⬤ eClips: Dandelion
Tonight, the moon is new. Earlier this morning, it covered a sliver of the sun in a partial solar eclipse across the northeastern United States. Tomorrow, Venus will cozy up to the crescent, and later this week, Mars will show just below the moon. We’re close to the solstice; these remaining spring days are still lengthening. I’ve been burying my face in fat roses and watching chickadees flap and dance around our feeder.
I love dandelions! I know I’m not alone in this. They’re familiar to many of us; they grow exuberantly across all kinds of landscapes. They’re resilient and edible and medicinal; every part of the plant can be consumed by humans.
As kids, my friends and I would rub the buds’ pigment on our skin, suck the bitter sap out of the stems, and make “potions” with the bright-yellow petals. Even then, I equated them with abundance and joy. One time, when I was about 5 years old, I knew my mother was having a tough day, so I spent all afternoon gathering dandelions to gift her. That memory cemented the plant’s resonance for me; it was the first in a long line of emotional associations I’d come to develop with dandelion. The flowers still make me think of my mom.
I don’t live on the land where I grew up, meaning I’m separated from some of the plants I loved as a kid — but not dandelions. So they make me feel at home, as much as I can when my physical home has changed so often throughout my life. And I’ve been attempting to think of dandelion as a friend. Recently, a local witch guided me through an intuitive “conversation” with dandelion. I was seeking a deeper connection, questioning how I might ally with this plant beyond its scientific attributes. And I was surprised to hear such a strong response: Turn to me when you’re feeling scarcity where there might be abundance. Turn to me when you want to reject rigidity and believe you’re a complex being in constant flux. Don’t try to own what can’t be owned; wisdom and ideas came through other people to reach you, and they’re meant to move through you and toward others.
I don’t care where they “came from”; I took these words to heart. But even if talking to plants isn’t your thing, there are plenty of practical and playful ways to use dandelion. (Tell me what you make, or have already made!)
⬤ How to Make Dandelion Infused Oil
⬤ Delicious Dandelion Blossom Honey Butter
⬤ How to Make Delicious Dandelion Leaf Pesto
⬤ Dandelion Root Coffee Recipe
Spotlight: Sandy Sorell
Sandy Sorell is a teacher at a rural school in Wyoming, where she lives with her husband, Vance. When asked to describe herself, she said, “Growing. I grow stuff, and I’m always trying to grow myself.” [Sandy Sorell is also my mother. Lucky me! I’ve been wanting to ask her about plants for years, and finally got to scratch the surface with this conversation. And in two days, I get to see her for the first time since the pandemic hit.]
How do you feel about spring? What’s your experience of spring like in Wyoming?
Wyoming spring feels late. You have to wait forever to be in spring. It’s beautiful once it gets here, but I have to plant my garden later. My potatoes just sprouted. Compared to Kansas, when I planted them on St. Patty’s Day, that’s late. Wyoming is green in the spring, it’s probably the only time where it even approaches the green from the other places I’ve lived, so spring would be one of my favorite times here once it finally gets here.
Where was your favorite place to experience spring?
Just like when I ask you guys your favorites of music and books … my favorite is everywhere, you know? Kansas spring was really pretty, and there wasn’t a long winter, so I liked that a lot. And no matter where I am, when spring comes around, I want to garden so bad. I already order all my stuff in January, and then I’m just waiting to put it in.
For recognizing when it’s coming: I specifically remember looking out my mom and dad’s kitchen window and my mom showing me a robin, and that was the proof that spring was coming. So for my entire life, when I see robins, I just get pretty excited, because spring’s coming! Even though, in Albion, they were naughty birds. So that’s how I know it’s happening.
As far as rituals: gardening, starting to sit outside. There was one year where I was going to do better at the “we always” [family tradition] things — because I read that’s what good families did. I thought it would be nice to say “we always” have our first fire pit on the first day of spring! So, one year, we had thrown out the Christmas tree, and it had dried up. And it was super-cold, so we all got on coats, because there was snow on the ground. And everyone was a little annoyed about it, but we sat around the fire pit and we put that Christmas tree in there. Dad, of course, loved to burn, so he burned it up, and then we all went inside. And I don’t know if we’ve ever done that again.
And I’ve thought about that here in Wyoming — that we should do our “we always,” and on the first day of spring, sit by fire, but in March, we could be in the middle of a snowstorm. So I haven’t continued that ritual.
I think spring just mostly goes with gardening. Maybe a little bit of cleaning.
How’s gardening going for you?
I just learned, because I get to teach it, a way to start the plants to make sure the seeds go. I put the seeds in a paper towel, water it down, and put them in a bag so I can see them sprout before I plant them. Otherwise, sometimes, if they don’t come up in time, I have to kind of dig down to see what’s going on. It makes me crazy.
This year, I did start some flowers. That’s kind of new, because flowers don’t have a purpose. I mean, I know they do, but I start all of my tomatoes and peppers because their purpose is to make salsa. So I start those inside, and I have too many. If I accidentally put two seeds in one little slot, and you’re supposed to thin them, I can’t. I’ll get that seed out and replant it, because every seed deserves a chance.
I honestly do the same plants my parents did, even though I’m in a different region. It’s just the things that I like to grow. And I am starting to do flowers.
Which flowers and other plants are you growing?
So the tomatoes and peppers, I start indoors. I plant zucchini, I’m not totally sure why, because we end up giving most of it away, but I’m really going to try so hard this year to figure out what to do with it. Cucumbers, potatoes.
