The snippet that is this post’s title? A Bartholomew Gill character speaking of fishing in Death On a Cold, Wild River. While I don’t find fishing to be “doubt’s anodyne and care’s surcease,” I do find some comfort in the volunteers of Spring to combat the barbaric nature of contemporary “civilization”. Notably,
Oh, I very much appreciate the delicious mint and wild garlic and even the “possum grapes” that thrust themselves to prominence in Spring, but the dandelion, one of God’s most beautiful flowers, delicious and nutritious, useful in all its parts*, is my favorite.
So, while wearing two knee braces on the same knee *heh* this a.m. (after dealing with some folks’ computer issues), I took a bucket out to sit on while “weeding” and gathered some mint and wild garlic and–for now–just appreciated my lovely crop of dandelions.
Our local cable service tech was out at our Good Neighbors’ place, and we exchanged uses for the dandelion. He told me of grandkids coming over and asking for “yard food”–he and his wife also harvest “volunteer crops” from their yard, and that gave me a foreshadowing of feeds for future grandkids of our own.
A nice lil interlude in the day.
*
Oh, “useful in all its parts”? Yep. Leaves, of course, make a good sub for any cooked greens. The flower can be blanched and included or breaded and fried or even just eaten raw, though many folks find them a bit bitter. The root can be blanched, dried or roasted and ground for inclusion in bread recipes–and all of that is highly nutritious. But what of the stem and puffball, you may ask. The stem contains a latex that is used by some in commercial rubber production–yes, there are commercial farms that grow dandelions. And the puffball? How could you ask! It’s useful, of course, for propogating this beautiful and useful plant! 🙂
And yeh, I like the dandelion enough to make it my desktop background. 😉
David, sometimes you make me want to be your neighbor.
Oh, well, you are my neighbor, Mel, just a distant one. 🙂