Dandelions

Dandelions seem to be the most hated, poisoned, vigorously hunted and destroyed "weed" on the planet. Or, so it seems to me. We happen to be one of the only houses on our block that does not hire a lawn service to decimate any trace of weed activity in our "lawn". I have to use the word lawn loosely. It's mostly weeds of all kinds, dandelions of course, and a mix of crazy grasses. This time of year, we stick out like a sore thumb. The yellow blossoms usually tend to die down a little bit after the first wave of spring wears off, but we have quite the yellow carpet.

Last year, it was bad enough that I watched my neighbor, who I really like and have a decent relationship with, dig out all the dandelions in his front yard by hand. OK, fine. He stops me a few days later and says something about spraying our lawn, and how he knows that I'm against toxic chemicals, BUT....Well, yeah, I AM against it. I have a daughter who I love dearly, and I grow food on this land. Seems really counter intuitive to poison my food supply and poison the ground my kid plays on. Now, that being said, he has two little girls, and grows food in HIS yard, but it doesn't scare him. At any rate, he told me that it took him 3 hours to dig out the dandelions in his lawn. I didn't really even understand what he was trying to say initially. I was so out of it on this front, I laughed and said "Yeah, I saw that and thought you were crazy". When the real truth he was speaking was that he spent that time digging MY dandelions out of his yard. He went so far as to ask me if it'd be OK for him to spray my front lawn. I conceded and said as long as he restricted it to the front lawn and mostly whatever he felt was a deterrent to HIS manicured yard. I never thought he'd do it, but one day, while coming back from dropping Sophia off at school, I saw him in my yard with his sprayer!!!

So, of course, this being our 6th year in the house, and the 6th year of our grass not being treated, (we bought it when it had been sprayed consistently) we have a MASS of dandelions. Worse than I'd have ever thought, considering that it's just what we generate here, since everyone else is pouring poison on their grass.

Well, this morning, Mr. O had to finally mow the yard, and in turn, mow down all the dandelions. Sophia started to cry. She couldn't stop, and I asked her what was wrong and she said that it was breaking her heart that he was taking away all the dandelions.

Every year, when she sees that first puff of yellow, her heart soars and she shouts "Mama!!! I have a present for you!!!" She gleefully yanks it out of the ground and hands it to me with a smile that could light up a room. Some days she'll run in the house with a fist full; a grand bouquet for me to display for the short hours until they wither into a revolting blob of dead weeds. Each year I explain that no one wants her to pick the dried out ones that have gone to seed; no one wants her to blow the seeds off and scatter them far and wide, and yet, the joy she experiences from it, the innocent wonder of something that can transform itself the way dandelions do, it's priceless. Who doesn't remember the sheer fun of picking dandelions? We used to pick them and sing a little ditty "Mama had a baby and it's head popped off", while popping and flinging the flower cap off with a quick flick of the thumb. I think dandelions are synonymous with childhood.

Aside from the fun they bring to children, it would behoove me to gather and EAT our dandelion greens. We have plenty in the yard. I could have been eating dandelion salad for days and days. I hear the nutritional benefit is huge. They are high in vitamin A, provide 188% of the RDA for vitamin K, as well as being a good source of calcium and iron too.

Well, I did give Mr. O the OK to "do something" about the weeds, and hopefully that will be mostly in the front yard, since our baby girl and her friends play in that "grass" and mud and mess in the back yard, and I REALLY don't want to put poison in our food.....I'm conflicted. I LOVE where we live and it's a lovely place to look at, but I hate the peer pressure to conform. I love lush lawns as much as the next guy, but I love my beautiful yellow bouquets more.