The Downtrodden Dandelion
As it is rather the first plant that comes to mind when someone says the word 'weed' and as it has probably been given to more Moms on Mother's Day than any other flower, this seems as good a time as any to invite you to look at your Dandelions in a different light.
In classes and lectures I have given, the Dandelion is very often the last actual recollection people have of some elderly relative going out and gathering wild plants to feed to the family. If this is our thread, it's a good strong one. In the logical stream of things, what makes more sense - that Dandelions are here just to plague our 'perfect' lawns? Or that they are here to feed us, help our poor overworked livers, that they're gladly doing it with no help needed from us and best of all, they're absolutely FREE. This makes sense to me.
I snuffled through a LARGE number of Dandelion sites, rolling my eyes over the HUNDREDS that tell you in detail how to nuke 'em, obliterate them, annihiliate them (usually ending in the whimpering statement that none of the above is terrifically effective) and then the next one is just a celebration of the wonders and virtues of Dandelions.
Now this is all fine and good, and probably every one of you reading this can most likely look out some window and spot one, but what do we DO with them? What were those elderly relatives doing with them? They were gathering the tender spring leaves before the flowers appear. Perhaps none of them could have recited the exact chemical constituents or could have spoken with any authority on the splendid effect this plant has on your liver. They most likely would have said with raised eyebrows and a shrug of shoulders "It's a spring tonic. My mother/father always gathered them and their parents before that." That used to be a good enough answer.
This is what I find so comical about our 'advanced' society here. We doubt, we analyze, we study. We tear things apart and have to PROVE that they do something or other. And you know where we wind up? Right back where we started, with Grandma and her bag of greens and that old paring knife, shaking her head and heading back to the kitchen. She knew.......we'll catch up.
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