It’s Dandelion Day!

The dandelions have achieved full bloom in the back yard. Each year, I set aside one day in early spring to wallow in them. This year’s goal – enough petals to brew the annual batch of dandelion wine, with extras to try making dandelion bread. First, I spent a couple of hours crawling around the lawn with a large, clean bucket, picking as many as I could. Next, I set up camp on the back deck with plenty of beverages, and my iPad logged in to Amazon Prime to keep me company.  Time to clean those flowers.

I aim for perfection. NO green whatsoever in the petals. The green parts are bitter. My special method of achieving this is to pick up a flower, hold the hard green bulgy cylinder under the flower between my thumb and index finger, and press-twist the flower. This detaches the petals from the green parts of the flower, and I can pluck them out easily.

This process takes hours. And a lot of patience. That is why Dandelion Day only comes but once a year. After two hours, this is what I collected in my big green bowl.

Eventually, the green bowl was filled – by then I was in such a twist-and-pluck trance I forgot to take any more pictures.

And finally, the closing ceremonies for Dandelion Day. A Wizard performs a special spell from the book of John Deere, and all the remaining dandelions vanish into the mists.