I recently learned that every May 24th is Asparagus Day. Anyone else remember driving around the countryside "hunting" for asparagus?

I swear my mom knew where every asparagus patch was within a four-county area. And because of that, we had asparagus at most every meal - at least during the summer.

Yet to this day, I still love the taste of fresh asparagus. It's my favorite vegetable. Wrap a handful of stalks in some bacon and you got yourself a meal.

I can remember neighbors asking mom where some of her asparagus patches were located and never once did she break.

"For her to know and everyone else to wonder," she would say.

We would usually head out early in the morning to begin our quest for the "wild asparagus." Ask anyone who grew up on a farm and they'll tell you wild is the best.

Hours later we would "pull into the driveway" (as we used to say on the farm) with sometimes as many as five grocery sacks full of the green delicacy.

And then after keeping back whatever mom thought we needed until the next crop was ready, she would divvy up the rest for friends and family.

And mom knew pretty much every way to prepare it. She'd cook it up straight, mix it with mushroom soup, wrap it in bacon, even make a cream sauce out of it to put over toast.

Nowadays though, things are different. Because of all the insecticides and herbicides that farmers use, finding a wild asparagus patch is becoming harder and harder.

And even if you do stumble across a wild patch, you have to be so careful just in case the farmer sprayed the ditches for weeds (which most of them now do).

I do have to say though, my mom taught me well. Even today, I can still spot a wild asparagus patch in the ditch while whizzing by at 50 miles per hour.

Thanks for the fun times and great memories mom!!!


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