Last fall, my hubby was talking about using weed killer on the lawn to get rid of the dandelions. Well, first of all I don't understand why anyone has a problem with dandelions, they're pretty and they don't kill anything or poke anyone. Secondly, I don't like pesticides and herbicides, they are not healthy for people, animals, or the environment. Thirdly, dandelions are not weeds to "get rid of", but rather herbs that God gave us for food and vitamins. Dandelion roots have more calcium than milk, dandelion leaves and flowers are full of vitamins and are great for salad making. So, I informed my husband of these things and he said he would pay me $50 if I ate a full bowl of dandelion salad. Well, I wasn't going to let that slip through my fingers. The season was too late in the year to make a salad, but he put it in writing that I had until August of 2010 to eat the salad.
Well, it just so happened that I spent more of my homeschool budget for this next year than I meant to before the big homeschool conference, so I was trying to figure out a way to put a little money back into the school budget in April. Then I remembered the dandelion salad challenge. Thomas thought that my time had already passed, but I knew I remembered the date. I had to remind him that I if I'm not absolutely sure I know something I tell him that I'm "pretty sure" or "99% sure", but I was absolutely sure. I had to find the paper though to prove to him. So after a lot of hunting and praying, I finally found the original document... and I was right.
So, the day before the homeschool conference, I went out on our six acres and gathered me a dandelion salad. Then I washed it and dried and waited till the hubby came home from work. Then I added broccoli, carrots, cheese and vinaigrette. Then I ate the whole thing. Honestly, dandelion greens taste better than plain old lettuce. My favorite salad green is still spinach, but dandelion greens are free and abundant at certain times of the year... so I might learn to like them just as much. And yes, the Academy of the Gospel added $50 to their funds. I wonder if any other homeschool moms have done similar fundraisers?
I should have closed the curtain to the patio door on the west, my squinting makes it look like the salad was painful to eat.
Oh, I did close one of the two curtians. That is much better. Last bite!
That's awesome Misty! What a great way to earn some money.... and get some good nutrition :) We've got a lot of dandelions in our yard, too... Scott doesn't like to treat our yard either. Maybe I should save the dandelions I pull.... hmmmm. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so going to try that sometime. I wonder what the roots taste like. I'm always looking for extra ways to get some calcium in my diet.
ReplyDeleteThe roasted dandelion root tea tastes a little like coffee, but better I think because I think coffee has too strong a taste. In the old days, people used to drink dandelion tea when they couldn't afford, or didn't have access to buy, coffee.
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