This week's woodland grocery specials

Marsh marigold grows in mucky soils in seeps and wetlands, commonly near small streams.

Oxeye Daisy is an excellent addition to salads. Dried leaves can also be used as a seasoning.

Dandelion leaves and buds, and 1 flower just beginning to open.

The inner bark of the black cherry is used for coughs and sore throats.

Marsh marigold is an excellent spring green. Be prepared to get muddy while harvesting, and make sure you gather plenty. The volume will reduce quite a bit when you cook it, similar to spinach. Marsh marigold blanches and freezes well. Oxeye Daisy greens are delicious in the early spring. They have a sweet flavor with a hint of anise. These greens can be found soon after the snow starts to melt, but are at their best for salads right now while the clumps are big but before the flavor becomes too strong. When the flavor is strong, they are better dried and used as a seasoning.   The flower buds and flowers are starting to appear. Once the dandelions start to bud, it's time to stop digging the roots. The greens, buds, and flowers are in their prime over the next few weeks. Black cherry bark is a traditional cough and cold medicine. The best time to harvest bark is after the sap starts to flow but before the leaves are out. So harvest soon if you want bark for next winter. Remember: harvesting bark can kill a tree. Find a smaller side branch to harvest from, harvest in strips so that you don't girdle the branch, and take only what you will use.