Wild Spring Delicacies- Ramps, Morels, Fiddleheads, Birch Sap 

Thank you for including the bit about leaving solitary/small patches of leeks alone to replenish! As ramps grow more popular, they're becoming more and more rare because people who don't know better over-harvest them.

Dang I truly feel blessed where I live. Wild leeks and morel in my backyard. My father in law came back with a salad bowl filled with morels the past two days. Illinois may be broke but it's rich in forage goods.

I come back to this video every spring to remake your wild leek soup recipe. I have the leeks and fiddleheads within a 5 minute walk of my home and because of you I now have books on foraging. Thanks so much!

Just wanted to make sure to thank you and your wife for sharing the delicious looking leek soup recipe! Everytime I talk to one if my online friends, she tells me about having some leek soup and I've always wanted to try it because everytime she goes out to dinner, leek soup is all she seems to talk about having. Thank you again for all of your wonderful, informative videos!!

I first encountered ramps in West Virginia 50 years ago. Many of the towns had ramp and bean festivals. It was well worth seeking them out and going. I haven't been back but I will seek them out here in New England. I understand they grow here also. Your soup recipe looks great and I do like leek soup when I see it on a menu. Thanks for the memories.

Excellent video. "Life's like that. Gotta savor what you have." Thank you!

Two years ago in Washington state, I harvested over 4 lbs. of morels in a 3 day period. They rehydrate really well. My favorite way to eat them is seared in butter as you showed but love to use them in a savory bread pudding.

Like most people, I watch a lot of videos that just make me feel just a little bit dumber for having watched them. I love it, however, when videos just like this one leave me just a little bit brighter than when I had clicked play. I glow more afterwards, feel better and want nothing more than to engage nature myself. Another great video!

Oh my gosh.... I made this soup and it is FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. Just last year we tasted ramps for the first time; frying them in some bacon fat. But this soup is so awesome--I will make it again and again.

Not only do you build your own house, albeit with your dad, but you also are very knowledgeable about what mother nature provides. I live in the mountains of north Georgia and we have some of the same edibles here too. I leave the wild turkeys alone. I have found them to be to stringy, even after soaking them in buttermilk. I can't wait to see the next log cabin videos. Happy building and foraging from the sunny south. 🌞☮

Excellent presentation of the soup And Morels, I lived in southern Indiana and Kentucky and Morals are common fair in the spring.

Love fiddle heads,chicken mushrooms,hen of the woods,and many others.Good stuff to know about.

I love the sound quality in your videos, and audible step by step directions and description of the plants & mushrooms. you both are great!!!

You hit it out of the ballpark with this mini-playlist, Outsider! Nice to "meet" Mrs. Outsider, too. Keep up the great work!

GREAT job on the leek soup thank you for the video... we want more videos from Mrs Outsider please 🙏

Love your channel! You and your whole family. I too live in Ontario, Canada near the Bruce trail system in Dufferin and Grey-Bruce Counties. These wild vegetables are all around me along with fireweed, wild raspberries, wild strawberries and asparagus. Thank-you for demonstrating the sustainable methods for how to harvest these wonderful natural edibles in our forests, and thanks to your lovely wife for the wild leek soup recipe. Simply delicious! There are not many books out there specific to our area for these plants. Fortunately for me I learned from my dear Mother many years back when we explored the forests together. I would just like to share a good tip with you about boiling the fiddleheads or any green vegetables. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the water; regular or light tasting and it will keep the bright green colour and vitamins in. Very little chance of them going grey if you overcook them by accident. Enjoy, from the Galley Cook

ramps, fiddleheads, and morels are 3 things I always keep my eyes open for while out walking with the dog, fishing, and metal detecting in the spring.

I'm not a 100% sure but I think what you call wild leeks here in the UK we call wild garlic, sure does look the same and of course smells of garlic, that soup looked brilliant

Birch sap is a staple of Russian countryside life in spring time. During the USSR the birch sap was collected on the industrial scale and sold in stores because of the health benefits it provides.

I like to fry my fiddleheads in butter, then I add salt, pepper, garlic, parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs, making sure there is still a good amount of butter in the pan before I add the parmesan and breadcrumbs. This method is delicious and I use it to make brussel sprouts, string beans, cauliflower, asparagus, and pretty much every other green vegetable of that type, it works wonderfully.

