My first memories of wild asparagus date back to 1976. I was too young to have read Euell Gibbons book, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” but I was old enough to remember walking the canal behind my grandparents house with my grandfather looking for little green asparagus nobs poking through the moist dirt. As with most moments in life, I wish I could go back in time and stalk these little heralds of spring on that canal with my grandfather. Time has taken my grandfather and progress has covered that little canal but the memories are still fresh in my mind.

Every spring, fresh California asparagus starts to show up in the grocery store. After a long winter of asparagus from Mexico or South America, it is a nice change to have a vegetable that is from close to home instead of one that needed a passport to make it to the stores shelves. With asparagus, freshness is everything! There is no fresher asparagus then the ones that you pick on a local ditch or field.

Where to find these little delicious stalks of green gold? It tends to grow in rural areas where there is water. Look around irrigation ditches in the countryside , open fields with moist soil, marshy areas and old abandoned farmsteads. Avoid private property unless you are invited on by the owner. It is very common to find the asparagus in ditches on the side of a road. Park and walk the ditch. Make sure that if you are walking along a roadside ditch that the local government authorities don’t spray it with harmful chemicals. Eating asparagus that is frequently sprayed with herbicides is not healthy and should be avoided. One of the best ways to find asparagus is to look for them after they have gone to seed. Even though you do not eat the plants that have gone to seed, finding plants that have seeded out will allow you to make a note of where the asparagus in your local area is growing. To identify asparagus that has gone to seed, the asparagus plant will look like a small evergreen tree with little green or red balls on it (see Picture). Once you locate these plants, make a note and be sure to return to the area next spring when the asparagus is just starting to grow. Remember, never eat any plant that you cannot identify!

Get out this spring and look for asparagus. Good luck!