The Wild Asparagus Economy

Long ago, but not so far away, I worked with a single mom of four grown children. We were sitting down to a lunch which included fresh vegetables when she told me this story.

When Joan (not her real name) was newly divorced and on her own with the young children, she was worried about paying the bills. A creative thinker, she walked to a nearby area that looked like all weeds - but it wasn't. Joan noticed wild asparagus in the ditch alongside the dandelions and other spring greens. She picked a large batch of asparagus to take home. Joan washed the delicious vegetable, tied it up in nice, presentable bunches, and sent her children door to door to sell it.

As she put it, "Honest to God, it held us over until payday."

The downside: her children, now young adults, haven't eaten asparagus since.

Is there a moral to this story? No, not a morel - that's another kind of foraging altogether. No, I don't have a lesson or motivational saying, sorry. As the asparagus begins to peek out of the ground, a sure sign of spring, it's also a sign that we moms are often creative in feeding and supporting our families.

Stumble It!