Lovely recipes, and lovely to be outside in the woods again. Thanks to your wife for sharing, and I hope she gets involved more, and cant wait to meet your daughter. Thanks for uploading and sharing.

All the episodes are great, very informative. I like your conservative and caring approach. Waiting for more !

I'm so fascinated by this. I always wondered what it would be like to gather something myself and cook and eat it, I imagine it feels a little more gratifying.

Thank you to your wife! I never even thought of leek soup, my family and I collect them on our hikes. We love them.

Love from India. Thanks for the lovely recipe. May God bless you. I really learnt so much.

That looks so good! I don't have leeks but I'm going to make some potato soup this morning with all the other ingredients for dinner and supper! Still a little cold here today. Yum! Morels are the best but I am old now and my husband passed away so my foraging partner is gone! He was the mushroom champion! He could find them when no one else could! Sharp eyes! I always washed as you did but with a little salt in the water. Then dip in an scrambled egg solution, then dredge through corn meal lightly and cook in butter and a little salt and pepper! Gosh makes my mouth water just to think about how good they were.

Really wish I had more time to learn more about wild edibles and go out to forage for myself. Thanks for the video!

Very informative video, thanks! I like how responsible you are (and also that you saved the slugs).

I found ramps, cranberries and morels yesterday (about 45 so far this year) Two comments I would add are morels can actually last quite a few days in a paper bag and be re-hydrated some if need be and blanch the fiddleheads for 2-3 mins then plunge them into an ice bath. Now they are ready for the fry pan.

Your recipes looked delicious! We just went ramp foraging in Massachusetts then cooked up our picks for dinner. Ramps are a fantastic, native, spring edible!

Your channel is wonderful and informative! I would suggest drying the morels especially if you have a bumper crop. They taste so good in winter soups and stews- and you only need a small piece of the dried mushroom.

EXCELLENT Vlog ~ Packed with most useful info & truly enjoyable watch. I'm a Canadian from Ontario living in Australia now, & am literally planting a forest of the trees we have in Ontario to diversify the area as well as starting a black out mushroom tunnel to go along with all the other things growing on our permaculture farm we are developing here. Thanks for all the great info & INSPIRATION !

I found one Large white morel on our property one year, never got one again. It was delicious........

In Arkansas our morels appear about the same time as the emergence of the may-apple plants, and they occur principally under our sycamore trees and apple trees. The part about the fiddle-heads answers some questions I had. This video is excellent!

That soup leek looks so good! Thanks for sharing.

I grew up eating fiddleheads and picking them. Also collecting sap. They are soo good thanks for the video! Didn't know about the leeks or Morel.

Good one. I'm on the lookout for leeks this spring!

I live in Vermont in an area forested by red oak and maple, some yellow birch and hemlock and where the morels (they ARE weather dependent) and ostrich fern grow in my yard. was nice to see all of this put together in one video, thank you!

Nice job! Try throwing the fiddleheads into already boiling water and shock cool them with cold (icy) water. That will fixate the chlorophyll and make them healthier and taste better (and much greener) :)

Thanks for the Leek soup recipe, I'm going to have to give it a try! We hunt ramps and morels every year. Last year I dehydrated about a quarts worth of ramps and I use it for seasoning. Its perfect in everything that you would use onion or garlic powder.

Fiddleheads are really popular where I was raised in New Brunswick, Canada ..my parents and us kids would pick them during FH season..And us kids would come home from school, mother would send us kids out to pick them at the old creek near my parents place. Now I am living in Montreal and FH will set you back a small fortune if you want to buy them, which I never do, but just odd seeing how expensive they are here. Great video !!! Enjoyable stuff you post. Really happy I stumbled onto your videos.

You both are awesome and compliment each other's contributions to the video 👍 I can't wait to find some wild leeks

I found a couple morel patches last year and I'm looking forward to checking them out again in a couple months when spring comes. There is no better tasting mushroom than a fried morel cut in half longwise! They're sooooogood!

I'm impressed and very pleased by the clear, thorough, informative, way you present the bounties of Spring! You and your wife are very pleasant. I've put off tapping trees due to the need for spikes, so thanks for showing me how to make my own! Also, this is hands down the best video I've seen on fiddleheads. Great job! You've gained a subscriber! I'm busting with anticipation, especially for morels!

My Dad and I and sometimes my friend go to this one huge park on a hill, there is a huge forest path and we find tons of morels. one year we came out with almost 2 pounds! We saute them an will eat them with Eggs, wild asparagus and sometimes just eat them by themselves, they are awesome.

