And if you haven’t yet, send me an email to get on the Slow Food CNY list: earthscape / at / gmail.com (thanks to John for the email format inspiration!)

1. I’m a Romantic (yes, that’s a big R). I am inherently more attracted to these colorful folksy sayings. But that’s not the true reason….
2. Climate change. I just don’t trust freeze dates and frost dates anymore. I’ve even heard it said that Syracuse is not actually Zone 5 anymore, but more a Zone 6. This makes me less likely to trust some arbitrary, averaged-out calendar date for plantings. I think it just makes sense to look and see what the land is telling you.

Of course, nothing is without its problems. I’ve looked around a bit online and haven’t found any good books or websites about this. The ones I have found are clumped in with sayings like “Sliver maples show their lining before a storm” which I find less useful for gardening. It seems like the best source for phenology is the Farmer’s Almanac. If anyone has any other recommendations for books, websites, or has had experience using phenology around here in CNY, post your comments!

I had my first encounter with this locally plentiful green when I was living over on Judson Street. My landlord let his front yard pretty much do its thing, other than plant some daffodil bulbs here and there, and throw a bunch of corn, bean, and squash seeds (the three sisters) onto a heap of tilled earth and let it go. The yard was lined with a healthy row of tall day lilies and a couple big fat sunflower heads watching over the beautifully chaotic natural experiment. Chives and mint – both spearmint and peppermint – grew in large clumps lining the front near the sidewalk, guarding the three sisters from curious dogs and stamping feet. Further back amongst the meandering squash vines and practically choked out runner beans was a healthy stand of tall green leafy stalks competing for the sun with the corn stalks randomly punctuating the mass of vines. The leaves looked like jaggedy-edged diamonds. They were very easy to pull up, which I’ve always found to be very satisfying for some reason. One day I set to pulling them up, at first in an attempt to uncover the tangled mess of beans and squash trying to grow under their cover, but then pulling them up was so satisfying that I just kept going with it until I began to feel guilty, and looked at how bereft the space that I had been working on was starting to look without all the tall greens standing guard. After moving past that strange ingrained urge to rip everything out, I was happy to learn from my landlord that these tall green leafy things, known as Lambsquarters, were actually edible. Thank god, I thought to myself, there is a promise of redemption here after my destructive orgy. I gladly de-leafed and composted the stalks, rinsed the leaves, and put them into the batch of veggie pasta sauce I was making – just like cooking with any other leafy green, such as spinach or chard. It is a pretty tender green. Two years later, I happened upon another patch that I ended up juicing. Boy oh boy was that juice ever dark green! Forget about wheatgrass! This stuff grows just about anywhere, all you have to do is harvest it and you’re good to go – fabulous green nutrients free of charge!

Here’s some basic info about this amazing plant: Common Lambsquarters, Chenopodium album, are a summer annual that grows to about 3 1/2 feet tall. The plant’s capable of producing thousands of seeds and will spread rapidly under the right conditions. The stems are light green, erect, hairless and have varying degrees of red. The roots are short with many small side roots and easily pulled from moist or wet ground, but can be broken off if the ground is dry. The plant will often re-sprout from the broken root. The flowers are green and inconspicuous and occur from June through September. The seeds are covered with a thin papery coating. Lambsquarters are a close relative of red pigweed (Amaranth reflexus) and spinach. Common Lambsquarters are very high in Vitamin A, high in Vitamin C, moderate in calcium and low in iron. They’re also high in fiber but low in calories and fats. Lambsquarters contain known anti-inflammatory nutrients, including Beta Carotene and Vitamin K. Common Lambsquarters also contain carbohydrates, which may increase blood sugar levels. Common Lambsquarters are low in protein percentages but high in many amino acids. The vitamin and mineral profile reads like a who’s who of healthful foods. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/394508/eat_your_weeds_lambsquarters_and_giant.html?cat=5)