NOT SO DANDY LION

Spotting a dandelion taking up residence in his lush green carpet was a personal insult to my dad. Taking great pride in his lawn, he hunted down those lawn lions with a vengeance. Little did we know back then that this nuisance of a weed could in any way be beneficial.

My rabbits are little fertilizer factories for my garden. Several years ago I read that dandelion leaves are a superb food source for them. Having a lawn of more weeds than grass, strangely I had no dandelions, not a one. So what's a good bunny mama to do? I transplanted one from the wild into my orchard. There it stood, one lonely little dandelion flower, but not for long.

That was four years ago. Since then they've multiplied, well, like rabbits, and now I literally have dandelions growing on top of dandelions. Will my bunnies eat them? Only a little nibble here or there. They're really not all that crazy about them. Someone must have told them that they're good for them.




Since we don't use poisons on our grounds and with all this abundance, I'm thinking I should try dining on this tooth leaved plant. It's actually a vegetable that's often used in traditional Mediterranean and Asian diets. With health claims of being good for the liver, kidneys, and gall bladder, how could I go wrong? It also has anti-inflammatory properties, is a natural diuretic and digestive aid, is rich in potassium and lecithin, along with vitamins A, B, C and D. Dandelions are also used as folk remedies for warts and age spots. Like, who knew?

This underrated plant hugs the ground and has a tap root that seems to go all the way to China. The leaves are most tender in early spring and to avoid bitterness should be harvested before the fist flower buds appear. Due to that low growth habit they must be washed and rewashed thoroughly to remove all sand and dirt particles that like to cling to the ridges in the leaves.

Let's see, what if I combine some of those tender leaves with a chopped apple, some walnuts, a hit of goat cheese all topped with some honey-mustard dressing. Sorry, dad, I'm thinking these dandelions could be mighty dandy.

photography by Gaetan Lee and Warren Brown