Post by heavyhitterokra on May 18, 2021 17:45:06 GMT -6
Wild Onions
How we went this many years without a Wild Onion Thread is beyond me. It seems like that would be a very obvious 'pick' for the topic of "Weeds, Edible, Useful, and Otherwise" but somehow, we missed it.
When we first moved here, back in 2004, there were very few wild onions to be had at our new location. Being how I lived in Hulbert, near a creek all of my life, I was very much accustomed to harvesting wild onions along the creek bank just about anytime during the months of late-March through late-April. It was a long held Spring Tradition to go out as a family around Easter to harvest wild onions for our yearly, 'Wild Onion, Egg, and Brown Bean Dinner' but once we moved here, we no longer had that option. The only onions we were able to find anywhere near our new home were only 3" or 4" inches tall and very scarce.
After we settled in here, I returned to my old stomping grounds about 20 miles away and harvested several handfuls of seed from several of my favorite onion patches. After sowing the seeds here, we only had a few onions the first year or so, hardly enough to harvest for any substantial size dinners. So, each year, for the first few seasons, rather that eating the onions, I'd leave them to go to seed, then, I'd harvest their seeds and sow them in more and more locations. Now, 17 years on, we have an abundant source of several varieties of wild onion, almost anywhere you care to look.
Since wild onions are wild plants, and they are so easy to establish, I thought I'd post a few photos of the onions going to seed before I harvest them to rebroadcast later this week. (They look pretty sad after the seeds are pulled off and I can never remember to take photos while the seeds are still in season). This year, who knows why, I finally remembered to take a few pictures.
A few wild onions along our flowerbed border. Not to be confused with 'Wild Garlic' which has round and hollow leaf and is bluer in color. Wild onions are a very green color (not bluish green) they also have a solid cored, flatter, triangular leaf structure. Plus, they don't smell like garlic. Wild onions have a tender, sweeter, oniony taste. Wild garlic is harsh and pungent tasting. Not to mention, wild garlic is tougher and stringier than wild onions.
Wild onions beginning to go to seed along the border of our flowerbed. (Note, wild onions that are going to seed are beginning to get tough and very pungent, no longer very desirable as table fare.) 
Wild Onions in the woods, going to seed at a more advanced stage.
Wild Onions in our driveway, having gone to seed and showing signs of yellowing and decay. These seeds are ripe and ready to be harvested. The onions themselves are no longer very good to eat, though they are still edible, they will be tough and strong tasting at this point.
