Eating Our Dandelions
As I mentioned yesterday, our garden isn’t exactly anything to write home about yet. We’ve been in our new house for three weeks, so our tallest seedlings are about three inches high. We have lots of them, but they are quite small. I find myself filled with chard envy when I visit Sheri’s blog. And unfortunately I’ve purchased quite a few bunches of kale and chard in the last few weeks. We have a farmers’ market here, and there’s a lady who grows all sorts of organic produce about a mile from our house. We visit her stall at the market each week, and it will tide us over nicely until our own garden dreams are realized.
But I still hate to pay for my greens. We’ve been making green smoothies for about 18 months. For about the last 14 months, we’ve grown all of our own greens – even through the winter months when we grew them in our hydroponic garden. Going back to paying $3/bunch for organic kale is a killer, especially when you go through 7 – 10 bunches a week.
So we’re eating the dandelions from our yard. Given the state of this place, I am confident that no herbicides were ever used anywhere on our property. The weeds are impressive, and we’re still in the middle of our battles with them. At first I didn’t think we had dandelions, but I’ve since discovered a few clumps here and there. I’ve been cropping them, washing them well, and blending them up in our smoothies. Dandelions are a little bitter, and not
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I find dandelions are a little better when cooked or sauteed – tends to reduce the bitterness a bit.
Chard envy…ha! I am filled with backyard envy when I see that great piece of land you have! It is bursting with potential. I’m betting that you will create an amazing little homestead there.
I’ve been happily reading you regularly but not commenting (never seem to have two free hands to type), but I wanted to say that I am so glad the move went well and that you got your dog back.
Happy homesteading!
Sheri
wow – eating dandelions – I’ve never tried that before… how do you eat them?
Have you had your soil tested for lead? We don’t grow too much in our yard but I am still dreading getting ours tested after hearing about someone who had their soil tested and it was bad. Bad as in, “you might grow another head if you eat that food,” bad. Something to think about. We are in the position where we could move exclusively to raised beds if it turns out the levels are high. Cities neighborhoods can be bad for lead but so can country ones if there is runoff that you are not aware of.
Scantee,
No we haven’t, and we don’t plan to. We’re making raised beds, and all of our veggies will be grown in them. We’ll be purchasing organic compost this week to add to the beds, and that’s as good as it will get. There are only so many things I can worry about
Geat idea! I’ve been nibbling on the dandelions and violets growing wild in my yard in salads. Not sure how I didn’t think of adding them to smoothies!
Babe, since you’re going through so many greens, have you thought about making a deal with the farmers market vendor? I’m guessing that you could pay less for these in bulk than you are bunch by bunch…and the vendor would appreciate knowing they already have a certain amount of produce pre-sold.
Hey Frugal Babe…
How did you become so handy? Where did you learn? We just bought a house and I’m not very handy but would like to become more handy… and ideas… =)
Thanks
m-
Cindy – I had wondered about that, but it will only be a month or so before we will be harvesting our own greens, so our relationship with the farmers’ market lady isn’t likely to be a long one (hopefully!) And I’ve only been buying 3 or 4 bunches a week from her, and using free dandelions from our yard the rest of the time.
M – Thanks! I don’t tend to think of myself as all that handy, but maybe that’s because I’m comparing myself with my siblings and parents, who are quite a bit handier. In general, I think I (together with my husband) figure out how to do things because I’m way too cheap to pay someone else to do them for me. There are instructions online and videos on YouTube that explain how to do pretty much any task you can think of. We rely on google A LOT! Start with the small stuff… find a little project that seems do-able, and get it done. I find that when I accomplish one task, I’m more confident and motivated to get to the next one. Don’t tackle a really daunting task until you’ve built up some confidence and skills with the smaller tasks. Good luck, and enjoy your new home!
Dandelions….never tried those. Are there actual recipes for dandelions?
My father made the best – BEST – dandelion blossom wine! it sat under our cellar steps for years,.. i barely remember him making it and he brought it out when my siblings and i were old enough to imbibe! What a wonderful memory. i smile everytime i see a blossom or dirve past a field of them.
Justin,
Absolutely, there are recipes for cooking with dandelions. You can buy them in places like Whole Foods, but I prefer the local/free one from our yard
I’ve always wanted to try that since I saw a (Food Network?) show about it. Way to be resourceful!
Since you’re into dandelions, you should try purslane another common weed. They cultivate it in India.