Another "sweet" and refreshing video,thank you! It's Spring here on the southern coast of Oregon and your presentations give a boost to go out and collect some treats!

The Outsider Oh my, what a treat it was to see the morel mushroom! My dad and brothers knew exactly where to find them in Indiana, where there was a rather heavy forested area. They would usually find a large cloth bag of them, and what a wonderful delicacy they are, to be sure. The taste is very unique, and not to be found in any other mushroom. Thank you ever so much for sharing the video of that one morel mushroom you found up in Canada. I am sure you savored every delicious nibble. May you find more morels next Spring. :-)

This soup! 😍 can't wait to make this in the spring. I usually make a stew with them but this time I'll use your recipe. Thank you. A tip for anyone who might be lactose intolerant or vegan, you can make a delicious heavy cream using half cup hulled hemp seeds to one cup water, blend till creamy.

those wild onions are great to find when camping. ive cooked some in a cast iron pan with some beer and some salt. pretty good.

Like how y'all are as easy on the environment as possible. Keep it up

Here in south western Virginia we call Morels Murkles and we cook them in batter. At least my family does lol. I recommend trying it.

Very educational and extremely helpful thank you so much for sharing. Its the caring thats even better bravo for leaving and letting nature to replenish and including that in your video to remind us of how to forage and benefit from nature without hurting or draining it.

This reminds me so much about Stardew Valley...

I loved watching this video during COVID-19 lockdown in Indonesia. It was so calming and spoke to me of health and nature. Thank you so much.

Wow. That's crazy. Usually when I've been out collecting morells them I end up filling a 5 gallon bucket easy

I found a large ramp patch. I took out about eight or nine plants, all the roots included along with the local dirt. I planted them in my brother and sister-in-law back yard that is heavily shaded and quite moist. This is the fourth year now and the patch of nine is now several feet in diameter and we will take our first harvest. I can’t wait. Ramps are so nummie! They had never heard of them until now. Rookies.

Thanks for sharing never knew Will give it a try, as soon as Winters grip leaves us here in Michigan

You're both wonderful and explain things so well. That must have smelt amazing while cooking. Thanks again

why would you give this video a thumbs down?? I subscribed.

Wow, does this ever look delicious! I can’t wait to try it. I was walking in our woods yesterday and saw all kinds of leeks!👏👏👏🤗Thank you so much!

Thanks for all the videos inbetween your cabin videos. I can't wait to see your next update.

This video is getting us REALLY anxious for "our" spring. We still have about 2 feet of snow on the ground in our neck of the woods, with another foot predicted next week! Love the videos Outsider! 👍

You should make a trip to Missouri in mid April if you want some Morel mushrooms. We find them by the pounds in a good year. Nice video

I just made your wild leek and potato soup! Excellent! I live in Pennsylvania mountains where we have many in the forests. Thank you! It was sure bliss!

Since the whole plant is edible, can U just cut the leeks free of their roots, so they can grow back, instead of uprooting them?

morrels in my area (Québec city) show up about when the crabapple trees are blooming, and we've found them under apple and crabapple trees pretty often! I also heard you find them often after a forest fire.

i have a forest right in my backyard, and if you go far enough in, the ground suddenly is covered with ostrich ferns. i'm sure i could find some fiddleheads there, and thanks to your wife for the great recipe! also, don't believe anything that says it can detoxify the body. that's literally a laxative.

Thank you very much. I live in Tokyo and its spring so I can buy ramps and fiddleheads and morels and many kinds of mushrooms all year long. Of course, seasonally, ramps and fiddleheads. Yummy and delectable. The most interesting is that, you said you found one morel and and enjoyed eating it. Savoring it. This is how we eat here. Savoring quality not quantity.

+1 Sub for relocating the slugs

As a kid I grew up in the wilds of Upstate NY which is no different than my time in the south. We would get up at the butt crack of dawn to go explore, climb tree's, avoid quicksand and be in the woods for hours on end! Our snacks were spring onions, fresh spring water and chewing on Birch tree bark which was just like gum! Then we'd roll our shirt's up and put berries of all kinds in it...and what we managed to save we enjoyed with quick biscuit's and fresh cream! Lot's of stained shirt's and plenty of adventure!

That soup looked so delicious and I love leaks hope I can find some wild ones and try it!

