Dandelions: Friend or Foe?
The beginning of Spring is signaled by the appearance of the dreaded yellow flowers. The dandelion is the arch enemy of golf courses around the world. Each flower boasts hundreds of seeds and the roots grow deep and are difficult to pull. If any part of the root is left, the plant will grow back.
You would not believe my disbelief and disdain as I looked out over the beautiful green yard of my newly purchased home to see an over abundance of little yellow flowers. I thought, 'you've got to be kidding'. There's got to be something I can do with this instead of trying to eradicate them, maybe we can use them somehow. I need to take a fresh look at this from a different point of view.
- Tom!
I had just been reading an interesting article about a symbol for happiness by a life coach. She wrote we should carry a symbol with us that reminded us of a true happy moment and whenever we looked at it we should stop for a short while and think about what it represented.
- Tom! Did you hear me?
My wife’s tone made me sigh, put the newspaper away and rise.
- Ok, ok, I’ll go.
I opened the front door and saw our next door neighbor, Mrs Fitzpatrick, sitting on her porch. She had a cast on her leg. I saw her watching the lawn and tapping her chin with her finger.
The lawn. That was what had made my wife to push me through the door.
- Just look at it! All those weeds! She can’t mow it herself. You go out now and do what a good neighbor should!
And so I had come to mow her lawn on this beautiful Saturday morning.
- Ah, Tom! she waved at me and smiled broadly, - Good to see you! Here, come sit with me for a while.
I got to her porch and sat on a bench.
- Beautiful morning! she beamed at me.
- Err, yes, it sure is, I said. I hadn’t expected her to be this cheerful with a broken leg and all.
- Just looking at my lawn, she said.
- Oh yes, the lawn. Well I came here to...
- Isn’t it just beautiful! she interrupted me.
I shut my mouth. I looked around. Weeds, dandelions... Not at all the velvety green lawn like everyone else’s in the neighborhood.
- Beautiful...?
- Just look at those dandelions!
I did just that. Saw the lawn positively overtaken by them. They should be dug up with their roots and soon. I sure hoped my wife did not think I would do that too. Mowing the lawn would have to do for today.
- Now dandelion sure is a symbol for happiness! she smiled.
- I’m not sure I follow... I stammered, - A dandelion as a symbol for happiness?
- Look at that bright beautiful yellow color! If that isn’t a happy cheerful color, I don’t know what is! And it spreads just like happiness.
She laughed at my expression.
- I know, you think I´m batty. But just think about it! If you are really happy, you do good things that bring joy to the people around you. And once they get happy, they do the same. And so the happiness spreads. Just like a dandelion. It blooms, sharing its shiny sunny color with everyone and sends its seeds into the wind - and before you know it, you have a hundred copies of the sunny little flower around you.
- But it is a weed... I tried.
- A weed, that’s funny. I’ve been sitting here for a while now, watching everyone work on their garden. And I mean work. It doesn’t look very joyful - just working to make you lawn look short and thick and green. You know I never see any of the neighbors sit and just look at their beautiful lawn. They just work on it and don’t enjoy it.
Well she sure got that one right. I never heard anyone talk about their lawn unless it was to complain how much work it was.
- Everyone seems to be complaining about how stressful life is, she said.
And then she said the thing I wrote down once I got home. I still write it on the first page of all my calendars when the New Year begins, and glue a little picture of a dandelion next to it.
- What a bad day, they say. And I look at the dandelions and see a thousand little suns.
I've heard so much of the benefits of consuming dandelions, but have never actually tried them myself. I decided I wanted to learn more about the preparation and benefits.
To my surprise all of the plant and root is edible and serves a medicinal purpose.
Take a look at the following articles for more information and recipes...
image from inspirational-short-stories.com
Symbol for Happiness
From inspirational-short-stories.com
I had just been reading an interesting article about a symbol for happiness by a life coach. She wrote we should carry a symbol with us that reminded us of a true happy moment and whenever we looked at it we should stop for a short while and think about what it represented.
- Tom! Did you hear me?
My wife’s tone made me sigh, put the newspaper away and rise.
- Ok, ok, I’ll go.
I opened the front door and saw our next door neighbor, Mrs Fitzpatrick, sitting on her porch. She had a cast on her leg. I saw her watching the lawn and tapping her chin with her finger.
The lawn. That was what had made my wife to push me through the door.
- Just look at it! All those weeds! She can’t mow it herself. You go out now and do what a good neighbor should!
And so I had come to mow her lawn on this beautiful Saturday morning.
- Ah, Tom! she waved at me and smiled broadly, - Good to see you! Here, come sit with me for a while.
I got to her porch and sat on a bench.
- Beautiful morning! she beamed at me.
- Err, yes, it sure is, I said. I hadn’t expected her to be this cheerful with a broken leg and all.
- Just looking at my lawn, she said.
- Oh yes, the lawn. Well I came here to...
- Isn’t it just beautiful! she interrupted me.
I shut my mouth. I looked around. Weeds, dandelions... Not at all the velvety green lawn like everyone else’s in the neighborhood.
- Beautiful...?
- Just look at those dandelions!
I did just that. Saw the lawn positively overtaken by them. They should be dug up with their roots and soon. I sure hoped my wife did not think I would do that too. Mowing the lawn would have to do for today.
- Now dandelion sure is a symbol for happiness! she smiled.
- I’m not sure I follow... I stammered, - A dandelion as a symbol for happiness?
- Look at that bright beautiful yellow color! If that isn’t a happy cheerful color, I don’t know what is! And it spreads just like happiness.
She laughed at my expression.
- I know, you think I´m batty. But just think about it! If you are really happy, you do good things that bring joy to the people around you. And once they get happy, they do the same. And so the happiness spreads. Just like a dandelion. It blooms, sharing its shiny sunny color with everyone and sends its seeds into the wind - and before you know it, you have a hundred copies of the sunny little flower around you.
- But it is a weed... I tried.
- A weed, that’s funny. I’ve been sitting here for a while now, watching everyone work on their garden. And I mean work. It doesn’t look very joyful - just working to make you lawn look short and thick and green. You know I never see any of the neighbors sit and just look at their beautiful lawn. They just work on it and don’t enjoy it.
Well she sure got that one right. I never heard anyone talk about their lawn unless it was to complain how much work it was.
- Everyone seems to be complaining about how stressful life is, she said.
And then she said the thing I wrote down once I got home. I still write it on the first page of all my calendars when the New Year begins, and glue a little picture of a dandelion next to it.
- What a bad day, they say. And I look at the dandelions and see a thousand little suns.
Make a wish!
image from: 2p9.com
To my surprise all of the plant and root is edible and serves a medicinal purpose.
Take a look at the following articles for more information and recipes...
What a great article! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete