Dandelion Jelly

I have a lawn.  It's just not made of grass.  It's about 60 percent creeping charlie and 40 percent dandelions.  Though the yellow flowers are no doubt very pretty on a sunshiny spring day, once they develop seed heads, all I can envision is a lawn of more and more and more and more dandelions.  Their long tap roots and ratty leaves are less than attractive to me and truth is, to me, they're weeds I spend a lot of energy pulling.

As I wandered Home Depot the other day, I walked down a quiet aisle looking for fencing options when I passed bags and bags, stacked two stories high, of product promising me a weed-free grass lawn.  Oh, I know there are intense anti-lawn folks out there, and in all other philosophies we are kindred spirits, but my 60/40 mix is simply not going to do it.  I got sucked in and bought a bag.  

On the way home, I was thinking about the upcoming weather and trying to figure out the best time to finally eradicate all the weeds (the chemicals require the lawn to be wet) when I suddenly snapped out of it.  I am not an herbicide user.  I decided that if I could put the dandelions to use, I may (hopefully!) come to see the dandelions as an asset rather than a nuisance.

My older daughter and I spend a quick 20 minutes picking all the flowers we could manage to.  We tried some battered and fried blossoms.  Tasted like...batter.  Then I made this dandelion jelly.  Delicious!  Just like the recipe described - like spring honey.  A friend who appreciated a jar said it was fabulous on crostini with some goat cheese, the dandelion jelly, and some finely chopped fresh herbs.  I'd take food over herbicide any day.  Wouldn't you?

Nasty mushrooms and other random (lovelier) photos

Above: just a pretty scene from the circle in front of my parents' house. Below: my husband was giddy with excitement to squeeze these mushrooms expecting to show our kids a little puff of mushroom powder. Instead, he got squirted with mushroom goo.




Above: the little 4x4 garden I built this summer (whose purpose I will share at a later date). Below: anti-grass lawn enthusiasts would be pleased with my lawn of creeping Charlie. Seriously, my "lawn" really bugs me (a lot), but on this day, it took on a sort of magical look. And speaking of magical looks, the scene from the pond in front of my parents' house looks quite pretty, don't you think?