus bed of my own.
Fast forward to May 2015 when my asparagus bed was well established and I was happily cutting my own asparagus spears and sharing recipes with readers in my weekly newspaper column “Notes From Boomerang Creek” in the Columbia Tribune. That was when I connected with Jean Carnahan—former First Lady while her husband Mel was governor of Missouri. When he was running for Congress in 2000, Governor Carnahan and his son Randy were tragically killed in a plane crash. Jean was appointed senator when her husband won posthumously and she served for two years as Missouri’s first female U.S. Senator.
After her time in national politics, Jean continued writing books and began a blog call “Good Food St. Louis” about local restaurants, gardening, food trips to Paris with her daughter Robin, and cooking with her children at Serendipity—the Carnahan’s family farm in the country. In May 2015, she asked readers on her Facebook page about wild asparagus and the following conversation began between the two of us:
Jean C., May 5, 8:46 am—During a serendipitous moment at the farm, I stumbled onto some stalks surrounded by grass and weeds. There had once been an old asparagus bed in the area and I think I’ve found it!! It tastes like asparagus. I’m going to give it some tender, loving care and see what happens.
Cathy, May 5, 12:06 pm—This is how I found an old bed of asparagus near a split log fence when living at Breakfast Creek. The stalk you found is on its way to developing into a fern. If you clear the area carefully and slowly, you might discover more asparagus spear tips emerging. Keep us posted.
Jean C., May 5, 12:15 pm—Cathy, are you referring to wild asparagus? Would the same be true of this mowed over asparagus bed that was planted decades ago?
Cathy, May 5, 12:22 pm—The relic bed I found some years ago did indeed get cleared and, come May the next year, I was ready with a paring knife in hand to harvest asparagus spears. At our present home, Boomerang Creek, we planted an asparagus bed eight years ago and are now harvesting spears like mad. Give it a try. Good luck.
Another Facebook friend wrote May 5, 12:30 pm—Before my dad started his own asparagus bed, he would drive the country roads and look for asparagus growing in ditches near old farmsteads. We jokingly called the asparagus he found “ditch weed.” He now has a huge bed. To date this season he’s harvested over 80 pounds!
Jean C. logged off with this final thought about wild asparagus—Thank you both for the encouraging comments. I’ll keep you posted on what happens with the asparagus patch.
I shared this exchange with my longtime friend Suzanne Dunaway who is a fabulous cook, artist and cookbook writer. She and her husband Don live most of the year in southern France and the rest in Rome. Wherever they are, they are accompanied by Loulou, a black-and-white feline that has her own website blog, www.livingwithloulou.com
On asparagus, Suzanne wrote—
Here in my French garden I have wild asparagus, which I took from the hills and replanted so that I don’t have to go out in the rain to find the wild ones each year. We have enough for small omelets at least. Next year, more to come.
Jean Carnahan passed away on January 30, 2024, after a brief illness. She was an amazing woman who loved her state, her country, her family, and “kept the fire burning” following an unimaginable personal tragedy. May her spirit continue to inspire others to run, to serve, to speak out, to stalk wild asparagus and to cultivate gardens of their own.
