Very interesting piece, Laura. I became a vegetarian 31 years ago — for animal rights reasons, not health concerns. Not once did I regret my decision or desire to consume meat of the land, air or sea. I do have a problem with someone thinking that a lamb offered his/her self for consumption! If she chose to eat a lamb, that’s her choice, but the decision was definitely not the lamb’s!

I recently discovered wood sorrel myself. We bought our townhome two years ago and I did a lot of gardening this spring — redesigning what was already in my small garden patches in front and back and experimenting with new plants.

Our neighbor to the west uses his townhome as an office — doesn’t live there and does no gardening, but in the spring, a large patch of very green plants with bright yellow flowers volunteered on the patch of ground between our homes in the backyard. I watered them though they seemed to thrive on their own through dry and wet weeks. I had no idea what the plants were.

One day, Tracy Aston posted a photo of a pretty plant that looked much like those volunteers and she labeled it wood sorrel — the only difference was the color of her plant’s flowers. Some Googling proved that the volunteers were indeed wood sorrel and different varieties produce differently colored flowers. Yellow ones are predominant in my area.

The wood sorrel is amazing — it looks delicate but is extremely hardy. Very lovely plant.