Foraging for Fruit

Sandy loves to go exploring and bike riding down the back alleys of his neighbourhood. He never knows what is around the next corner... and today he came across a massive plant with big shoots of white flowers. The leaves were huge as well.

With a bit of help, Sandy managed to scramble up into the middle of the plant. He's heard that flowers can actually smell very beautiful and... but so far he can report that dandelions have no smell... nor do buttercups or s'skatoon berry flowers. But maybe this one will be different!

The short answer is no... these flowers don't smell like anything, at least not to his little bear nose. Although they do shed little white bits everywhere! (He's going to need to brush his fur later.) What is the point of these plants if they don't smell nice? Well... Sandy learns that this plant is called Rhubarb... and that it has many, many, many uses. Jams and jellies and pies and goodness knows what else. But one shouldn't do anything with the leaves as they can poison humans, and presumably little bears as well. it's the stalks that are useful. It's a good thing that Sandy is so small, because he can easily scoot into the middle of the rhubarb plant and harvest some of the stalks. Being little has its benefits!

Do you grow rhubarb and what do you do with it all? Because there is a LOT of rhubarb here... and no one seems to do anything with it (sort of like zucchini).