Hot to Replace a Watch Battery

Why pay a jeweler to replace a watch battery when you can do it yourself quickly, easily and cheaply. First thing you'll need is a new battery. Most watches will indicate the proper replacement battery with a code number etched into the rear of the watch. It's much easier to remove the rear face of the watch and replace the battery immediately than to remove the battery and take it to the store to buy a new one. Plus you're much less likely to lose a screw or other tiny part. Many watches use the common "2016" battery which is available at most drug stores. For uncommon batteries, you might need to do some digging.

The next thing you'll need is a set of jeweler's screwdrivers, sometimes called "precision" screwdrivers. They're only a few dollars at the hardware store and you'll be surprised how often you use them on electronics, watches, etc.

This Timex Ironman watch has four tiny Phillips screws holding on the rear plate. Unfortunately my tiny Phillips screwdrivers did not fit so I used a Flathead screwdriver to remove the screws. With the rear plate removed, carefully remove the gasket that seals the plate and prevents moisture from getting inside the watch. If you watch is like mine, the battery is held against the watch mechanism with a small plastic and metal sleeve. This sleeve is released with a small clip and the battery slides out. Make sure to install the new battery in the same direction as the old one. If the watch mechanism comes out, which happened to me, you need to make sure it is lined up properly when it is reinstalled. The buttons on the outside of the watch have small pistons that run through the watch housing and press against tiny spring clips on the watch mechanism in order to activate the different options on the watch. You need to make sure that the spring switches are lined up with the button pistons. If they aren't lined up properly then the buttons on the outside of the watch will not work. I had to reopen my watch several times before I figured out that the switches were not lined up properly.

When the new battery is in, reinstall the gasket into the grove on the back of the watch. Place the rear plate on the watch and reinstall the screws. Tweezers can help pick up the tiny screws and get them in the holes just don't squeeze too tightly or the screw will fly across the room and you'll never find it. Be careful replacing the gasket and the rear plate. If it's not lined up exactly right, your watch will no longer be waterproof.

It's Planting Time in the Garden

Although it's about 50 degrees right now, it was 90 degrees yesterday and 85 degrees this past weekend. Vacillating temperatures aside, we're getting pretty close to the summer growing season in New York City. I'm not quite ready to plant seedlings like tomatoes, as one cold snap would kill them, but with the recent warm weather I decided to plant my remaining seeds. But before that, here are some pictures of the garden as it looks now.

The hops continue to amaze with their aggressive growth. It's not even be May yet, but they're almost two feet hight. I'll definitely need to add some height to the trellis! The peas are all fully out of the ground and about two inches tall. These early spring solders love the cold! I hope it doesn't get too warm too quickly. The blast of 90 degree temperatures didn't seem to hurt the seedlings but prolonged hot weather can do some serious damage. These guys need cool nights and mild days for their early spring crop. I'll plant tomatoes in these beds, a plant that prefers warmth, to make the most efficient use of my small New York City garden.
The grape vines have been slow to bud and slow to sprout leaves, but they're getting there. Hopefully I'll have a bigger harvest than last year.
On to the seed planting. Before I plant anything, I need to prepare the beds. The soil in New York City is, not surprisingly, pretty poor. My area of the city hasn't been a farm for 150 years, so the soil is pretty poor. I've been improving it with compost from my table scrap composter for years, along with my yard waste compost pile seen below.
Over several years, the soil has been improving with every shovel-full of organic material. Just a year or two ago this was nothing but leaves. But now it's black gold!
Unfortunately, even though I compost everything degradable that comes out of kitchen, my soil still needs some extra help. So I enlisted some help from Scotts, via a nice hummus and manure mixture. This not only adds nutrients to the soil, but adds in drainage and general soil health. After prepping the beds with a spade and pitch fork, I planted the seeds. The candidates for this year are sugar pumpkins, butternut squash, bush beans, pickling cucumbers, summer squash, Italian flat leaf parsley, oregano and Thai basil. I try to plant smaller vegetables as my yard doesn't get a lot of sun and large veggies tend not to do as well. Every year the garden has gotten better, and I give credit to the soil! Maybe this year I can get a nice crop of pumpkins!I also managed to plant some grass seed. I'm sort of against the whole lawn thing, but there is something about lying in the grass that is just incredible. Most of my grass survived the winter, but it was a little patchy. A pitch fork to the patches and some grass seed and we should have a nice lawn in a month or two.
Stay tuned for lots of summertime activity in the garden!

