Dandelion: An Unlikely Teacher
I grew up like most other kids and even acquired a common view of a great many things, to include my views on plants. Jump forward in time and here I am fuming over how I would win the battle against the great nemesis of a nice lawn… the dandelion. My girlfriend and I strategized about how we could best attack our enemy, finally settling on a plan to match the persistence of the dandelion’s growth with our own persistence to eliminate a battalion of the insurgents everyday! We successfully prevented them from taking over the area immediately around our home, but we proved unable to defeat them on the rest of our acreage.
As an Army Veteran, I heard the Warrior Ethos growing louder in my mind…especially the second one, “I will never accept defeat” – in the voice of my Basic Training Drill Sergeant. As my military indoctrination drove me to almost grab a gardening knife and charge out into the yard to uproot this powerful foe, one by one, I had a strange thought. “Why do I think dandelions are bad?”
Nature rarely, if ever, creates something that is not beneficial to itself. Off to the Google machine I went, looking for what exactly this “weed” is and what it does. The first results all directed me to lawn care service businesses with promises of the perfect method to use chemical warfare against this enemy. However, a few pages in were websites that discussed the benefits of dandelions. I was shocked from what I learned…
Who knew you could eat these things!
You can make jelly from dandelions!?
Dandelion tea is a thing!?
The native Americans used dandelion to treat upset stomach!?
With the simple act of going to the next google results page, I found information about the numerous health benefits of dandelions.
It was at this point that I wondered why, just one hour earlier, I was hell bent on finding the best way to eradicate this plant from my property. With my new cursory education on dandelions, I noticed that I stopped calling them a weed. As if the spirits of our homesteading ancestors jumped into our bodies, my girlfriend and I now started talking about when and how to best harvest them…and what to use them for.
In a true example of irony, it took defeat for me to take a second look at my adversary to realize that this plant has unbelievable uses! This abundant spring-time flower, taught us to reevaluate our thoughts on nature, waste, nuisance, abundance, and benefit.
This, is homesteading… where you learn to live in concert with nature.
