Dandelions

I’ve never understood why anyone would revile a bright yellow flower, like a sunburst shining up smiling from the ground! Whose tap root goes deep enough to aerate the soil; who is tough enough to brave cold and spring frost to bring much-needed vitamins to those same ungrateful folks!

Get you outside and somewhere you will find a dandelion – probably as yet unpoisoned. Cut the leaves close to the earth with kitchen shears – bring it inside and wash in a bowl with several waters with a touch of vinegar added.

Do you like to blender or to munch? Yesterday I blendered mine with some cold herbal ‘rejuve’ tea and a spoonful of apple cider vinegar and some water, and drank it down! Ahhhh!! Great! It right away gave me so much energy – so sparkly and fresh and vital – that I was able and almost happy to sit down at the computer I’d been unwilling to face minutes before.

Sometimes I put dandelion greens in a salad, where it adds pleasing bitterness and that wallop of energy to tired lettuces who usually flop down on the table complaining of their long journey by truck and boxcar… it is delicious! But don’t let it lie too long after you have cut it – every moment diminishes its gift – and every moment closer to the ground it is, is a benefit to your winter-fed-up bones, skin, muscles, chi.

And it’s free!