This is shortly becoming my favorite channel. Thank you for doing these!

Awesome video. Thanks so much from Ontario

My grandmother was Crow indian and we used to go and collect them outside of Pendleton Oregon. She was so wise and knew so much about traditional wild foods. We used to collect morels and cauliflower mushrooms. She has gone to heaven and we haven't collected them in 40 years! When you don't use this knowledge you lose it.

My mom makes potato leek soup it's really good :)

You have lovely dishes and yourself as well as your wife have great voiceover voices!

a black squirrel...that's new...and it's angry at you...how cute.

Yes! I lived in this area while I was a child, but it's been decades, and I find myself re-learning local vegetation. My canning jars are at the ready!

Very nice video and well done.

It's late January 2018. This video makes me really really ready for spring.

ya missed stating the 4th and 5th characteristic of fiddle heads the fact they grow in a round clump in colonies of clumps not by 1s and 2s and ya should not take every head from a clump as this will harm the plant leave 1/2 to grow and thus feed the root for next years crop I refer to the clump in this vid @ 16:55

Morels are one of the best things to eat out there! Used to go pick them yearly with my dad to eat, (breaded with saltines and fried)

The soup sounds delicious! I wonder if it would be good left chuncky style?

This was amazing. I love mushrooms, ill be super stoked if i ever find a morel of my own!

I found leeks, but now I need to find a wife to make leek soup. I will go up to a girl i like with leek bouquet.

Great Vid Sir ! That looks like great soil. Looks like you're about a week late there on your harvest. those have been up about 10/14 days. We have the same indicator trees here in southern Indiana. the emerald ash borer has been taking it's toll on trees though. And with fewer and fewer Elms every year some patches I've visited since I was 5 have unfortunately dwindled as the elms pass the stages from dying/dead/decay. last year was a boom though.. 840 in one small .25 acre spot. I've never seen a mother-load like that before. Tip: look for fiddle ferns. hunt morels from the time the fern starts to shoot / til it uncurls. leaks will only be out of the ground about half what they are in this vid. Best of luck this year. use the ten/10 method ( look in a 10" spot and count to ten, then next to that spot ) making a grid pattern of the area you're focusing in. explained more in detail below Packed away 237 black morel mushrooms today. I leave 1 for ever 10 that I find. I hang a few on low limbs to disburse spores in the area as well. I’d like to think this is working. Some say they spore before they’re ever picked. I’m not sure. But it’s about management as well. Mesh bags are OK. But get yourself a cabbage basket, woven basket, or Creek cooler (Google it) concentrate on the micro climate that you’re finding them in. ( ie soil temp, Sun exposure, tree type, vegetation in the immediate area.) these are just a few, you get the idea. People say turkey’s eat them, personally I’ve seen turkey’s scratching around in the area and watched them avoid morels. And if you’re an avid hunter and checked the stomach content of a turkey, you won’t find morels. Same with deer, I’ve found a lot of mushrooms right smack dab in the deer path next to scat. Uneaten. So what have happened to the ones that the tips look nibbled off? I’ve come to the conclusion that this is from, 1.) frost. As I find this happening more when there has been a frost. 2.) from something like a leaf or stick contacting it as it pushes up thru the forestry litter as it emerges.killing the cells and it roots and falls off. 3.) it has scored. I’m starting to think the only thing in the forest that likes them is humans. =) Be mindful of land. Take what you’ll eat, and eat what you’ll take. PLEASE, Don’t litter, take anything out you brought in. Ask to hunt the land. It may NOT be posted, that’s not an open invite. Someone MIGHT be in there HUNTING, turkey, Or worse, mushrooms. I’d like to think I have the best method for finding them, assembled from wives tales, wise old-timers, studies, and hearsay. But the method I use is… Ready? Go in the woods and look! Look under trees, Ash, elm, poplar, sycamore, and Apple. What I do is, slowly walk into the woods to an area that “looks promising” . Looking up at the tree, I judge how big the canopy is/was. I look back down and start in a grid between me and said tree. And I cover the canopy area. (next part is important) picture an imaginary circle 10 to 12″ diameter and 5 to 10 ft out. Never work more than you can pick out detail. This might be only 8ft. Squat down, Neal, or even sit. Get close to them. Next maybe even more important clear your mind, yes this is probably hard. Your heart it is pumping, mind wondering, people calling, txting, you have your sack ready to fill with bounty. The boss, the bank, the bills, empty gas tank, whatever it may be. Clear it out. Get in the elements. Concentrate.. Breeze, bees, birds chirping, Creek trickling. Now! Back to the circle. Look and count. 1,2,3,4,5 don’t forget Mississippi! And move in a grid around THAT spot. No more that 12″ from that spot! By the time you count to 2 your eyes are locked, 3 pupils are focused, 4 your eyes can distinguish detail, 5 you’re brain can now see if there’s a mushroom in that 12″ area. Might not be in the center, but you’re eyes have given all the info to the brain to process that circle. Your eyes rely on interpretation of things is seen before. It does this at thousands of times a second. That’s why it’s important to slow down and count and not shuffle your eyes around when you’re counting. 12345. Another reason is, if you scan the ground, detail is lost from over stimulation of the eyes. By my count using this method, I’ve found 35% / 50% more mushrooms. I hope this helps you as much as it has me. Feel free to pass this on. And teach the younger generations the same. If you find this useful, feel free to say “my buddy Tyson told me about this technique” thanks & God bless. _ Tyson Sean #HoosierMorelPicker

