Sorrel
Given Name: Rumex acetosa
Nicknames: common sorrel, sour sauce
Is it spring yet? Is it? Is it? I can't wait to pop up as soon as the ground thaws and feel that warm sunshine on my yummy lemon flavoured leaves.
I could (and do) bask in it all day. But as days get longer and the weather gets warmer I get bored. I want something new to happen. I start to get antsy thinking about how I have to wait until early summer for my flower spikes to grow. Other plants tell me that because I'm so impatient, I flower and seed too early in the year. But it's all so exhilarating- how can I be patient? I guess they have a point, though, because after my seed spikes die back, I get kind of depressed in the hot summer months. My new leaves are smaller and they tend to turn a bit brown or reddish around the edges.
To distract me at that time of year, I could focus on how my roots pull nutrients out of the soil and when they die and decompose, those nutrients are available to help other plants grow. But that takes forever to happen! Like a whole year! How can I be excited about something that far in the future?
But when the cool fall breezes come, I know things are changing. Finally! I perk up as I look forward to the frost and snow. Other thrilling things start to happen too. After a summer of being ignored, people begin to use me in foods again: sorrel soup, salad, cream cheese omelettes and fish sauce.
These days, though, I have nothing to do. I want something else to happen. Now! Is it time for me to pop up yet? Is it spring? No?
How about now?
See ya,
Stir-Crazy Sorrel
Resources:
Crawford, M. (2010). Creating a Forest Garden: Working with nature to grow edible crops. Cambridge: Green Books Ltd., pp 233.
Jacke, D., Toensmeier, E. (2005). Edible Forest Gardens: Volume Two. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, pp 488-9.
Kruger, A. (1992). Canadian Nature Guides: Herbs. New York: Smithmark Publishers Inc., pp 164.
Michael, P. (1986). A Country Harvest. London: Peerage Books, pp164-5.
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