I think it's Skunk Cabbage

I think this plant growing down by the stream must be Skunk Cabbage - Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) to be exact.  It has a pungent smell and grows in soft wetland soil from Quebec down to the Carolinas in the early spring.  Unfortunately it doesn't look like I can bring any home to put in the salad because the roots are toxic and the leaves will burn your mouth.  But the plant does have medicinal properties used to treat respiratory problems, nervous disorders, etc.  Native Americans dried it and used it as a seasoning and a magical talisman.

Skunk cabbage is quite an interesting plant ecologically - it can warm the frozen ground (thermogenesis) enough so that it can start growing, and thus start a whole string of pollinations and other events that mark the beginning of spring.; Wikipedia entry is here.

Meanwhile the budding continues.  The brown woodlands are getting greener, especially the lower bushes.

John says that the soft wooded trees bud sooner than the hard woods.  I see some action on the ends of the bigger trees, though ...

I'm still watching the old leaves, wondering when the new growth will push them off ...