Digging Ramps in Appalachia 

Visit the following links to learn more about the tradition of digging ramps in Appalachia: blindpigandtheacorn.com/the-ramp-tramp/ blindpigandtheacorn.com/ruminations-on-ramps/ blindpigandtheacorn.com/a-mess-of-ramps/ blindpigandtheacorn.com/do-you-like-ramps/

There are so many RU-vid channels about Appalachia, my home. Only yours “celebrates” the beauty of the land, the traditions, the culture and the people. The rest exploit, denigrate, humiliate. Thank you for your work and your love of a home that is my place too. God Bless You!

Hello from Nicholas County West Virginia, near Richwood. The ramps this year were thick on the southern mountain sides, and extra tasty. The best spring tonic in the world. We just enjoyed a awesome cookout with fried taters, cornbread, bacon, eggs, deer meat, fresh caught trout just minutes old and bunches of ramps with good coffee. Life is good in the mountains!

Everyone is digging ramps but I started planting ramps.

Matt said something I haven't heard in a long time. "They're too stout for me to eat raw." Stout meaning strong flavor. Watching this channel is a blessing and a curse. I miss "back home" so bad. After every video my heart is both full and broken. How can I not love you all? Its like home movies of kinfolk. But its also reminds me of what's I'm missing. ❤️

In N. England we call them ramsons or wild garlic and in spring the woods smell of nothing else. We tend to use them in stews and as salad greens. Great video, thank you.

All the cut off root ends can be replanted😊

Maybe not the first to say but here in Wales ramps are called wild garlic or ramsons and we pick them every spring. They grow along the streams and on the hills of our little hill farm in West Wales. Always seen as a sign of spring after the snowdrops, primroses and daffodils. We try to leave the roots in the ground and further down the valley you can smell them as you drive past, they're so abundant.

We always plant the root back in the ground. I have some on my bank that we planted back like that and they come up every year.

Just dug some ramps a couple of weeks ago. Been wanting and finally saw some not far from road. Landowner kindly allowed me to go digging. When growing up I only heard them called wild leeks and as an adult heard ramps. Are good and free. Love getting food from nature that God has provided.

Such beautiful wildflowers growing in the woods with the ramps. Thanks for this video and the outdoor foraging and cooking tips too.

I just got to see this video, even though it’s 2yrs old. I love it my family and I would go out like that to pick honey suckle and butter cup flowers. If you put the yellow flower up to the bottom of your chin it would cast golden yellow. If it did cast you loved butter and had a heart of gold. At least mother told us that. Thanks for the memories. Brooks Oregon.

My dad and mom took all of us to dig ramps, before we were even in school. It was a family outing. All of us enjoyed ramp, and still do. Dad’s gone, mom is in her mid eighties. So we try to dig her a mess every spring. However she has a patch behind the house that I started when I was around sixteen. I am in my mid sixties and live a little ways off. God blessings to you and your family. Thanks for sharing with us.

There’s nothing prettier than the mountains and hills of Appalachia! I’m so blessed to have grown up here! Thank you for all you do!!!❤TN Nana😊

Looks so much like Cherokee Nation Oklahoma where I live, so beautiful. Hills always make me feel safe. The mountains & the hills are our protectors, & gives of life as they always been. Donadagohv'i

I'm 73 years old and my first grade teacher called some of us boys ramp scallions.

i dug a handful of ramps 3 years ago & chose to transplant a few of them. now, i've got 5 big patches of ramps that come up in my yard every year. Delicious!!!

For some reason this video reminds me of the O Henry story where a city man comes to an old country doctor complaining of several ailments. After examining the man, the doctor says I can cure you, but we need to search out a rare, scarce plant which grows on the mountain. So each morning for 2 months the doctor and patient would climb the mountain searching for this plant. It was never found. But, the patient's health remarkedly improved.

Tipper ask your husband if he has notice the seed pod on the roots of the ramps . Cut the root off first and replant . WONDERFUL !

We had ramps and branch lettuce last weekend

Midwest Illinois we have blood root, ramps,and molly moochers (morels)

You got that 100% right aint nothing better than being in them Carolina mouuntains

we have family property in southwest NY,,, ramps literally cover acres and acres of our woods. can fill a 5 gallon bucket without moving more than 50 feet,,,,

I always liked ramps cut up in branch lettuce and kilt with bacon grease.

