Weeds

At least the forsythia lights up the window on another grey, gloomy spring afternoon. We continue to break monthly rainfall records in Seattle.  Now March has fallen by the wayside.  But the sun is trying its hardest, and came out for a few minutes when I was weeding this weekend.  It felt downright hot through my lumpy layers of black fleece. 

Oh, good. I see today is Weed Appreciation Day.  A weed, of course, is just a plant that is not in a place you want it to be.  That includes edible, medicinal, herbal plants, and flowers, like the dandelion. In the past, the dandelion was considered a folk medicine cure-all. Used in soups or tinctures or made into wine, dandelion was thought to be a blood cleanser, good for the liver and the kidneys and rejuvenating as a spring tonic.  And best of all it was free, like ramps, wild onions, nettles and sorrel.

We always had dandelion salad on the farm in the spring. The first greens of any kind were a big deal. In those ancient times when I was a child, you couldn't just go to the A&P and buy lettuce all winter long.  I have a distinct memory of watching mom digging little sprouting dandelions out by the root with an old paring knife. You ate the plants very early in the spring while they were still small and tender, so filling and washing a family-sized colander was quite a bit of work.

The Germans and Pennsylvania Dutch always made dandelion salad with a warm, creamy, gooey bacon dressing.  You can still find recipes on the Internet that would be good with any chewy green,  like endive or kale.  I can't remember what we ate "with" dandelion salad, other than dessert, which was always on the table.  Like many farm meals, whatever was in season was always the star attraction.