A Quest to find the Perfect Dandelion
Why does everybody hate dandelions? We loved them when we were children! I suspect many of us still do. I remember blowing the wispy seed heads, and my delight in watching them float away on the wind. I also remember mortified adults yelling, "Don't do that!" - terrified of finding their neatly manicured lawns filled with dandelions. I grew them in my garden once, on purpose. My doctor told me that they have more iron than spinach, which is great for treating anemia. The wild ones are much healthier for you than the hybridized, store bought variety. Eat the small leaves, before they get big, tough and bitter. Dandelions were brought to North America as food and medicine, on the Mayflower. Harvest the roots to make a coffee substitute. Collect the flowers and make Dandelion Wine! Put down the Roundup®, and eat your weeds! I am on a quest to photograph the perfect dandelion flower. I keep trying to photograph them by the sides of busy streets, or in otherwise well manicured lawns. I found a group of them, all fat and plump, but I didn't have my camera with me. When I went back the next day, I found that a hungry bug had munched off almost all of the pretty little "curlicues" on the flower that made it so intriguing to me. It was sad and dilapidated. Now, I keep a camera with me at all times, just in case I find the perfect dandelion, at it's peak, before the insects find it!
