I went to the Drake Road Farmer's Market on April 19, the first week. You could buy Colorado honey, Colorado-made pasta in a rainbow of varieties, bedding plants, Colorado-baked breads, and some crafts. One booth had a few vegetables: tomatoes and onions. I bought three onions. We've been out of onions for awhile. No fresh greens. Kind of a disappointment. Not speaking anything against the bakery people, the pasta maker, or anybody else there, but I'm hungry for spring greens.
Myrto tells me there is a boatload of fresh spring greens in Boulder, but my conscience (and my budget) won't let me drive that far to get a bag of salad mix. Whole Foods has lettuce from Osage Gardens, a Colorado hothouse grower who also has a large selection of fresh herbs. I bought that, and we have enjoyed it greatly.
The LoveLandLocal Food Buying Cooperative is getting a case of Osage Gardens butter lettuce coming in Thursday, and I've signed up for several heads. We're looking forward to that, as I'm sure our other members are.
The dandelions in my yard are at their peak of springtime goodness, so I think it's time to go CUT some fresh greens. Dandelions are a time-honored spring green. Get them young and early, before they get tough and bitter. (Of course, don't cut and eat them if you have sprayed them with noxious chemicals.)
Dandelions are a treasure of nature. Fresh nutrition-laden spring greens, medicinal roots (or you can roast them as a coffee substitute), important spring bee forage, work like a vegetable crowbar to break up hard soil and bring nutrients up for the grass. And pretty yellow flowers (as my grandmother once said).
You can even make dandelion wine from the flowers (though my one attempt failed).
I'm sure the British settlers who brought them from the old country had no idea that they would cover the country and inspire megatons of herbicide being applied to lawns. To them, it was a pantry and apothecary plant, essential for living.
Declare Peace with dandelions! Happy harbinger of spring.
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