Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century German visionary, described the process of coming to fruition as “the greening.” Here in the Chicago area, where I live, we are witnesses right now to the greening of every garden space, vale and riverside! The promise of life, the evidence of what is to come … the fruition has come. And one big part of the fruition is …
… dandelions!
They remain resistant to my attempts at natural controls. I do not use toxins in my yard, so these babies require hand pulling, and with my schedule, I don’t always get to them before they go to seed. Every spring, the dandelions try to come in a bumper crop!
So my new approach to dandelions is this: I have decided that we will now eat them.
Got a good dandelion recipe? Send it to me. There are quite a few, so different ways to serve them up are welcome!
Dandelions actually remind me of a managing resistance handout I created for Women of the ELCA’s anti-racism educator’s network, Today’s Dream: Tomorrow’s Reality.
Finding ways to manage resistance, like placing dandelions in this spring and summer’s menus, is only intended as a little food (for thought). Indeed, now that I think about it, doesn’t being asked to change sort of feel like we are being pulled up by our roots, or even like we could get eaten alive?
The one saving grace for the dandelions in my yard will be my inability to be vigilant because I enjoy meditating in my garden more than I enjoy dandelion patrol. Our saving grace when we are faced with change or when we are invited to volunteer for transformation (which is what becoming an anti-racist is all about) is simply this: God is able. God knows us each inside out and knows just where our pressure points are; all we need do is allow God to work in us. We have it so very easy, eh? Or so it would seem …
Pass the salt!
Inez Torres Davis is director for justice, Women of the ELCA.