How to pick 'em

Welcome. If you've been here over the past several days, you know we're doing a bioregional quiz called Where you at. Today we're up to Question "7.     Name five edible plants in your region and their season(s) of availability." Let's assume, although it's not stated, that the question means wild plants and not things like late Summer tomatoes. Minnesota has an abundance of edible wild plants, including:

a)     the almost ubiquitous dandelion in late Spring, early Summer.

I was surprised to learn, from the High Country Press, that 

b)    In China, where daylilies got their start, they are considered a vegetable instead of an ornamental flower.

c)     Blueberries in July-August

d)     Raspberries in July

e) and f) wild asparagus and fiddlehead ferns
If you want to research the answer to tomorrow's question, here's the question. "8.     From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?"

In honor of today's wildflowers and Summer, I hope you enjoy Jane Kenyon's poem. Please come again when you can. Rants, raves and reflections served here daily (often with a garnish of poetry).

Heavy Summer Rain

By Jane Kenyon

The grasses in the field have toppled,

and in places it seems that a large, now

absent, animal must have passed the night.

The hay will right itself if the day

turns dry. I miss you steadily, painfully.

None of your blustering entrances

or exits, doors swinging wildly

on their hinges, or your huge unconscious

sighs when you read something sad,

like Henry Adams’s letters from Japan,

where he traveled after Clover died.

Everything blooming bows down in the rain:

white irises, red peonies; and the poppies

with their black and secret centers

lie shattered on the lawn.