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                               Dandelion Whine

[You can make wine from this flower? Really? Then why all the hate?] [1]


It's been years since I've last seen a dandelion, that little cheerful yellow
flower that is apparently the bane of suburban lawn owners. And I have to
wonder why?

What makes this flower such a bane? They come up, bloom, feed a bunch of
bees, seed and then … go away? I don't know really. Growing up, my granddad
would rip the suckers right out of the lawn and when that didn't work, pour
gallons of caustic chemicals in the vain attempt to rid the lawn of the
things even as the neighborhood kids would pluck the fuzzy cotton-headed
dandelions and blow hard to send the seeds floating down the street.

I remember asking Bunny a few weeks ago what makes a weed a “weed,” and she
answered, “any unwanted plant.” Okay, fair enough. But considering that the
“weeds” we get in our yard have these needle-sharp burrs that are a literal
pain to remove, I think I'd rather have dandelions in the lawn. At least they
don't jam painfully into your fingers, drawing blood.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2016/04/13/Dandelion.jpg

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