Ah the ramp, the stuff of poets, the holy grail of spring in West Virginia and the only foodstuff in US Postal Service History to almost cause a man to serve prison time.
I don't know how many of you are familiar with a publication that gained some notoriety and fame in the 60's,70's and early 80's by the name of "The Hillbilly". It contained a lot of West Virginia history, folklore, and good old storytellin' and editorial commentary. The editor was a typical crusty curmudgeon editor type by the name of Jim Comstock, with some pretty pithy commentary and wry wisdom. The paper was published in the forementioned ramp festival headquarters, Richwood West Virginia.
Jim was one who wrote of the delights of the ramp, praised it's grace and beauty and it's odorifous inner being. He was so enamoured of it, he decided to share it's attributes to the world at large. In a stroke of genius(?), he had some chemist friends devolop an elixir bearing the very same purity and goodness of the ramp.............and dumped it all in the printing ink of that week's issue of the Hillbilly. He was a bit taken aback when the FBI, ATFm and Postmaster General's office showe up at his door later that week, bearing every kind of search warrant possible, but was later relieved that the 2 million plus papers he sent out did not cause him to serve prison time for "smellifying" the US Postal Service.
And as far as the lingering perfume of the ramson, there is a very easy cure for it, but I'd have to kill you if I told you.........
