GRASS ROOTS
My parents used to tend a highly productive asparagus patch at the edge of our garden until one day a new neighbor moved in next door. As part of the sale, they checked property lines, and our beloved patch of “grass” changed addresses overnight. This corrective surveying had the unfortunate effect of pushing me to crime. Unable to get fresh asparagus at home, I ventured into a few of my neighbors’ yards to share in their bounties. It’s not my proudest memory, but it does speak loudly about my infatuation with this herbaceous perennial. Especially compared with other green vegetables: Let’s just say I wasn’t bending morals to harvest broccoli. Asparagus’s green-and-purple tips emerging from soil are one of the earliest edible indicators of spring, bested only by rhubarb here in…