Waynesville, NC 1982 went to the Ramp Festival. There was an old timer politician known as The King of the Ramps and he'd get on stage praising ramps with the fervor of a Baptist preacher during revival.

We always make sure to cut the roots and put back in the dirt where we got them so they will keep growing! They grow at around 700 ft in central kentucky. We love your contributions to celebrating Appalachia and enjoy coming along with your everyday life.

My family from North Carolina every spring would have a ramp fry. I miss it so much.

Yes LOVE them Lucky yes It's a good day whit dad love those times

OMG, lol when i saw the title, I thought it was a center trench where you could drive a vehicle on to it, and work on the bottom of that vehicle. I apologize, for my stupidity. Thanks again for the informative video, I am humbled by my lack of knowledge to the subject of the video.

DIDNT KNOW WHAT RAMPS WERE NEVER HEARD OF THEM I LOVE LOVE YOUR VIDEOS KEEP MAKING THEM I LEARN FROM YOU I COULD LISTEN TO YOUR STORIES ALL DAY

Love the mountains and the mountain people

Watching from Uganda African

Tipper, my mother grew up near Lenoir City, TN. She would take us into our woods here in S.C. looking for bloodroot, but we never found it here. She used it for play lipstick as a child, and they called the hidden parts under the leaves "little pigs." We finally found some when we went back to visit some of her family. I'll never forget how happy it made her to discover the little treasures.

What a beautiful area! I’ve never heard of ramps before. Thanks for taking us along 🙂

Thanks Tipper great information for a now 64 year old man that to my knowledge and memory never had them. My Father grew Texas sweets onions for years. He would take then to church to give away to anybody there. Precious memories for a guy that moved away but is back to stay in Elizabethhton TN! Thanks again!

I take the roots and plant them in the back of my yard for next year, just learned about ramps a few years ago - how did I live without them!!

We dig ramps every spring, we love them with eggs in them and we love branch lettle too. From Burnsville, N.C.

I dug ramps last weekend here in rural NY State . Its just like a big green carpet in the woods right now there are so many.

I've been picking them, eating them, freezing them, pickling them, and cooking with them all my 61 years. Until a few years ago, we always called them Leeks up here in Ontario Canada. I live in a region where they're very plentiful. Next door in the province of Quebec, it's illegal to harvest more than 50 or to buy or sell them. Here's my great grandad's recipe for pickling them.cheers🇨🇦 Pickled Leeks 2 cups of spring water 1 cup vinegar 1 cup white sugar Alum Bring water, vinegar and sugar to a boil to make a syrup. Blanch Leeks in boiling water in another pot for 1 - 2 minutes, then remove and put into jars and top with hot syrup. Put a pinch of Alum in each jar and seal. Make as much syrup as needed.🇨🇦

Good land, good friends, good times, and good memories ... God’s daily blessings and joys.

THAT WAS FUN. YOU ALL SOUND LIKE MY DADDYS PEOPLE TALKING. I MISS THEM. ALL GONE NOW. THANKS FOR the memories

Believe it or not, ramps grow in NJ. After I moved up here, there was a group going ramp digging. I was so excited. I got a good amount and for supper I made ramps, potatoes, peppers and eggs. We had good corn bread with them. We hadn’t had them in years and my goodness they were good! Another springtime staple is dandelion greens. I prefer them as a salad.

Used to have a ramp festival in konnarock, va and a ramp eating contest - was great fun - there would be a Ramp Queen

One of y'all said something about "God's country", I've been many places in this nation...The mountains out here in Aridzona are awesome, but to my heart, there is no place in the world as beautiful, and just comforting to be in as the Blue Ridge/Smoky mountains. The beauty just make you want to cry.

This seems like heaven. I hope to one day visit this beautiful part of our Country. Thank you so much for sharing this with the world.

We used to head out in the spring picking poke salat. Loved that first batch of the year with cornbread.

Dug a few ramps today....there used to be ramp festival in Whitetop,VA every year as a fund raiser for the Fire Dept...that's a nice patch you have...take care

Thank you for this video. I got so homesick

Love ramps, wish it was time to go ramp digging. We love ramps and eggs together, good eating.

I only got to go once when I was 8 or so, but this brought back some memories!

