Last year a friend offered me their rhubarb plant since they wanted it moved from its location. This was more than a plant, it was an entity. After hacking, chopping and breaking off a shovel I thought I dug all of it out. Not so! Shelly tells me it's back with a vengeance this year. I suggested she learns how to cook with it since it obviously doesn't want to go anywhere.
The plants we brought home are doing equally as well, and this was the first spring I was able to harvest much of anything, which is wonderful since I seriously missed it last year.
Yesterday, I placed John in the Moby wrap so I could harvest rhubarb while Sam was petting Liberty, our neighbor's dog that he loves and gives more treats to than the dog probably needs. John was a trooper being swooshed in the head with the big leaves and, as usual, he fell asleep. We cut a large bowl of tasty stalks, which Grant and I vacuum packed and froze. I believe we have roughly 28 cups of it in the freezer. It's good to start the season, but it's also hard to believe we're already putting up food for the winter! I'm not ready to even think about snow.
If I'm able to harvest another batch I might try canning it, and hopefully, I can find some time in the near future to make a batch of rhubarb jam. If not we'll certainly have a bunch of yummy rhubarb crisp and sauce throughout the year.
