Decolonial Skillshare:
Foraging dandelions from the yard and preparing them for use as food and medicine.

A thread.

Today we foraged for “weeds” in our front yard before our annual mow.

We don’t allow the dogs in the front yard and the fence prevents neighborhood dogs from “using” our yard as well.

We also do not use any sprays or chemicals in our yard—hence the abundance of dandelions!

I want to stress that you should only use dandelions that have not been sprayed with chemicals.

Do not forage in city parks or other places unless you know that they don’t have a bunch of poison sprayed on them!

Dog piss can be cleaned off, but poison is another story!

Dandelions are a great starter foraging plant because they’re EVERYWHERE and they’re easily identifiable.

Most importantly, every part of the plant is edible so you can’t fuck up and use the wrong part and get sick.

Here’s a video of me pulling a whole plant with a screwdriver.

Did you know capers are really just tiny little flower buds? You can make capers from dandelion buds!

To prepare these capers, you just gotta clean their butts by pulling off the leafy bits on the bigger ones—but they won’t hurt you to eat.

The insides of the bigger buds are very satisfying to pause and enjoy.

Once they’re all cleaned. Put them in a mason jar. Boil 1/3 cup water and 2/3 cups of vinegar with 1 teaspoon of salt. Pour over the top and you’re done. You can eat right away or put in fridge to eat later.

You might of noticed the large jar of dandelion “tea” in the background of the last set of images.

This tea could be used as a base to make jelly or other things. All you do is cut the yellow petals off the flower. I added 4 cups of boiling water to 2 cups of petals.

You can use the flowers whole if you want. People use them whole to make medicine or for eating. Look up some recipes online for ideas.

The flower butt is super satisfying to look at after the petals are cut off tho.

Dandelion greens are used in “spring” salad mixes. They’re a little bitter, but me likey.

The first thing you gotta do is cut the roots from the green bunches. Then you clean the greens in water two times: with ends together for an initial rinse, then after trimmed.

Soak the roots in water while you’re doing the other things to loosen dirt, rinse well. Then boil for two minutes to help soften the outer skin of the roots.

Remove the skin and use for all sorts of things. You can cook then and eat like a parsnip. Or dry and use for medicine.

I hope you enjoyed this skillshare.

May you always be able to find something to eat close to home.

I should mention that the greens can be cooked as well as eaten raw. I usually mix them with other bland-ish greens like spinach to offset the bitterness. I usually add a little bit of sugar too.
Here’s dinner: Dandelions, spinach, veggies, spices, and pumpkin purée.

It tasted like a version of “saag paneer” and so I used cut up string cheese as a substitute for the homemade cheese. Don’t @ me.

Topped it with some capers for luck.