EQUINUNK, PA — Bring your friends and family to Delaware Valley Ramps to celebrate the arrival of spring by harvesting your own bounty of ramps.

Ramps are the first edible green plant of spring. Also known as wild leeks, they are related to garlic and onions and grow wild in the forests of the Upper Delaware River watershed. Highly prized by locals and chefs, they can be used in a variety of dishes to herald the arrival of spring.

“Digging ramps is a way of experiencing the arrival of spring in the woods with the reward of putting fresh local food on the table” said Steven Schwartz, chief forager at Delaware Valley Ramps.

Staff will show you how to harvest, wash and store the ramps, and how to sustainably manage a ramps patch. Practices to be discussed include selecting only mature ramps that have reproduced and need to be thinned, harvesting only ramp leaves, replanting ramp basal plates and roots after harvesting bulbs, as well as forest management.

Participants will see forest edibles like fiddlehead ferns, nettles and maybe even a morel as well as other beautiful spring ephemerals such as trout lily and bloodroot that emerge at the same time as ramps.

Recipes will be available to take home to cook up the ramps you dig. Free treats, like ramp hummus, pickled ramps and ramp quiche will be served. Tools and equipment are provided on site.

The Ramps U-Pick season runs from Friday, April 19 through Sunday, May 19. Delaware Valley Ramps will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the season.

This is a ticketed two-hour event with no more than 10 tickets sold per two-hour period. Tickets cost $60 per person. There is no charge for children aged 14 and under.

Tickets are available at www.ramps-u-pick2024.eventbrite.com/?aff=press .

Delaware Valley Ramps has been commercially harvesting ramps for delivery to restaurants and wholesalers in New York City and the region for the last 16 years. Learn more at www.delawarevalleyramps.com/.