In my desire to grow more Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs on the farmlet, I was recently reading about Sansai, which means ‘mountain vegetable.’ According to the Mountain Gardens website; "mountain vegetable implies wild vegetable, as opposed to cultivated...and embody more qi (ch’i) (‘energy’).. Furthermore, most sansai are the early spring shoots of various perennial herbs and shrubs, so eating them partakes of the vital, bursting-forth energy of spring." One of the Sansai most popular right now is the Ramp, but Ramps are also considered an at risk plant due to overharvesting from the wild. Because there are very few cultivated sources of ramps (we're working on it!) it is important to ask questions when purchasing or eating ramps. United Plant Savers offers these guidelines:
Sustainable Harvesting Practices:
Sustainable Harvesting Practices:
- ONE LEAF PER PLANT: Harvest only the leaves, and leave some ramps fully intact. Rather than cutting off all the leaves from a bulb, take only one leaf per plant. This will leave a leaf for photosynthesis, allowing the plant to continue to grow and reproduce (without any leaves, the plant could go into dormancy). Digging up whole ramps not only reduces ramp population and prevents reproduction, but a disturbance to the soil disrupts its ecology and lets invasive plants become established.
- LEAVES ONLY PLEASE: Maintaining our ramp supply will require a transition to a “leaves-only” approach. Ask your ramp vendor to consider changing their practices to those described above so that ramps will grow for years to come. Also, consider that we need to compensate responsible harvesters fairly for maintaining the growth of ramps in their region by paying a price for the leaves as if the root is still attached.
- GROW THEM: We can continue to enjoy ramps while allowing them to proliferate in the wild. Ramps can be cultivated, either by growing plants from seed or by transplanting bulbs.
