Dandelion

There’s an incredible amount of dandelions this year.  And I can’t deny their charm, as their happy yellow blooms dot the landscape–a prelude to my daughter’s romp through their seeding masses, almost colloidal as they hang in the air.

Yet a part of me cringes as I watch countless potential dandelion progeny drift throughout my yard.  I’m conflicted.  Do I despise them as a blight, or tolerate them for their aesthetic/medicinal value?

Like all exotics, they’re unstoppable

I considered buying an herbicide, and I admit, I use Roundup.  But despite the dandelion’s invasiveness, I’m opposed to fighting nature with such overkill tactics.  History has proven that such measures always yield unforeseen, and undesirable, consequences.  So I began removing them manually.

What is this, Chinese steel?

But the weeding tool proved inadequate.

And so I debated.

Many times have I learned that fighting the natural world results in only temporary victories, that instead I should either appease or compromise.  Such was it that I’ve preserved many a garden crop by planting instead tastier alternatives for the neighborhood rabbits.  So why should I dwell on the humble dandelion?

Nay, I shall harvest this plant.  I will use this formerly unwanted bumper crop to instead experiment with salad and tea.  Stay tuned!

–Simon

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