Street Find: Castors

Guess what I found on the street the other day? A broken commercial rolling clothing rack! The rack may be broken but the castors were all in perfect working order. For that matter, I could have also used the chrome piping for a project! Unfortunately there are limits on what you can store when you live in New York City, and if you really need something, the trash shall provide. These castors will certainly come in handy for a cool project. These cost about $15-$20 each at the industrial supply store so this was easily a $120 find.

Street Find: Vintage Singer Sewing Machine

Check out this vintage Singer sewing machine I found in the trash today! This just goes to show you that you never know what you'll find on the streets of New York City! This is a Model 31-15 Commercial Sewing Machine with serial number AC-08335. I looked this up on the Singer website and apparently this machine was made in 1929 in Elizabeth, NJ. It's a commercial machine made for tailors and must weigh 60 pounds!

I don't have any use for this but some collector is going to love this vintage piece of American history. So onto eBay it goes! Check it out here.

The Beater Bike Project Part One: Deconstruction

A few weeks ago I found a beater bike in the trash. I snagged it and decided to rebuild this historical artifact. It's a Nishiki, which is a decent make of bike certainly worth repairing. It's in rough shape now but it has potential. But before you can construct, you must deconstruct.
This bike is so dirty and banged up that I need to remove all the components in order to clean them and clean the frame. Here's the front derailer. Just a thought, but I think the dirt is impairing performance.
To remove the cranks, remove the retaining bolts with a socket wrench. Adjustable wrenches and pliers will not be able to access the recessed bolt- you'll need a socket wrench. It's also helpful to remove the pedals prior to removing the cranks as you'll have more leverage when they're connected to the bike. Remember that the right pedal threads normally (righty tighty- lefty loosy) but the left threads counterclockwise (so to remove it you need to twist it in the right hand direction to remove it). Most pedals have flat spots for a wrench to grip but some have only a narrow band that requires a special pedal removal wrench. Other pedals have an allen key on the pedal axle for removal and installation. Don't forget to keep track of the way the threads turn so you're turning the pedals in the correct direction.
A specially crank pulling tool is used to remove the crank arms. Essentially the tool threads into the cranks and then a bolt is screwed down onto the bottom bracket spindle thereby removing the cranks. Crank pullers are about $15 and last forever. They're well worth the investment!
Check out that grime and pinged steel frame.
Three of the cantilever brakes came right off but on the fourth one of the bushings came loose inside the brake housing and would not slide off the brake post. With no other option, I ground out the bushing with an angle grinder and it slid right off.
After hours of removing grime and slime with a citrus degreaser and a toothbrush, I had a frame and set of components that looked fairly presentable. I'll need to add some components from other bikes and replace some wear parts but I'll be able to salvage many of these parts.
Take a look at that frame! Slightly less gross looking than before.
Before you paint, you might prime. I'm not sanding this frame down to the metal because this is a beater bike and it's not worth the time or effort. Plus I don't want to make this bike look too nice because it'll only make it a hotter target for thieves. Note that you can't skip the cleaning and degreasing step and just prime and paint because the the grease will prevent the paint from bonding to the metal. Along these lines, without primer, the paint won't bond with the frame nearly as well and you won't be pleased with the results. Priming is an easy step that will greatly enhance the final product, even if you're rebuilding a beater bike and aren't too concerned about aesthetics.
Check out this primed frame. Not bad compared to how I found it.
Stay tuned for the rebuilding stage. I'm going to rebuild the bottom bracket and the headset, put a coat of paint on the frame and reassemble and calibrate all the components. Can't wait to take this for a spin!

