First Greens

Its spring which means the first bits of green are appearing in the little scrub woods the boys and I frequent. One of the first plants shaking a leafy head is the garlic mustard. Its a ridiculously vigorous weed. The thing can go to seed and spread spawn after being pulled up for crying out loud....and its germination rate is out of sight. Handily, it is also highly edible.

While we were poking around in the woods the boys jumped off of stumps and threw sticks and Lockbox and I gathered fistfuls of garlic mustard leaves, hovering in hopeful rosettes of green over the carpet of brown leaf litter. With two handfuls from each of us we walked home up the sunny block with enough leafy green to fill a sandwich sized ziploc baggie.

Tonight I'm roasting a pork loin with olive oil and basil and the garlic mustard went into my baby, food processor to become pesto to spoon over zucchini noodles. There is a very special high that comes from the first green things of the year....that and the first juicy, slicing tomato. Gotta mark it down in the books!