along every roadside, everywhere we go here, two and three foot tall spikes of wild fennel are growing. the flower umbels are just pulling free, and in the next few weeks, they will all sport yellow flowers and lacy fronds that look like dill and smell like anise. we have also recently pulled off to the side of the road, and had the car inundated with the smell of the wild mint we had just driven over. we have passed thickets of wild thyme on a walk through the garrigue. we have seen a rosemary hedge the size of a minivan. and we have driven past stands of parasol pines, whose cones produce pine nuts. these are such exotic foods for a minnesotan, and so preciously expensive back home, that it is almost impossible to imagine a place where they are as wild and abundant as weeds. yet, here we are.

wild fennel

autignac, france