Try Wild Spring Greens

As blades of grass start to re-emerge from the wintry ground, so do an abundance of other plants and "weeds"—many of which are actually edible harbingers of spring that can add spice to your vegetable rotation (and thus, your life).

Chickweed and dandelion greens are common in many a backyard and field. Water cress and pepper cress lurk in quieter, wetter spots, and seasonal delicacies like fiddlehead ferns, ramps, and morels (which aren't green, but are delicious) are coming to a wooded area near you.

Conscious Choice has a guide to spring greens for the intrepid spring veggie seeker. However, foraging food can be dangerous to the uninformed...so a trip to the farmers market may be the best bet. All these greens—fiddleheads, ramps, cress, dandelion greens—are highly seasonal, so when you find them you know they're fresh.

One of the tenants of Kaiseki, the highly seasonal Japanese cuisine that developed in and around Kyoto, is that eating incredibly fresh, seasonal produce gives the eater a bit of the life and energy that's in the newly grown vegetable. So go eat yourself some springtime!

This post was inspired by an article on Grist.org.