There was enough sun and wind to hang a load of laundry out to dry on the line today. Now all my jeans and sweaters smell like the outdoors, and it’s honestly the best.
I helped my parents, a little. Took care of the dog and the cats, cleaned up the kitchen, made a batch of enchiladas. My mother thanked me for all of the help.
I also pulled up some weeds in the garden.
Specifically, I pulled dandelions up by the roots. With a shovel, as necessary, as it frequently was; dandelion roots grow deep.
Earlier I cut the roots away from the rest of the plant, and scrubbed them and peeled them and chopped them and roasted them in the oven, and hopefully tomorrow I can brew them into dandelion-root tea. Theoretically, this is going to taste toasted and earthy and a little bitter – almost like coffee, but without the acid. Not coffee. Poor man’s coffee. Broke-and-procrastinating-college-student coffee. Without the buzz from the caffeine.
I also washed some of the younger greens and boiled them and saved them in a mason jar in the fridge. Boiling softened the bitter/green harshness; I think they’d be delicious in an omelette or a stir-fry. Something involving frying pans and a little garlic, anyway.
And the petals are stripped from the blossoms and added to an almost-full half gallon jar in the freezer. I almost have enough for a test batch of wine and I am soo excited. I am also 100% stalling this process until the champagne yeast arrives in the mail, which is taking forever, but is also good practice for the six months to a year that I’m going to have to wait for the wine to age enough to be delicious. It’ll be the middle of winter before I find out if this turned out alright, assuming that nothing explodes.
I’m noticing that it’s getting easier to do this – the waiting thing. The acceptance. The knowing that just because something isn’t physically present and happening right here and now, it’s still out there somewhere, and I’ll get there whenever I do.
Patience.
Patience for the end of a pandemic, for society reopening, for seeing my friends again and holding them and laughing, for leaving the house to go to work or go to a library, for the possibility of travel and school and expanding horizons. And patience for dandelion wine.
Happy Cinco de Mayo. Lots of love.