Dandelion

 

Dandelion

 

The First Dandelion

Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging,

As is no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been,

Forth from its sunny nook of shelter’d grass – innocent, golden, calm as the dawn,

The spring’s first dandelion shows its trustful face.

Walt Whitman (1879-1931)

Walt Whitman was an American journalist and poet.

Common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are a cheerful, bright yellow and grow in abundance if allowed to do so. The flowers emerge from an evergreen rosette with a long, strong taproot. There are more than two hundred species of Taraxacum in the UK. The name comes from the French ‘dents de lion’ (lion’s teeth) because the notched, pointed leaves are reminiscent of lion’s teeth.

Flowering from March to October, they are a rich and valuable source of food to bees and butterflies in spring, when other flowers are not yet producing nectar and pollen. The flower stems are hollow and emit a milky substance when broken.

 It is said that this sap is useful when tracking animals, because it takes twelve hours to dry, so it is easy to establish when an animal has used a trail. I don’t know if rain affects the efficacy of such a clue! The sap can also be used to soothe stings and blisters. Some even claim that it can cure warts.

 Leaves and flowers are edible and can be used in salads, and can be used alongside the root to make medicine for kidney ailments. The dried root can also be ground to make coffee.

Dandelion wine, made from the flowers, is said to be beneficial for indigestion and kidney problems. To be more efficacious, it is advisable to gather the flowers on May Day.

When we had home-grown slaves, we made dandelion wine, and it was delicious. We haven’t made it since they grew up and left home. Picking the flowers disproved the old wives’ tale that they cause bed-wetting.

One of the joys of dandelions is the seed head, known as a clock, or fairy clock. The seeds are light and designed to float far and wide. Young children enjoy blowing the seeds, making a wish as they do so. Otherwise, they may count the number of times they have to blow to disperse them all, which they believe gives the hour of the day.

The seeds also provide food for small birds, like finches.

Fruit farmers have been known to encourage dandelions in their orchards, because the ethylene exuded from the plants helps to ripen the fruit.

Those who wish to try and eradicate dandelions from their gardens can do so quite readily, without recourse to chemicals. However, plants can regenerate from small sections of root, so care should be taken when digging them up or composting them.

Home Brew

Home Brew – two words to strike fear chill into the heart of anyone with any semblance of a sense of taste. A few years ago, well, more than thirty years ago, (because Bethan had not been born then and she’s just thirty) Barry embarked on home brewing.

As with all his enthusiasms he went headfirst into the business and we were soon bursting at the seams with demijohns (carboys), rubber pipes and bungs (which looked strangely threatening), fermentation locks and bottles into which the delicious end product/s would be decanted. Visitors quickly learned to wave away a proffered pint of whichever vintage Barry had just completed. The beers were never started from scratch but from kits that contained all the vital ingredients apart from water.

Eventually, even Barry admitted that the beer wasn’t up to much was horrible. Maybe wine would be better, he thought. Our neighbours gave us a huge quantity of apples which produced a light golden wine that was quite acceptable but the best of all was the dandelion wine. Bear in mind that we had three willing slaves children at the time who relished the idea of picking dandelions even though there was no chance that they would be invited to sample the wine. 

The five of us picked for what seemed like hours. Our hands were yellow and we proved conclusively the untruth of the old wives’ tale – our beds remained dry all night. As far as I can remember the resulting wine was delicious but the process was too labour-intensive and was never repeated.

Home brewing became a chore and finally dropped out of favour but the empty demijohns hung around for a few years on a high shelf in the kitchen – Barry is averse to throwing things away in case they should be useful in the future. Really, what purpose could a demijohn serve other than to store alcoholic beverages? Too big for a flower vase, too heavy to carry water for thirsty dogs – a dust collector, pure and simple.

One day, when Bethan was a tiny girl, one of the demijohns imploded. While I was agonising about what could have happened – shards of glass flying through the air in the vicinity of small human being - Barry was exclaiming about the chances of such a thing happening.

The remaining demijohns were consigned to the garage and eventually moved out. Much as I like the idea of country wines I think we’ll leave the brewing of them to those who really know what they’re doing!