Frugal Babe

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Eating Our Dandelions

July 21, 2009 By Frugal Babe

As I mentioned yesterday, our garden isn’t exactly anything to write home about yet.  We’ve been in our new house for three weeks, so our tallest seedlings are about three inches high.  We have lots of them, but they are quite small.  I find myself filled with chard envy when I visit Sheri’s blog.  And unfortunately I’ve purchased quite a few bunches of kale and chard in the last few weeks.  We have a farmers’ market here, and there’s a lady who grows all sorts of organic produce about a mile from our house.  We visit her stall at the market each week, and it will tide us over nicely until our own garden dreams are realized.

But I still hate to pay for my greens.  We’ve been making green smoothies for about 18 months.  For about the last 14 months, we’ve grown all of our own greens – even through the winter months when we grew them in our hydroponic garden.  Going back to paying $3/bunch for organic kale is a killer, especially when you go through 7 – 10 bunches a week.

So we’re eating the dandelions from our yard.  Given the state of this place, I am confident that no herbicides were ever used anywhere on our property.  The weeds are impressive, and we’re still in the middle of our battles with them.  At first I didn’t think we had dandelions, but I’ve since discovered a few clumps here and there.  I’ve been cropping them, washing them well, and blending them up in our smoothies.  Dandelions are a little bitter, and not

Filed Under: food, organic living, the simple life 14 Comments

Comments

  1. Kaytee says

    July 22, 2009 at 6:39 am

    I find dandelions are a little better when cooked or sauteed – tends to reduce the bitterness a bit.

    Reply
  2. Sheri (Green & Crunchy) says

    July 22, 2009 at 9:03 am

    Chard envy…ha! I am filled with backyard envy when I see that great piece of land you have! It is bursting with potential. I’m betting that you will create an amazing little homestead there.

    I’ve been happily reading you regularly but not commenting (never seem to have two free hands to type), but I wanted to say that I am so glad the move went well and that you got your dog back.

    Happy homesteading!

    Sheri

    Reply
  3. Jessie says

    July 22, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    wow – eating dandelions – I’ve never tried that before… how do you eat them?

    Reply
  4. scantee says

    July 22, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Have you had your soil tested for lead? We don’t grow too much in our yard but I am still dreading getting ours tested after hearing about someone who had their soil tested and it was bad. Bad as in, “you might grow another head if you eat that food,” bad. Something to think about. We are in the position where we could move exclusively to raised beds if it turns out the levels are high. Cities neighborhoods can be bad for lead but so can country ones if there is runoff that you are not aware of.

    Reply
  5. FrugalBabe says

    July 22, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    Scantee,
    No we haven’t, and we don’t plan to. We’re making raised beds, and all of our veggies will be grown in them. We’ll be purchasing organic compost this week to add to the beds, and that’s as good as it will get. There are only so many things I can worry about ;)

    Reply
  6. vigilant20 says

    July 22, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    Geat idea! I’ve been nibbling on the dandelions and violets growing wild in my yard in salads. Not sure how I didn’t think of adding them to smoothies!

    Reply
  7. cindy brick says

    July 23, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Babe, since you’re going through so many greens, have you thought about making a deal with the farmers market vendor? I’m guessing that you could pay less for these in bulk than you are bunch by bunch…and the vendor would appreciate knowing they already have a certain amount of produce pre-sold.

    Reply
  8. M- says

    July 23, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Hey Frugal Babe…

    How did you become so handy? Where did you learn? We just bought a house and I’m not very handy but would like to become more handy… and ideas… =)

    Thanks
    m-

    Reply
  9. FrugalBabe says

    July 23, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    Cindy – I had wondered about that, but it will only be a month or so before we will be harvesting our own greens, so our relationship with the farmers’ market lady isn’t likely to be a long one (hopefully!) And I’ve only been buying 3 or 4 bunches a week from her, and using free dandelions from our yard the rest of the time.

    M – Thanks! I don’t tend to think of myself as all that handy, but maybe that’s because I’m comparing myself with my siblings and parents, who are quite a bit handier. In general, I think I (together with my husband) figure out how to do things because I’m way too cheap to pay someone else to do them for me. There are instructions online and videos on YouTube that explain how to do pretty much any task you can think of. We rely on google A LOT! Start with the small stuff… find a little project that seems do-able, and get it done. I find that when I accomplish one task, I’m more confident and motivated to get to the next one. Don’t tackle a really daunting task until you’ve built up some confidence and skills with the smaller tasks. Good luck, and enjoy your new home!

    Reply
  10. Justin says

    July 27, 2009 at 11:14 pm

    Dandelions….never tried those. Are there actual recipes for dandelions?

    Reply
  11. gayle says

    July 29, 2009 at 11:52 am

    My father made the best – BEST – dandelion blossom wine! it sat under our cellar steps for years,.. i barely remember him making it and he brought it out when my siblings and i were old enough to imbibe! What a wonderful memory. i smile everytime i see a blossom or dirve past a field of them.

    Reply
  12. FrugalBabe says

    July 29, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Justin,
    Absolutely, there are recipes for cooking with dandelions. You can buy them in places like Whole Foods, but I prefer the local/free one from our yard :)

    Reply
  13. kasey at thriftylittleblog says

    July 30, 2009 at 9:45 am

    I’ve always wanted to try that since I saw a (Food Network?) show about it. Way to be resourceful!

    Reply
  14. Shopping Golightly says

    August 1, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Since you’re into dandelions, you should try purslane another common weed. They cultivate it in India.

    Reply

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