photo by mgpenguin86 via flickr
This year I am actually planting Dandelion seeds in my garden- yep, that’s right- intentionally!
You probably think Dandelion’s are just plain old weeds that are out to get your lawn. Well, you might want to think again before you get out that nasty bottle of weed-be-gone.
Dandelion’s are:
- Rich in calcium, so they are good for your bones!
- Good for your liver and helps increase bile to promote good digestion!
- Good for diabetics, it stimulates the production of insulin to keep blood sugar level.
- It’s a diuretic and helps to clean toxins out of the kidneys and urinary system and for this reason also helps to lower blood pressure.
- Good treatments for acne and weight loss.
- High in free radicals which are needed to prevent cancer.
- Improves the function of the gall bladder and liver.
- It also has healing effects on dyspepsia, infections in the stomach, intestines and urinary system.
- Rich in B vitamins
- Susun Weed calls it “Doctor Dandelion” because it is so beneficial for so many bodily functions.
- The root is also good for PMS- helps eliminate breast tenderness and swelling and premenstrual digestive variances!
- The sap from the stalk can be used- externally- on warts, corns, calluses, hard pimples, bee stings, ols sores ans blisters.
This is just a handful of Dandelions uses. There are so many more, it really is Doctor Dandelion!!
So, maybe you don’t want them all over your lawn, but you might have a patch of lawn to spare. I am going to put them on the perimeter of my vegetable garden, taking care to not let them go to seed. I don’t want my neighbors to hate me!!
As you see above in the picture, I purchased a few packages of Dandelion seeds from Mountain Rose Herbs! There are already wild ones popping up all over the yard, I just love it!
So, what can you do with Dandelions?
There are Dandelion tonics, teas, infusions, tinctures, the leaves can be made into juice, the flowers into wine, and you can eat the leaves raw in a salad or cooked into recipes!
My favorite is Dandelion root tea. It is sort of nutty and kinda tastes like coffee to me, but you won’t get any caffeine from it!
I am excited to experiment more with Dandelion and I will keep you posted on all the ways we use the harvest this year!
Right now Mountain Rose Herbs is having a Dandelion Campaign– so hop on over to their blog and sign up.
This post is a part of Fresh Bites Friday, Sunday School, Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Healthy 2 day, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Sunday School, Homestead Barn Hop, make ahead monday, Weekend Gourmet, Make your own Monday, M-I-Y MOnday, Monday Mania, Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love, Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Traditional Tuesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Simple Living Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Healthy 2 Day, Fresh Bites Friday, TGIF
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This would be a great post to share with Wildcrafting Wednesday! I hope you’ll stop by and link up. 🙂
Thanks!
~ Kathy
I love dandelions too! Not only are they healthy for you, but they are also one of the most important food sources for honeybees. Thanks for sharing.
I like them too! My boys love to pick bowl fulls to batter and eat. I haven’t used them to make teas or anything but thanks for all the ideas of uses for dandelions!
We have lots of dandelions and the kids always love to pick them. I sometimes use them in a salad. Hope you have a wonderful week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
I can never have enough dandelions! I seed them (by blowing the puffballs) as well as transplant them to the designated dandelion garden. LOVE eating the greens in salad.
I am really looking forward to salads with them!!
How do you harvest the roots. I make dandelion jelly every year. It tastes like honey. I have a friend who batters and fries the blossoms. I would love to try the root tea.
Dandelion jelly sounds divine!! Would you possibly share your recipe? This year is my first year harvesting more than a couple leaves here and there for salads, so I plan on doing lots of experimenting.
Check out my blog. I did a tutorial on dandelion jelly last year.
http://creationsbydina.blogspot.com/2011/05/dandelion-jelly.html
Wonderful!!! Thanks!
All of these posts I’ve been seeing about dandelions has convinced me to try this out 🙂
Would you believe that here in western Australia dandelions are not a ‘weed’. I too purchased a pack of seeds and plan to grow some this year. Our weather is quite hot in summer and mild in winter so will be planting some soon (autumn) in the hopes of giving them 3 seasons to establish. I read recently that the leaves can be dried crushed and sprinkled over food so fussy eaters get their nourishing share. Love the tea too! So here’s cheers & buon appettito to dandelions :).
What a great idea to sprinkle on top!!
Thanks for sharing this post on Make-ahead Monday! I really need to start implementing dandelion into our health care regime!
Interesting! I didn’t even realize you could plant dandelion, lol.
Ah! I’ve read that Dandelion Root can be used as a “coffee substitute.” Always wondered if that meant it had caffeine. Guess not.
Dandelions are my daughters favorite flower….her pockets are always filled with them. She would love this idea! Visiting from TGIF!
We have taught our little playschool children to like eating a dandelion or two and it freaks their parents out!! Our TGIF moment is here- http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/04/wonderfull-full-of-wonder-wednesday_11.html
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
Wow – who would have guessed that our persistent weed would be good for you?!?! This is so interesting! thanks for sharing on TGIF! Have a great week =-)
Beth