[HN Gopher] Learning to Love Dandelions (2021)
___________________________________________________________________
Learning to Love Dandelions (2021)
Author : some-guy
Score : 10 points
Date : 2025-03-18 18:27 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (baynature.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (baynature.org)
| WorkerBee28474 wrote:
| Note that in the author's area (San Francisco Bay) dandelions are
| an invasive species.
| CoopaTroopa wrote:
| iirc the Dandelions we know are are native to Eurasia and are
| considered invasive across the US. They were brought over by
| early settlers for their health benefits
| aaronblohowiak wrote:
| i have heard they were a garden plant but i dont know if that
| was an informal "spread the seeds and harvest where they pop
| up" or more of a row crop kind of thing...
| jacobolus wrote:
| My understanding is that they aren't nearly as problematic as
| some other non-native plants though, like veldt grass, pampas
| grass, English ivy, sourgrass (African wood-sorrel), ice plant,
| Himalayan blackberry, cotoneaster, periwinkle, etc.
| johnea wrote:
| The whole disdane for this plant, is rooted in the lawn mania.
|
| It should be noted that most sod grasses are also an invasive
| species in most places. And in the western US, where water is not
| as available as it is in South Carolina, sod lawns also require a
| lot of water from the Colorado River that could go to much better
| use.
|
| They also, uinlike sod, don't require mowing since they don't
| grow to multiple feet in height if left unattended.
|
| The US concept of a sod grass lawn as a standard home feature is
| another example of the US's arrested development in Happy Days.
|
| Go mow the lawn Richie!!!
| jihadjihad wrote:
| Reading essays by Aldo Leopold [0] really changed my perspective
| a bit. He has an essay from 1943 called _" What Is a Weed?"_ [1],
| and I don't think before reading it that I'd ever contemplated
| that question in any depth.
|
| He argues that it is a false premise "that every wild species
| occasionally harmful to agriculture is, by reason of that fact,
| to be blacklisted for general persecution [1]." He also argues
| that it's backwards to focus so much on weed control rather than
| weed prevention--many times weeds are the effect of some
| underlying cause (land misuse, etc.).
|
| Anyway I really dig Leopold and his philosophy, if you've never
| heard of him give _A Sand County Almanac_ [2] a try.
|
| 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold
|
| 1:
| https://books.google.com/books?id=-StPpe04gS8C&pg=PA306&lpg=...
|
| 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sand_County_Almanac
| mauvehaus wrote:
| People who don't rejoice in a riot of dandelions blooming yellow
| across a yard either live in a place that doesn't have winter, or
| don't have souls. Seriously, what could be more joyful than the
| brilliant, saturated yellow of dandelions coming up as a
| celebration of spring?
|
| I would also add that dandelion wine is probably about one of the
| easiest wines to make at home. You use a lot of sugar, so you've
| got a pretty predictable must, and you let it do its thing.
| You'll want to ferment it in something with a lot of headspace.
| The petals trap the escaping carbon dioxide and rise up bringing
| the mist with them. It'll messily overflow if you haven't made an
| allowance for this.
|
| My partner and I are pretty lousy brewers, but we've made a
| couple outstanding batches of dandelion wine. It's got a little
| bit of bitter and a little bit of pepper, and on a winter
| evening, it's a reassuring reminder that spring will return and
| bring its celebration of life and color.
|
| Roll the head between your thumb and finger to separate the
| petals from the green sepals.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-03-18 23:01 UTC)