I am really enjoying your videos! I can't get enough of them lol! Where are you located? I'm in the state of Georgia near Atlanta. Thanks!

The fiddleheads would be delicious when boiled as you did, but then broiled with olive oil and sea salt, browned to a slight external crisp - I do my asparagus and brussel sprouts the same way, just an unbelievable nutty flavor sure to please the palate!

Thanks man, cool outdoor vid. Unfortunately, I'm in the southeast. not as lucky when it comes to those finds. But I got all the rat snakes and possum you'd ever want to seen.

Very nice video! It's really heartwarming and informative at the same time.

"You wouldn't want to accidentally step on a morel" should've been "You wouldn't want to accidentally crush your morel" Missed oppuntunity

We take our morels, cut them in half, and put them in a bowl of water with a generous amount of salt dissolved into it. Let them soak for several hours, then rinse thoroughly and put them in a strainer to shake off most of the water. I then put them in a ziplock bag of flour and shake gently. They can then be fried in butter, or spread on cookie sheets and frozen. After freezing overnight, they can then be stored in freezer bags for a several months. All you have to do is drop them frozen into a skillet of melted butter and fry them as you would if they were fresh! I came up with this idea several years ago when I happened to harvest more than I could eat in a couple of days. I have kept them for at least 6 months, and they were still just as delicious as they were when fresh!

Outside Fun 1, what else do you gather? I'm curious about trout Lillie's, dandelion greens, and ground nuts.

Live in a humid subtropical climate and I am unfamiliar with your wild leaks, birch and fiddle heads but I believe I am much luckier with the morels. I sometimes find them by the sack full but they are very sneaky. They seem to hide and then spring up behind you. Here, I use the sycamore tree as an indicator and they seem to come with the early growth of the may apple. Instead of leaks we have what we call the wild onion which has no garlicky smell or flavor. It is a true mild flavored onion which we sometimes combine with watercress and wilt with hot oil. We salt it and eat it with pinto beans and corn bread. We also combine the onions with eggs for a lunch or supper dish. They can also be combined with egg to make a fine omelet. Melted cheese and deli ham in the middle makes a breakfast the taste of which many a person in my area dreams about from spring to spring. Thanks for the video.

what a beautiful place you live in. love your naration voice it reminds me of childhood nature cinema films

I loved watching this. I learned a lot. I really like how you took your time and explained everything. I can't wait to see more. Thank you

After watching this video I found out that the patch of what I thought was going to turn into tulips less than ten feet from my house was actually leeks. Also morels grow all over my hillside which is also less than ten feet from my house.

great job thank you for your knowledge and expertise I am an over-the-road truck driver I don't have much time to do anything else but I am looking forward to getting out into the woods I do have leaks down by the fishing hole I will have to go down and pick them

"I'm just walking in the woods today, to see what I can see."

Great video guys! Not trying to be a troll, just giving a cooking tip regarding the wild leek soup: Use equal parts of olive oil and butter, no salt with the onion (sweats faster). Don't add the garlic until the very end, it can burn within 30 seconds, season w/s&p at the end, maybe a little white wine or lemon juice to degalze with the chicken stock? Also, warm up the cream before dumping it in (temper) so it doesn't curdle. In lieu of an emulsifier, you can use a blender or food processor. Nice recipe. Hope to find wild leeks in my area!