Manhattan Meadery's Second Vintage

Manhattan Meadery starts its second vintage! We've gotten such a great reception to our first vintage that it's time for another. We've just added another new wine store, Frankly Wines in TriBeCa, and the great media exposure just keeps coming with a new write up in the Village Voice. All this momentum means we're going to run out of our first vintage well before our second is ready for release. But that's a good problem to have!

Our signature dry honey wine is truly a unique product. There's nothing out there like it. It's a dry honey mead made from local New York State artisinal honey that has the same body as wine but an aroma and flavor profile unlike anything you've tasted. Some people think it tastes like heather and wintergreen, others say it's more like spun gold.

The recipe is a secret, but here are some pics. When is the last time you saw a few thousand pounds of honey?
One secret that can be revealed is that we're using raspberry honey for this vintage. Grocery store honey is pretty monotonous and bland, but artisnal honey has flavors that vary drastically. Honey harvested from happy bees will taste different depending on whether they're visiting apple blossoms versus almond blossoms or any other blossom. For the same reason, spring honey will taste different from fall honey because there are different flowers in blossom. Come try a bottle of Brooklyn Buzz for a local, sustainable, all natural product that is unlike any wine you've ever had. Don't forget to thank a honeybee as well, the hardest working domesticated animal on earth. In fact it take about 2.5 million stops of a bee to a flower to make one bottle of our mead.

News Review

A California winemaker seeks to produce more original wines. Why not dispense with convention all together and make wine from things other than grapes? Like honey! One thing I do like is that he's aging in glass carboys, homebrew style.

Although vacuous as usual, this Metro piece on urban gardening is nonetheless interesting. I'm all for putting gardens absolutely everywhere. Nothing could be better for our connection to our food, our land and nature- not to mention thriftiness!

Green Depot! Environmentally safe and sustainable products... and reasonably priced too.

A touching tome on dirt, compost and soil.

The flat earth club takes on global warming! Reason and logic will carry the day, of course.

How to make yogurt! Which is easier than you think.

Neighborhood cruiser bikes are cool at the moment. Didn't you know? My bike was free in the trash. I can't imagine spending that kind of money for a trendy cruiser.

And I have to do a shout-out to my brother who is paddling across America. Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine! Check out his progress here.

Hanging Things on Drywall and Hollow Doors

Hanging pictures on drywall or installing hooks on a hollow door can be tricky. The surface is thin so nails and screws easily pull out, especially when hanging heavy pictures and mirrors. Hanging hooks is even more problematic because they act like levers pulling the screws out of the wall. Like this:
You can use mollies, which are small plastic wedges which insert into a pre-drilled hole. When you insert a screw into these wedges, they expand outward and create a strong grip on the door or drywall. But when you need a very strong hold, a the best option is to use toggle bolts. These specialized bolts have a butterfly bolt which expands outward with the help of a spring. Slide one of these through the wall or door and the wings will open inside on the other side. Once tightened, they provide a lot of holding force because the pressure is applied across a large area. Think about it this way, a screw or nail holds because of friction between the threads and the wood/drywall. If you're hanging something on a door with a 1/8th of an inch thick wood veneer, that's not a lot of friction. A toggle bolt on the other hand grabs on to an inch or more of material on the inside of the door, providing a very strong hold. The toggle bolt I'm using is one of the smaller sizes which fits in a 3/8ths inch hole. Note that I'm only drilling one hole and only using one toggle bolt. One bolt is more than strong enough for this hook, plus if I drilled three 3/8th inch holes so close together, the remaining swiss cheesed veneer would not be strong enough to hold the toggle bolts.
Because the bolt is longer than the door is thick, I need to trim off some of the end of the bolt. Otherwise when I tighten the bolt, the other end will be pushed out the other side of the door. This problem will not arise with a wall because they are thicker than a door.

