What to Forage for in April; Morel Mushrooms and Ramps
I admit that both my favorite and most hated month at the same time is the month of April.
April is the sign that the snowy relaxing days of winter are over and the hecticness of spring has arrived. While I’m always ready for sunny, warm weather and spending time in the woods foraging for deliciousness, it’s a struggle to get motivated when it feels like I just got into the groove of spending our evenings reading and going to bed early.

What to Forage for in April; Morel Mushrooms and Ramps
Just as a disclaimer, this post isn’t intended to make you a foraging expert. This is just a general beginners guide to what the best foraging foods are in April (they’ll start in March and end in May with April being the peak month).
There are plenty of other amazing things, but these are the easiest and most popular in our area.
What are Morel Mushrooms?
Ah, the elusive Morel Mushroom. People spend countless hours in the woods, but never find any morel mushrooms.
“Mushroom Picking” was one of the first dates my husband too me on. It might sound strange, but even though I wasn’t an outdoorsy girl growing up and when I met my husband I wasn’t looking for this lifestyle, I was immediately drawn to it.
Both my maternal and paternal grandparents foraged, but my parents weren’t interested. I always think that foraging (like gardening) was in my blood, it just skipped a generation.



Rarely do we go home with an empty-basket. Ray and his family have been picking morel mushrooms for generations. We have countless morel spots that we check frequently.

Oh and just because you found them growing in a location this year, there’s no guarantee they’ll return next year. But in most cases you’ll want to check spots that you’ve picked before!
What Are Ramps?
Ramps are a wild onion that grow during the spring in US and Eastern Canada. They’re sometimes referred to as wild leeks, and taste like a pungent combination of garlic and onion.
They grow in moist wooded areas, in various sized clumps or groups of pants.

Depending on who you ask, how to harvest them can be controversial. Due to the popularity of Ramps recently, many greedy people are over harvesting and depleting them. In these areas people would prefer you leave the bulb in the ground (so that they can repopulate the area) only harvesting the green leaves.
Where we live and in our expansive ramp patch, there is no risk of over harvesting. We dig up the entire plant, just like you would an onion. We eat both the bulb and leaves.

Take them home and give them a rinse to see their bright white bulbs, pretty pink stems and brilliant green leaves.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a ramp patch to forage your own, they are found in at many spring farmer’s markets and specialty grocery stores.
Right here is the right site for anybody who would like
to understand this topic. You know so much its almost tough to argue with you
(not that I really would want to…HaHa).
You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject that’s been written about for
many years. Great stuff, just excellent!
Hey Hayley, Do you know if they have morels and/or ramps at WV Bot. Gdn or the arboretum? This should be our last summer here and it would be nice to get some morels, especially, before we go. Plus, I’ve been very ill and some good mushrooms might help. Kelly
You are not permitted to forage at the Aboretum (actually not permitted to leave the paths) and I’ve never been to the botanical garden. Our Morel spots are local to our home and mostly in the mountains.