Where to Cut Wild Asparagus Around Omaha Nebraska

Wild asparagus fans scan Nebraska ditches

Midlands News Service

CHAMBERS - This time of year, if you see a car or a pickup weaving from side-to-side down a country road, there may be no need to call in a report of a drunken driver.

It's more likely someone hunting for wild asparagus. It's the driver's way of checking ditches on both sides of the road for the succulent green spears of asparagus shooting up among the bromegrass.

Southern Holt County is a hot spot for the spring free-for-all known as asparagus hunting.

Like morel mushrooms, wild-growing asparagus is a springtime delicacy that can be plenty expensive if purchased at a gourmet food store.

Unlike morels - typically found on private land along rivers and whose patches are well-guarded secrets - asparagus is common in public rightsof-way along gravel roads and highways in this part of north-central Nebraska.

The asparagus creates a race to the best spots and some grumbling among those who got there second.

"There's quite a bit of competition in this area," said Dave Reiman, who lives west of Chambers. He saw two pickups heading toward his favorite spot on a recent morning.

The picking is done mostly in public ditches, so it's hard to complain, said Reiman, a 36-year-old carpenter.

Ralph Kulm, a University of Nebraska extension agent who serves Holt and Boyd Counties, said the irrigated hay meadows and road ditches of southern Holt County are ideal for hunting wild asparagus because of the moist, sandy soil.

The plants probably originated with the pioneers, the seeds spread by birds or the wind, Kulm said.

"About every fence row has some asparagus in it," he said.

The wild asparagus is identical to that grown in backyard gardens, Kulm said, though the spears of the wild plants are, on average, smaller due to the more difficult growing conditions.

Poison ivy can be a hazard. Kulm said it's also wise to be on the lookout for any herbicide spraying near the asparagus spears.

Allison Bentley of rural Neligh said asparagus picking is a tradition in her family, which recently harvested three buckets of the veggie in three hours of picking.

"I like it better than store-bought asparagus," said Bentley, a 19-year-old college student. The wild plants are fresher, she said, and seem to have more flavor than mass-processed vegetables.

Rancher Jeanie Lemmer of Amelia was walking the ditches of Highway 95 on Tuesday night in search of asparagus.

Lemmer said it can typically be found in the same spots each year. And, after cutting off some spears, others may rise in a day or two.

"I've tried planting asparagus, but I've never had any luck with it," she said.

Lemmer had plenty of luck with the wild asparagus, harvesting a couple of boxes of it in about two hours along the highway.

She freezes a lot of her asparagus and cooks it with cheese.

Reiman is a griller, slathering his asparagus in olive oil and

Greek spices over a gas grill. His sister, Ellen Boshart of O'Neill, pickles many of the asparagus spears she picks.

Reiman said he's grilled up asparagus as a late-night snack for his children.

He noted that they didn't like vegetables until they tried grilled asparagus.

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Where to Cut Wild Asparagus Around Omaha Nebraska

Source: https://nptelegraph.com/news/wild-asparagus-fans-scan-nebraska-ditches/article_5ca570c8-54b3-5c9d-816c-4a231f64be8b.html

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