Eat Your Greens
I know some folks aren’t big fans of the dandelion, but I say, save your back and your dollars and choose another battle. It’s not hard to get to liking them.
A few years ago, I painted their leaves and flower heads. I’d planned to eat them in a salad after a good rinse, but they looked remarkable on my shiny black stove top as they dried.
“Oh, I have to paint this,” I said to myself. So, I did.
I ultimately created a T-shirt featuring the image with the tagline "Eat Your Greens" and offered it on my Spread Good Stuff blog. It also launched what I refer to as my annual spring dandelion rant. Being so focused on my paintings, I just about missed it this year. I’ve condensed and repurposed an old post.
Top 5 reasons to love dandelions:
Number 5. You can eat them! Every part of the dandelion is edible and useful. The flowers and leaves are great in salads and stir-fries, and the roots make a healthful tea.
Number 4. They’re adorable. The sight of them dotting an expanse of green lawn is one of those things that lifts the spirit, like hearing a baby laugh or cuddling a puppy.
Number 3. Dandelions are a great early nectar resource for bees.
Number 2. Dandelions have very deep taproots. They reach depths of 10 to 15 feet, enabling them to pull up previously inaccessible nutrients while aerating the soil.
Number 1. Loving dandelions can save your back and your money! There are so many more enjoyable things to do than digging them up one by one, and there are certainly more fun things to purchase than garden poisons.
Eat Your Greens - Acrylic on Canvas - 20” x 16” - 575
Make it stand out
It was extremely flattering that a talented and creative artist wanted one of my pieces. Ginger Wyatt took “Making a Living” home with her this week.
Check out Ginger’s inspired work here!
And, I’ve still got more bug and wildlife pieces if you need one!
Some changes are coming to my work. I’m processing, but I’ll be posting about it here once I figure it all out!
Thanks for reading, Jean