Eating Dandelions: Harvesting, Cleaning, and Cooking

Native to Eurasia, this humble member of the aster family (Taraxacum officinale) has traveled far and wide. Cultures around the world have used every part of the dandelion as both nutritious food and powerful medicine.
One of the plant’s common nicknames in French—pissenlit (pee-the-bed)—attests to dandelion’s use in traditional healing cultures as a valuable diuretic agent (rich in potassium).

Harvesting Dandelions

The trick to enjoying dandelion greens? Harvest them young with their underground crowns attached and clean them well. Choose a spot that hasn’t been sprayed or fertilized with agricultural chemicals or frequented by pets.
Harvest the spiky greens and their pale belowground crowns (which taste like artichoke hearts) as soon as you detect the tiny spiked leaves poking forth. Harvest the greens until the blossoms open (the unopened buds are yummy), after which the leaves become too bitter for most palates.
Angle your “weeding fork” down about an inch into the soil below the rosette of 3- to 6-inch greens, and sever the crown where it joins the root. Then pull the entire rosette from the ground. Shake it free of dirt and remove as many of last year’s slimy leaves as possible.

Cleaning Dandelions

Pay rigorous attention to cleaning the grit and debris from inside the tightly formed crown. Swish the greens around in a deep pan through several changes of water. Then cut open the crowns without severing the leaves and scrape debris from each rosette before submerging the greens for a final rinse.

Cooking with Dandelions

Although I add the tiniest dandelion greens to fresh salads, I like them best cooked with a couple of onions. I sauté chopped onions (and maybe a little garlic) in a bit of olive oil until they become translucent, then add the greens with a little rinse water clinging to them and steam until the greens are soft.
I also add dandelions to a spring-tonic soup that could include young nettles, parsley, spinach, kale, and chard cooked in well-seasoned chicken broth.
Also, a strong tea of dandelion blossoms used as a hair rinse adds shine and highlights to blond hair.
See recipes for dandelion wine, dandelion jelly, and more.

In the Garden

The deep perennial taproots forage minerals and make them available for shallower-rooted crops. (Don’t let too many get started, though, and pull the blossoms off in the vegetable garden.)
In a lawn or field, the bright yellow flowers attract pollinators to the spring garden and provide an important early nectar source for many butterflies.
NOTE: Make sure that you can identify dandelions with certainty before you harvest them. If you’ve never eaten dandelions, prepare and eat a small amount before you begin harvesting in earnest. Never harvest dandelions from areas that have been treated with pesticides or other chemicals, such as a lawn.

St.Lukes Indian Summer~Tidbit Of The Month

http://www.almanac.com/fact/st-lukes-little-summer-lovely-summerlike-days-saint
Lovely, summer like days that occur around October 18 are called Saint Luke’s Little Summer in honor of the saint’s feast day. Around this time, Saint Luke’s feast day, there is a period brief period of calm, dry weather. Of course, it’s difficult to generalize today across the vast continent of North America, but the temperature is usually mild and the leaf colors are turning a gorgeous color. It’s a good time for a brief vacation or visit to a park. In Venice, Italy, they say: “San Luca, El ton va te la zuca” (Pumpkins go stale on St Luke’s Day), but here in North America, pumpkins are enjoying their finest hour. Saint Luke is the patron saint of physicians and surgeons so it seems only fitting that the good doctor give us these calm days. In olden days, St. Luke’s Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John’s Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so it was to keep from being forgotten that St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

Painted Garden Rocks

Learn to make these adorable ladybug painted rocks. use special outdoor paint for this adorable garden craft so you can keep garden ladybugs…

Ingredients

Patio Paint in colors of your choice (I used Larkspur Blue, Petunia Purple, Fiesta Yellow, Fuchsia, Citrus Green and Salmon)
Smooth rocks, preferably oval or round in shape
Paintbrush
Toothpick
Outdoor sealer or Patio Paint Clear Coat

LadyBug Directions

Ladybugs are the one crawly creature most kids find fun, cute and friendly. Any child will feel the same wearing this simple, comfortable costume.

Materials Needed:

2 pieces (12 x 18 inches) stiff red felt
1 piece (12 x 18 inches) black felt
2 hook-and-loop stick-on buttons
2 large black chenille pipe cleaners
1 regular black pipe cleaner
1 square (12 inches) stick-on black felt
1 black headband
1 black turtleneck top
1 pair black leggings

Step 1

To make the ladybug's wings, draw a semicircle on each piece of stiff red felt. You can attach a 12-inch piece of string to a pencil and, holding the string end midway on the 18-inch side of the felt, draw a semicircle by swinging the pencil in an arc. Curve the top of each wing as shown at right.

Step 2

To make the yoke, fold the black felt piece in half lengthwise. At the center of the folded edge, cut a 5-inch, curved neck opening. Curve the outer edges of the yoke and cut the center open as shown in the photo.

Step 3

Attach the top of the wings to the back of the yoke with glue or needle and thread. Add hook-and-loop buttons to either side of the yoke opening. Sew or glue the large chenille pipe cleaners to the outside joints between the yoke and the wings: these are the bug's extra legs.

Step 4

Use a glass to trace 7 black dots on the stick-on black felt. Cut out the dots and stick them to the ladybug wings as shown in the photo.

Step 5

Glue the center of the regular black pipe cleaner to the center of the headband. Reinforce it with a strip of black stick-on felt. Curl ends of pipe cleaner to complete the antennae.

Step 6

Dress the child in the black turtleneck, leggings, wings with yoke and headband.

The Land Of LadyBug Heaven

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