LaeLae.com
Connect with Lae Lae!
  • Home
    • benefits of the Lae Lae collection
  • Awards
    • 2nd Book Excellence Award
    • AT THE BEACH Wins!
  • Lae Lae's Blog
    • Zoe's Blog
  • Books 1
    • Books 2
    • New Year - New Book
    • More Products
    • Coloring Pages
  • Testimonials
    • Acknowledgements
  • The Author
    • Learn about Lae Lae and Poco
  • Buy Now

The Dandy Dandelion

9/24/2021

0 Comments

 
When I was a little girl, I used to love to make dandelion crowns in the summer when I played "dress up".  I loved the cheery little yellow blooms.  Much as my parents thought they were pests and weeds in our yard, I loved them.  They were happy and  bright and they popped up everywhere.
As an adult, my appreciation of dandelions has grown tremendously as I realize all that dandelions give us.  Blooming in April and May, they provide early sources of much needed pollen for honeybees, ladybugs and many other beneficial insects beginnings to lay their eggs.  In addition to being a support for other insects and pollinators, dandelions are a green, growing medicine for us, - more nutritious han most vegetables in our gardens.  
Picture
Dandelions have been used as a food and medicinal plants for millennia.  The word comes from the Greek and then French "dent de lion" or lion's teeth because of the dandelion's deeply cut tooth like leaves.  Young dandelion leaves can be used in a salad and the buds can be fried or baked to taste like a mushroom.  Dandelions have more vitamin A than spinach and more vitamin C than tomatoes.  They are also a powerhouse of iron, calcium and potassium.  If, however, you are planning to forage and eat them,  sample small amounts at first to test for allergies.  Other than perhaps a stomach distress, dandelions are not a poisonous edible and have no poisonous look alike.

Boiled dandelions were used by Native Americans to treat a variety of illnesses including kidney disease, swelling and inflammation, skin problems, heartburn and upset stomach.  The Chinese and Europeans also used dandelions to treat a variety of illnesses and infections.  Dandelions are survivors, growing in harsh locations, requiring little and spreading deep and resilient roots.  They are fast growers....with plenty of sun they go from bud to seed in days and they are now in cultivation in many places for their culinary and medicinal use..  

And dandelions are just fun!  Children love to pick them and wear them.  Also, when they develop to a puffball they are fun to blow to scatter the hardy little seeds to begin anew.  Catch a flying dandelion seed and you make a wish..  

So here's to the lowly but important dandelion! Thank you for your gifts!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed

    Submit