Rhubarb abhors a puddle.
Luckily, northern Michigan has sandy soil that drains really well, so this place is rhubarb heaven if you're so inclined to put some in the ground.
And if you are, now is a good time to do it.
Crisp topping
Ingredients
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• Scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
• ⅓ cup room temperature, unsalted butter, cut into ½" cubes
More info
Growing rhubarb from seeds is easy and quite rewarding but takes some patience. It could be 2 to 3 years before you get edible rhubarb, but once you get past that and they get established in your garden, they will be extremely bountiful. In four or five years, you'll be absolutely lousy with the stuff.
More of an instant gratification kind of person? Don't worry. There are probably plenty of people near you who have way too much and would love to share. This is where you can do a little bit of community foraging to meet somebody who has an abundance.
Got some. Now what?
Rhubarb is the champion of the fruit crisp. It can be done pretty easily in an oven or even a toaster oven.
And it works with just about any fruit. Dylan keeps some topping — oats, sugar, cinnamon — in a jar at the ready. You can add some butter to that and put it on top of rhubarb and almost any other fruit, and you're in business.
Most fruits work really well, especially the sweet produce that grows up here. Peaches, cherries, blueberries, strawberries (a classic) and more.
Dylan's only had bad luck with pineapple. Mixing tart with tart doesn't quite work.
But sweet and tart together?
Pure summertime glory.
