Dandelion Greens and Sheds

Last weekend I had a new experience. Dad, Jadon and I went to a nearby field and picked Dandelion greens. Dandelion greens are quite controversial. Some people hate them and refuse to eat them, and other people are reasonable and wise.

Here is a dandelion:

Now I am a very reasonable person. I had only pulled Dandelions in the past to get rid of them as a weed. I got wind of the fact that many New Englanders prize them as "spring tonic" and I was intrigued. Apparently my wife's grandmother loved them, but her mother does not. My father-in-law loves them, but my sister does not. Some of the locals celebrate when brought a bag of these leafy seasonal treats and others consider them to be cow food.

Where would I stand? Two weeks ago, I tried one raw. It was growing in the front yard and I gave it a shot. Not bad! Sort of like a salad green with a twist. We picked 6 grocery bags full last weekend. Dad delivered 4 bags to eager weed lovers. We had cooked greens twice this week and I loved them. I put a little vinegar and oil on them, but they would be good with butter, salt and pepper too. Apparently the key is to get them before the flowers come out. That way they are not too bitter. They are reportedly among the most healthy greens for your body. I am hooked. I just wish you could get them all year round. Oh well, there are some frozen ones waiting for Karen and Kayla to try when they come East.

Sheds: Our new home is a mobile one. We live in a very nice trailer park in Charlestown. I can't believe what a nice neighborhood it is, and the price was amazing. We have been fixing up the trailer in order to get it ready for the girls. We actually have the same usable square feet in the mobile home as we did in the Santa Rosa condo. There is more cupboard space, but less storage space. We have an extra bedroom, but I felt the need for some storage space. Lawnmowers, snowblowers and yard tools need a home too you know.

Enter the shed. I was planning on building one from scratch, and hope to do so in the future. But dad found one in the paper yesterday that was too good to pass up. A metal shed (8x10) that is only a few years old. We went to pick it up today at 9am. It was not quite ready as we expected. We had to wait 45 minutes for the guy with the key to get there, and another 30 minutes for it to be unloaded. We negotiated the price down a bit, then spend 2 hours dismantling it. It is in pieces on the side of my home now and will probably take 2 days to put back together, but I am very pleased. Now, to get a lawnmower.