This is what the hook will look like with the toggle bolt deployed inside the door. That's a lot more holding force than a tiny little screw.
Even though the other two screws already pulled out of the door once, I'm still going to reinstall them with a little solvent based glue (Gorilla Glue). This won't provide much holding power (which the toggle bolt will more than make up for) but it will prevent the hook from rotating on the one strong anchor.

Bottling the 2008 Vintage

This past weekend was so nice, I spent almost an entire day outside making and bottling homemade alcohol. I brewed an awesome batch of blueberry beer and a batch of tasty summer white beer. But I also had about 18 gallons of wine from the 2008 harvest that was waiting to be bottled. Bottling wine is a really enjoyable and satisfying job because when you're done you've turned a big jug of booze into a few cases of neatly encapsulated bottles of wine.
One part of the job that is quite laborious is preparing the bottles. You can always buy new bottles, but used bottles are free and plentifully. I collect bottles from friends and recycle bins for several weeks before I bottle wine. To remove the labels, simply soak them in a garbage can full of water mixed with a cup of ammonia. The next day, scrape off the labels with an old dull knife or a spackle tool. Most labels will fall right off though some plastic labels are stubborn and it's not worth your time to scrape them off. Scrape off the remnants with an abrasive scrubbing pad and then soak the bottles in clean water to remove any residue. Don't forget to dispose of the ammonia water mixture property as ammonia is toxic.

When the bottles have been rinsed, they can be soaked in the sanitation mixture. The stuff I use, called "One-Step", is environmentally safe because it cleans with oxygen. A few minutes in the sanitation mixture and we're ready to fill some bottles. This stuff is so safe, you even do not need to rinse the bottles prior to filling.
To fill the bottles, I have a special filling tool but all you really need is a food safe tube to siphon the wine into the bottles. If you're filling a lot of bottles, the auto filler makes your life a lot easier because it turns off automatically when the bottle is full. No mess and no fussing with fill levels.

A note about sulfites. Many wine drinkers dislike these preservatives because... well... they're preservatives. I still use a small amount of them because they prevent the wine from absorbing oxygen and spoiling. I keep the amounts at a minimum, but some are necessary or the wine will turn brown and taste terrible. Whenever you're transferring wine from one container to another, you should add at least some sulfites. I add about 3 campden tablets to 5-6 gallon carboys of wine during bottling to ensure no oxygen is absorbed and the wine does not spoil.
When the wine is bottled, it's off to the corker. I have a fancy floor corker, but hand held corkers work well and are only like 25 bucks. Soak the corks in the sanitation water which will help them slide into the bottles. Once you cork the bottles, let them stand upright for a day or two which will allow any suspended gases to escape (even if you've degassed the wine). If you put the bottles on their side too soon, escaping gases will force wine out of corks which will make a mess and ruin the bottles.
Making your own labels is one of the best parts of making
your own wine. It lets you put your own stamp on the final product. Plus nothing is better than bringing your own bottle of wine to a party or social gathering and sharing something you created with your friends. Making your own labels is easier than you think.

I like to use pictures I've taken for my labels. You can use pictures of friends and family or places you've been. Or use interesting or goofy pictures you find on the internet. Be creative and witty. It's your label and your wine!

First things first, after you've bottled your wine, be sure to keep different varieties different. All bottles look the same when they're fill of wine but without a label. Another trick I use is to always mark the cork of the last bottle or two from any carboy of wine. The last
bottle is more likely to siphon up lees (dead yeast and other particulates) from the bottom of the carboy. A small amount of lees is fine because it shows that it's a nice hand made bottle of wine. But a lot of crud at the bottom of a bottle is unpleasant and you don't want to give that bottle to a friend. Mark the cork with a sharpie so you know to enjoy that last bottle yourself.

