Taraxacum Officinale

This post comes after yesterday's Springtime weather - and after my having seen a solitary dandelion growing up and out of the small space between the sidewalk and a building.

Another of the under-appreciated and misunderstood "weeds," the common dandelion persists as a highly adaptable and hardy plant. It is actually classified as a "beneficial weed" due to its wide range of use, including but not limited to the following: 1) its introduction of key/essential nutrients to the soil, 2)  its use in a wide variety of cuisines and food dishes, 3) its utility in folk and modern-day medicinal practices, and, most beautifully, 4) its implementation in the art of adornment, bodily or otherwise. One can't help but to think of small children with flecks of yellow in their hair or faint golden streaks on their faces and hands.

Community Gardens

Although the height of blossoming has passed for most gardens, I find that I am always nostalgic for the city's community garden-spaces. Just down a few blocks on South 2nd is a lot that, until recent weeks, remained defiantly green despite the cold and diminished sunlight. A number of hand painted signs hang loosely upon the chain-link fence, one declaring the area as always welcoming new members and another, purple and faded, with a cartoony silhouette of a dog to remind owners to keep the city, especially its cherished green hideaways, clean.

And now again I dream of my future rooftop garden, if ever a structure is meant to exist; and my bitterness at the change of season from Autumn to Winter becomes more palpable with every gust of harsh city wind as it reminds me the hardships I will most definitely face when maintaining my own urban plot.

Come Spring I will have a share in this community soil.