Dandelions and kids go hand in hand. Yellow stains and all.
Most of us can remember being a child and playing in the green grass of spring about this time of year. And most of us can recall our first sight of those bright yellow “flowers” in the grass, and how we proudly picked them and gave them to our mothers. Our mothers then politely thanked us and discreetly tossed them in the garbage while we weren’t looking. Sound familiar?
The era doesn’t seem to matter, as that scenario played out almost exactly as I stated above for generations. What has changed is how we deal with the dandelions and other weeds today.
I thought topping off all those dandelions in the lawn with the mower blade would suffice in the weed management plan. Mom disagreed.
She never put fertilizer or weed killer on the lawn. The rain and sun were the fertilizer, and I was the weed killer. Mom would send me out with a garden trowel to hand-dig each dandelion in the yard — and she would inspect each one to be sure I got the entire root. Oddly, it was a task I looked forward to. It sure beat staining the deck or doing the dishes.
That dandelion-removal process did make mowing more challenging, though, as the cut dandelions allowed me to see the mower’s path. Without them, I had to guess on what I mowed and what I didn’t, as the dry summer months didn’t make for a lush lawn. I mowed more dead grass and dirt than anything green, but I still mowed because that’s what Mom demanded. I tried to debate the need for mowing with her from time to time, but I never seemed to win that argument. In fact, it usually ended with me having an additional task, like using those awful hand-trimming sheers to edge. So I learned to dig out dandelions by hand, mow dead grass and dirt, and shut my mouth.
Back to those yellow dandelions stains. Do you remember how they never seemed to wash off your fingers, no matter how hard you scrubbed? But yellow fingers were OK. In fact, they were a colorful symbol of being a kid, as were the green grass stains on your jeans and the black grease spots from your bicycle chain on your socks. Getting dirty was just part of the growing-up process.
Don’t you miss those days?
Have a marvelous Monday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com | 