Print out the labels, preferably in color. I print them out in a Microsoft Word template, four labels per page. Heaver stock works better because it wont wrinkle when the glue is applies and it will look more substantial on the bottle. Cut out the labels with scissors.

To apply the labels, mix some white Elmer's or other craft glue with
a little bit of water until the mixture is milky. Apply the glue-water mixture to the back of the label with spade shaped soft bristle artists paint brush. Then apply the label to the bottle and smooth with a terry cloth towel. Let the glue dry for a few hours before stacking the bottles so they don't stick together.

Making your own wine sounds complex, but it's actually a relatively easy hobby, is tremendously rewarding and at $1-$2 a bottle, is super cheap. Plus, if you use high quality grape juice, the results can be incredible. It's too soon to tell how this vintage will turn out, but I've made some wines that are easily comparable to $30-$50 bottles.

It's Time to Brew Summer Beers!

This weekend New York City saw it's first 70 degree days. No doubt there will be a lot more to come. Nothing is better on a hot day than a refreshing summer brew. Rich malty beers are great in the winter but the summer calls for light and crisp beers brewed with herbs and fruits. I decided to make a blueberry beer and a spiced summer white to celebrate the change of seasons.

I began with a grain starter of Maris Otter malted barley which is a great choice for rich malt flavor that has a light color. I had a lady friend of mine buy some knee high pantyhose. I crushed the grains, stuffed them in the pantyhose and steeped them in a pot full of New York City water. When the temperature reached 180 degrees, I removed the grain sack and put the grains in the compost bin. Don't forget to stir frequently to get full extraction of all that malty goodness.
For hops, I used German Tradition for the finishing and Hallertauer hops for aroma hops. These hops are pretty similar but the Tradition hops has higher acidity. They both have a bold floral aroma with a spicy profile. Sounds perfect for a summer beer!
Look at that creamy goodness!
For blueberries, I'm using New Jersey fruit that I bought last summer and froze to store through the winter. By the time I drink this beer, the first blueberries of the season should be at the farmer's market. My frozen berries still have that amazing peak-of-season flavor. Buying "fresh" berries in April basically means that they flew in from South America. Aside from being environmentally unsustainable, out of season berries taste awful. I wouldn't even use them for beer; if something has no flavor of itself, it certainly won't as a part of beer.
For the second batch of beer, I'm using coriander (left) and grains of paradise (right). Coriander, which is actually the seeds of the cilantro herb, adds a distinct lemon flavor. Grains of paradise is a rare African herb which has an intense pine flavor. Put together, these seeds give the beer a true summer taste. (Think of Hoegaarden).
To release the flavor you must be first crush the seeds. Then just dump in the wort after the boil.
The herbs don't present much risk of causing a bacterial infection but the blueberries can contaminate the beer. Wash the blueberries well and then steep them in hot wort to sterilize them. Note that if the blueberries are frozen, they can be dumped right into the wort. If the berries are fresh however, they must be crushed to break the skin of the fruits.

You can add fruit either before fermentation or after fermentation, but if you do it before, the flavor will be well incorporated and smooth. If you do it after, the fruit flavor will stand out and be very distinct from the beer. My theory is that if you add it before fermentation, the yeast will consume the sugar in the berries and so the flavors all mix together. If you add it after fermentation, most of the yeast will have already gone dormant so the fruit sugars and aromatics are locked into the beer. This time I'm going for a beer with hints of blueberry well incorporated into the beer flavor, so I'm adding the berries before fermentation.
Next I need to chill the wort. My wort chiller is a coil of copper tubing through which cold tap water can flow. The heat is transfered from the beer to the water. Cooling the beer quickly promotes clear beer because of a phenomenon known as a "cold break" which impacts how proteins bond to each other in the beer. Also, the less time there is between brewing and adding the yeast, the less chance their is for bacteria to spoil the beer. No matter how careful you are with cleanliness, contamination is always a concern and is almost always the difference between a good homebrew and a bad homebrew.
Then pour the beer into the sanitized fermenters!
The starting gravity for this brew was 1.045. This is a light gravity which means the alcohol in these beers will be low. But with the hops, malt grains, fruit and spices I'm using, they should be some favorable brews! I can't wait for a warm July evening to fire up the grill and enjoy one!

