Here’s to the lowly rhubarb leaf! My octogenarian friend Ken
called to ask if I’d like some more rhubarb. He was harvesting his patch and I
happily said, “Yes! And please bring the leaves too!” Ken responded with a
shocked, “No, they are poisonous!” Having been an extension agent for something
like forty years, he knows what he is talking about. I explained that I use
them on my pots, not in them. They have lovely veining—not as fine as that of
the even-more-lowly burdock, but impressively dramatic and strong.
Ken arrived on his 4-wheeler with an armload of magnificent rhubarb stalks with
all their leaves.
Due to the thick center stalk in a rhubarb leaf, using the
leaf as it grows can cut right through the clay when I lay it out. Hence, I
trim that thick area down level with the rest of leaf with sharp scissors or a
knife. This gets easier with practice and I go through enough burdock and
rhubarb leaves in their season to have plenty of that. Then the leaf is laid on
wet, rolled-out clay and I cut around it. (I never went to kindergarten and
have been making up for that ever since.) Next the leaves are dropped inside a
large, plastic-draped, aluminum bowl of a pleasant shape. I make sure the
bottoms of the leaves are well smoothed (read that as “smooshed”) together and
the upper leaves each free to show itself off. Two or three days later, I left
the whole thing out of the bowl, clean all the many edges, and set it on the
racks to dry. Those leaves are majestic! If I knew where to put it, I might
keep one of these big pots!