I say the same things every time u post. We used to into the woods to gets ramps for my granny to cook. It was such a fun experience. I’m not sure if it was around the same time but my granny used to slice turnips paper thin, dredge them in a flour mixture and egg. Then she would lightly fry them. OMG!!!! The best. When I moved to Texas people thought I was crazy bc who likes turnips. Ty. 🤗❤️🙌🏻🥰🙏🏻😊

I appreciate the intelligent content that you present. There is power in the use of knowledge, and there is great power in knowing what growing things God placed on planet Earth for us to thrieve on. Thank you.

Have a ramp patch in robbinsville that's been amazing for me . Grew up on snowbird and been digging them for 30 years

We are Blessed !!

Foraging is a great excuse to go outside for a day. I like to do it when I have time.

I remember going out with mum, brother and sister, aunties and cousins to dig up some wild garlic. There used to be an old lady up the back of nana and pas place, everyone called her Granny and saw her for medicinal help as going into town took ages and if the rivers were up you couldn’t cross them. The wild garlic was hers and some would wash down the creek and settle on the banks. Wonderful taste. Cheers Wendy

Have a similar plant in England called Ransome which is a herb from the onion family brought over by the Normans in 1066 who were fond of it in there food.You can find it in the woods around castles tastes like spring onions only stronger enjoy your films thanks.

It just don't get no better than that! Thanks for sharing

We call them leeks up here in PA, hubby has his favorite spot that he picks his. One of his favorite meals is bean, ham and leek soup.

I've heard of ramps but never really knew what they were. Thanks for sharing this information with us.

I like all the Trilliums as well

This makes me really miss the hills

Before viewing this video I'd never heard of the wild-growing ramps you dug and enjoyed as part of a delicious looking picnic meal. The wildflowers you included in the video were delightful to see, especially the dogtooth violets and the trilliums that are also native to my part of the country, way out west.

Enjoyed the video so much. Reminded me of when I was small and people would go out and look for what they called dry land cress. Some called it creasy greens I think. I think it’s great this has been passed down. Wish I had paid more attention to things back then.

Ramps aka wild leeks, so many ways to enjoy them. Leek cheese is one of my favorites

Have never eaten ramps. Good learning about Ramps.

Nothing like ramps! Love em in scrambelkedeggs , one.ets and soups. I’ve dehydrated them also. Not far from whwes u live in Franklin, bryson city area....a friend who is Cherokee said the men in spring would take off in woods for days n eAt them n drink fresh water to purify. Come home smelling like them. Lol Now a delicacy in cities.

Ramps...seems in the family of scallions. I love those!

Thank you for showing how to harvest ramps. They are some kind of good.. God bless.🦢🇺🇸🌹

I really enjoyed this video, Tipper. There's nothing that pleases me more than seeing people enjoying nature and celebrating the practices of those who came before us. It's a great way to connect with nature and appreciate the bounty it provides. Three weeks ago, my wife and I traveled from the northern Appalachian Mountains where we live in northern NH down yonder to your neck of the woods. The purpose for the journey was to hike the Foothills Trail from Oconee State Park to Table Rock State Park. While on trail, we were blessed with the emergence of spring and were surrounded by beautiful wild flowers, some of which you captured in your video. Trillium, wild iris, violets, bloodroot, and yes, even ramps, though they were not yet in bloom. I must say that you live in a beautiful place. And though some may think of the north and south as two different planets, your videos have shown me how incredibly similar we are. God bless you and your family. Thanks for what you do.

We don’t have ramps but our yard is full of wild garlic every spring and early summer So we learned to harvest it during the pandemic and had it then and still do in season It’s delicious Thanks

That reminded me of camping on the cranberry river in richwood every April for years. I agree with the gentleman that said you can make a mistake, by not putting in enough ramps.

so you take care of nature to ensure next years harvest ..live in harmony with nature ..perfect life ..bless you

A mattock is the best tool for ramps. It's what my Dad always used and it does the least damage. We eat it with branch lettuce.

Don't know where you folks are from? But I grew up around Va NC Tennessee hills and this is first time I knew of anybody grubbing for ramps except for the older folks. My grandpa used to take me with him he taught me all sorts of wild foods like branch lettuce, kreces and so forth. We logged farmed hunted and ginseng bought us extras. So yall just keep teachin the youngins and hello from North East Tennessee!