How to Build a Snow Shelter

A month or two ago I wrote about how to build a snow cave type shelter. These shelters can save your life if you're lost in the woods and need to spend the night there. Believe it or not, snow is a great insulator. The shelter also protects you from the wind. It could be minus 30 and blowing outside but inside a snow cave it can be 50 degrees warmer with no wind. If you can't find your way back to base camp in winter, a cave could be the difference between life and death.

Snow shelters are also cozy places to camp in the winter even when you're not in danger. They're fun to build and it means you don't need to carry a tent, which is a great thing when you're carrying lots of other heavy winter gear. But what about springtime when you're not as worried about the cold? And perhaps you have graupel or corn snow which doesn't make for a good shelter? In these situations you can build a pit style snow shelter. All you need is a shovel, tarp, sleeping bag and camping mat.

Choosing a proper site for your shelter is important. A site with trees is helpful because they make good anchors for the shelter and because it means you're not in an avalanche zone. Don't worry about picking a level site as you will shape the snow to make an even sleeping area.
Start by shoveling out an area between two trees that are about 7 to 8 feet apart. Make the shelter about 3 or 4 feet across if it's just for one person or proportionately wider for additional people. If you're on a slope, shovel the snow downhill so that you end up with a small wall that is approximately the same height as the "wall" on uphill side of the shelter.
To make the bottom flat pack it down with your boots. Pack the walls as well so loose snow won't fall on you. Chances are you're making this shelter in the evening on a warm spring day, when the snow is beginning to solidify. As the sun goes down and the temperature drops, the base and walls of the shelter will begin to freeze in place. Once this happens the walls won't crumble down on you and your gear will remain relatively moisture free.

Notice that I suspended a rope between two trees and an avalanche pole between the first tree and a third tree. This "A" shape will support the tarp which you will use as a roof for the shelter.
There are a number of types of tarps. The criteria I look for is a shape that covers the roof and also loops down to lay over the floor. Plastic tarps are water barriers and will prevent moisture from seeping up into your mat and sleeping bag. Assuming you have a thick winter mat and a winter bag, there wont be enough heat radiating into the snow to melt it.

I buried one end of the tarp in the snow on the uphill side of the shelter, looped it over the avalanche pole, over the rope down the downhill side of the shelter and under the sleeping area. I left one sidw open and made sure there was a small opening on the other. This was a very calm night so there was no wind to blow the tarp around. If there is wind, you can lower the profile of the shelter and minimize the gaps so that they will not catch the wind.
Don't forget to carve some shelves for your gear!
When your shelter is finished, you'll be as snug as a bug in a rug!

The First Crop of the Season is Out of the Ground

It's been 19 days since I planted my spring crop of snow peas. The 7-14 days germination time predicted for the Snowbird and Sugar Snap varieties was probably delayed by the chilly weather we've had. But the 70 degrees today and tomorrow will certainly do wonders for these early season veggies. I can almost taste them now!
Another spring early bird are my hop vines. These guys grow voraciously- up to several inches a day in warm weather. It's still pretty chilly here in New York City but my hardy Cascade hops are already a foot tall.
Most of my herbs didn't survive the winter, but the chocolate mint made it. Looks like more homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream this summer!
Stay tuned. It's going to be a busy and exciting next few weeks in the garden!

Spring News Review

This guy is chronicling his gardening adventures, much like I do, though his writing is witty and jocose, somewhat unlike my own. Garbage salad!

Are you dismayed at the riotous living of most Americans? Even in our current austere economy? Take a lesson from the past and read about these folks and their interesting experiences.