I got some joy when the potatoes came up, and I kind of hope for potato bugs, because when I was little, this is probably horrible, [getting rid of them] was one of our jobs. They’re so cool, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one. But what we would do is grab the potato bug off the leaf, and we’d carry these little cans of gasoline. Then we’d put them in the can of gasoline, and if you were lucky, you’d find orange eggs on the underside of the leaves, and you’d have to scrape those off. And that was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, protecting the potatoes.
I love growing cucumbers. As far as flowers, I haven’t planted them yet, but my mom gave me some morning glories because she just loves those. They turn toward the sun and grow up the vine, they’re so pretty.
Every time I go visit my mom, I take one of her plants back, so that’s why I have the irises, and I have some snow on the mountain now, and I clipped a geranium off her big geranium and just started it, and it just bloomed. And it makes me so happy! I didn’t have to pay for it, you know how frugal I am. But also, I’m continually growing from my mother.
Are there any plants you have strong memories around, or a spiritual connection with?
That might be more the flowers. I love when my zinnias come up. I thought, the other day, I can name so many of them! And I think that comes from following my mom around a lot, and she would explain them. The 4 o’clocks would open up at 4 o’clock; I thought that was so neat.
Daffodils! Daffodils are probably the one that I do think of as a sign of spring, and I like them better than tulips, and they make me happy for some reason. Just the word, what a cool word is daffodil!
I also like pumpkins and gourds. My mom and dad’s garden would change spots on the farm, but one year, it was a half-mile walk because you had to walk all the way around the trees, and it was my brother’s and my job to get the produce, so we’d take a little wagon, fill up the wagon, and we’d pull the wagon all the way up to the house and unfill it. We would be super-excited with big pumpkins. The gourds make me happy too, even though they don’t have a purpose.
I think every plant has a purpose!
That’s probably true.
One of the plants I connect with most is dandelion, and I also connect it with memories of you, because of the time I gathered those dandelions for you.
Do you know the story around that day? Everything was out of the [South Dakota] house besides an air mattress, you and me, and baby Trey. Dad had already gone to Kansas [where we were moving] with a load of our stuff, and I must’ve had to finish something with school. It was Mother’s Day, so it was just an air mattress and you and me and Trey for Mother’s Day. It was a little sad. I’m pretty sure I was feeling kind of sorry for myself. You came in with the dandelions. And not just with a handful or a bouquet. There had to be 100 of them. Every time I see them, especially around Mother’s Day, but really every time I see them, I’m connected to you.
This morning, in my book readings, I read a quote: “When you see 100 dandelions, you can think, there’s 100 weeds, or there’s 100 wishes.” That quote made me so happy! Yeah, there’s 100 wishes. Just blow them around! Dandelions are definitely a connector for me and you.
Another thing I’ve been thinking about dandelions is that, even though I moved away from the land and plants I grew up with, at least dandelion is still around me where I live. It probably always will be, no matter where I go, because that’s how dandelions are!
I often think, who says something’s a weed and something’s a flower? Who makes that judgment or determination? Dandelion is one of those.
What’s your relationship to the moon?
Out here, it’s more looking at the stars. When the moon is huge, you’ll notice it out here, it’s the big sky country, you see so much of the sky. But with dad and my work schedules, we go to bed real early. So we haven’t seen the night sky as much as we’d like to. I probably notice the sun more. The sunsets here are beautiful, and the sunrises. By 4 a.m., the sky is lightening. Last year, when Trey came over and we wanted to watch the comet, it didn’t get dark until 11 p.m. There’s not much night in summertime. So I really notice the sun more.
The sun is part of my noon ritual. I’m supposed to go out into the sunshine at noon. So, I would say, as important as the moon is to you, the sun is my guiding light.
How do you feel when you take the time to step out into the sun for your noon ritual?
Good, lovely. Happy. For a second. But that’s usually the busiest time of the day, and for this last year, I just haven’t done it. I’m looking forward to getting back to that. I’m going to make that a stronger thing. It was based on the seven pauses, so I tried to do seven at once, with alarms in my phone to remember. But that’s a lot to remember — your reminder alarm is going off all the fucking time! “Oh, which thing am I supposed to do now? It’s the lotion-my-hands hour! It’s the illuminating hour, I’m supposed to go out in the sun!”
But I like to “spread the sunshine.” “Shining” has been a word of mine forever. I try to smile at other people and spread the light. I try to shine on other people. When I did that on purpose, it made me feel so good. I really tried to notice people and be in conversation with them. But sometimes work pulls me back.
Is there anything else you’ve been thinking about that you’d like to share?
The birds! I’ve been noticing birds a lot. An eagle landed on the big telephone pole by our house, and we both got super excited, and then I saw two eagles flying on my walk, and two little bluebirds, and a hummingbird just came by. We’re now going to put out four hummingbird feeders all around the house for the one that we’ve seen for one second.
But these little tiny blue ones … I love to notice how they sit on the wires, two facing one way, one facing the other. And we have these little finches, so we watch those a lot. We have two barn swallows, and of course we just adore our chickens. We’re going to get a bunch of new chicks. I really love the birds and I love hearing them. We have meadowlarks here, so when I get out of the car in the morning, it’ll call to me, and I’ll call back. So we talk a little. Because I’m the only one at school then.
I do love my birds. That was one worry when I moved out here … there’s no trees, but they must have places to live. And of course, you know how your dad and I love the owls.
What does raising chickens add to your life?
We’ve been feeding the chickens scraps, so when we get home, they just come running as fast as they can with their wings going. Just watching them, sometimes we act like we’re talking for them when they’re doing stuff. Watching them and doing stuff for them gives us joy. And I like going to gather the eggs.
And maybe just caretaking. I’m growing my garden, I’m doing the chickens, getting back to the land. I’m making my own bread now, I really like that. That seems important to me. I think it’s important for everybody, but I’m not sure how to get everyone there.
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