I bear hunted with some NC boys one time that said they would eat ramps before going to school and the teacher would send them home cause they stank so bad. Thanks again Tipper.

Wish I was there living a simply life in the mountains. Maybe some day ...

Ramps, I remember hunting bear on black mountain NC and eating breakfast with eggs bacon and fried potatoes with ramps. I got in trouble in High School cause I brought ramps to school and kept them in my locker, the whole hallway was filled with that pungent smell way more than onion or garlic, after removing them the smell was still there the next day. I love Ramps

Ramps act like Garlic and if eaten you will smell like Ramp. Therefore, everyone has to eat them as they are pungent . I forget the name of the town but they use to hold a " Ramp Festival " every year. Great memories. Thank you.

I was born and raised in Logan county West Virginia and I live in Bristol Tennessee now I'm 61 years old and I've never eat ramps I heard my dad talk about thim but we did harvest wild strawberries blackberries raspberries and big yellow apples

I love how God provides us with such goodness !!!

I used to go out digging ramps with my Dad when i was a kid! I loved it, at least until we cooked the ramps. I never quite liked them unfortunately. Great memories though! Thanks for posting it.

I have never seen ramps growing in nature but I have certainly smelled them!! My first year of teaching was in the mountains of WV. I had never heard of ramps even though I grew up in WV. The year I taught in Hillsboro WV the fire department's big fund raiser was a ramp feed in early spring. I dated the fire chief at the time and we stopped by the fire house while the women were cooking. We were there for 5 minutes but in June when I was packing up to move to another job my coat I had on that day still reeked of ramps!! My students used to eat them because they would not be allowed to ride the bus or attend school for 3 days, until the smell wore off!! I have never eaten a ramp as I could not get them past my nose although many in my family eat and love them. The saying in the mountains was you had to eat them to not smell them!!

That is about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. Thank you for sharing

I’m slowly watching the past videos of this great channel, and I’m enjoying every one of them. I enjoy learning about Appalachia in this format. It’s almost like I’m there. Great video👍

Thank you for sharing your little slice of heaven with me. My Maternal grandmother was from southern Appalachia. I remember her talking about Ramps. The one gentleman used the word “Gomm”. My grandmother used that word too. She would say Mess and Gomm as well. I love your channel. ✌️💕

The foil packets looked so good...thanks for sharing and now I know how to dig ramps

Just like green onions. Like thistle is like a sweet tasting celery and poke salad is another green. You can see how wild foods were cultivated into what we eat today.

What a beautiful day all around! We are going morel-hunting here in a bit, too, love these rites of spring.

I love your videos . I binge watch on the weekends!!

Ok thats a new one on me . Never even heard of em . But sounds like it would be good .

Im 60, and my parents would cook them. You could smell them for miles!!!!

My Dad always talked about wild alliums and I just thought he meant onions but now I'm thinking it's the ramps. As a child he grew up on the Va & NC middle line. He also had beautiful teeth and people thought he had false😁 teeth, he loved that and said he had good teeth because his granny ( Irish) showed him how to take a nice twig from a tree (I want to say birch but can't remember but he showed me one time) and furry the end of it and it almost looked like a soft furry tip to brush your teeth with. Funny watching you and the homeview of what you can remember and by the way I did not get my Dads perfect straight & white teeth.🙄 Tks

The first time I had fried potatoes and ramps I really enjoyed it.

Ah, delicious ramps! The American Club in Kohler Wisconsin pays up to $20 a pound for ramps. They do grow here but they are very few and far. Great video!

God bless you I hope to live another 10 year any way lots a trout lillies looks like. I wish I could meet you all. I still visit Cherokee north Carolina and bryson some,, you all. Are just good old mountian people .I know that cause I have met people just like y'all. I worked at a saw mill. When was young we all was just good old mountian folk. Around swain and Jackson. Any way. Good to see good folks are still,around y'all take care,,,

I've heard of ramps but never really knew what they looked like until watching. Thanks for sharing!

I loved how the men took charge of the cleaning and cooking. And I loved the gratitude expressed! What good people you are. I learned a lot by watching

Thank you us for the history

I've never heard of ramps until now. When I first saw this video I thought maybe you were out digging ditches or something lol. They look like onions.