Heirloom pigs! Sounds delicious. Most people don't realize the incredible diversity of edible fruits, vegetables and meats that exist on our planet. Why? Because what most people eat is a product of the industrial food system which favors manageability, yield and shibability not flavor, taste or variety. Eating local does a lot of things like support farmers and supports sustainability, but it's also about quality and variety that simply is impossible in the industrial food system.

They used to be called "victory gardens" during WWII, because people would plant gardens to feed themselves so more food could be sent to soldiers to help the war effort. Now people are calling them "recession gardens" as people are growing their own food so they don't have to spend so much money on groceries. Although this is no doubt true, there are multifarious reasons to grow your own food. I'm cheap as a July day is long, but the spiritual and natural connection that growing your own food provides is even more rewarding.

Get to know your farmer! Even if he's growing your flour thousands of miles away! It's impossible to grow everything local, or folks in Vermont wouldn't be eating much bread. For things like cereal grains, this is a great idea because it eliminates the comidification and anonymity found in the industrial food system.

I'm an ardent trash picker. But apparently I've been missing out on flotsam and jetsam. Free boats for the taking!

Environmentally conscious concrete! Sounds like an oxymoron but some new technology makes it possible. Just don't eat it.

Pass the heirloom beans. They are delicious, colorful and they pack a punch. This shows what is possible with hybridization, cross breading and heirloom varieties. Who needs GMOs when nature's own breeding program does such a great job? Sure you don't get glow-in-the-dark tomatoes that don't need as much pesticides, but perhaps we wouldn't need so much pesticides if we didn't plant bug paradise thousand acre monocultures.

Very interesting and well reasoned debate about American car buying habits.

Old school garden. Very old school. Like colonial old school.

Central Park Hunter-Gatherer: Wild Leeks

My past few posts been been about the arrival of spring. The flowers popping out of the ground in Central Park and the snow peas I planted last weekend. It's a time known for rebirth. Days grow longer, the snows melt, plants emerge from the frozen soil, trees grow new buds and the birds and the bees do their thing too. Another way to know that warmer weather is here is that the Central Park Conservancy turns on the drinking fountains, as the threat of frozen pipes has passed.
Early spring is also when the first wild edibles emerge. One of the first of the first is the wild leek, also known as the ramp. Sometimes called onion grass, this wild plant grows in patches of 6-18 inch stalks. The plant will flower in June or July (after the stalks wilt) with a solitary flower stalk with spoke-like tiny flowers. The bulbs are small and have a very strong onion aroma. Both the stalks and the bulbs are edible. If you're not sure if you've identified the plant correctly, break apart a stalk. You'll get a very strong onion aroma.
I grabbed a few stalks but did not dig up any bulbs as I wanted the plan to be able to regenerate and continue growing. I chopped up the stalks and added them to a chicken marinade along with some mead, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. The chicken was delicious! The wild leeks have a very strong flavor that certainly does not get lost in the meal. You can add these wild plants to most any recipe, substituting for scallions, leeks or onions. They're great in soups.
People always wryly observe "oh that sounds safe" when I mention that I eat wild plants from Central Park, right in the middle of New York City. But it's really not that big a deal. I've made some delicious blackberry jam, hard cider from Central Park apples as well as apple jam. But there's a lot more to be eaten, if you just know where to look.

Many people are totally disconnected from the origins of the food they eat. Not only do they eat processed food that bears no resemblance to it's natural antecedents, but they probably don't even appreciate an apple and what it took to grow it and get it to them. Starting a garden and growing your own food is a way to reconnect with the natural source of all the food we eat. But we shouldn't forget that cultivated crops are only wild plants that have been domesticated and bred to produce food for us. We are surrounded by the wild cousins of domesticated crops. Buy a guide to wild edible plants and see what you can find to eat growing wild in a park or forest near you. You'll truly appreciate the food you eat and will feel a strong bond to the natural world around you. Plus, it's free!