weed eater

A few weeks ago I mentioned weeds and a blender. This is what precipitated that revelation.

I froze my plant starts. Not once, but twice. This is disheartening and I don't even like thinking about it. However, every cloud has a silver lining and I didn't have to search too hard for this one. I was looking at my bare naked garden plot and poking about and weeding a bit. I have lots of weeds. Our yard is one big weed, in fact. We are the last house up the slope of a mountain and the wilds just creep right into our yard. I like this and have done nothing to tame it.

As I was mourning my poor golden pear tomato plants that did not pass go or collect two hundred dollars, I had an aha moment. These weeds are my garden. They are growing strong and wild and they are ready to offer nourishment right this minute. They did not freeze. They are thriving. It feels that if we are sharing this land that there should be a certain symbiosis in my eating them. Or drinking them.

So I did. And boy, what fun. I know, this is where I probably lose some of you. She's eating weird stuff again, you say. Try it, I say. It's tasty and free and it makes sense. More sense than importing it from Mexico, no?

I picked a big handful of mostly dandelion and mallow and blended them into a lovely green drink. Both of these plants have long tap roots that draw in nutrients and trace minerals that are vital to our good health. (those same roots give me fits when weeding....now I'm looking at them differently!)

I blended in some frozen bananas, half of a lemon, and lots of water, and it felt like a jar of pure goodness! Give it a shot!

It was so tasty that I almost drank it all before I thought to take a picture of it. Ooo la la! And go here for help with identification and more ideas.