We are trying to grow our own veggies for our juices and cooking. I started celery and romaine lettuce from the stalk part in water. It’s doing rather nicely. So, I started another pot full.
April 16th was National Barefoot Day. It was my first day barefoot outside. It was a day of firsts. While out walking around our small field trail I really noticed the first green buds. I took a picture of some of the redbud. It is .4 miles circular. As I come back upon the house it makes me feel good to see the fruits of our labor…the rock work on the outer wall from rock gathered on the farm, and the deck we built over the summer.
Just this past weekend my husband got the greenhouse under roof and 
surrounded by plastic. Eventually, we want to use glass. We have yet to join and rock the two buildings. In front you will see the wagon which we hook up to the tractor to go out in the woods and gather rock. We have various seedlings going inside the greenhouse as well as the kale which is pictured.
We also just fenced around part of the garden to keep animals out. Under the hay we have potatoes planted. We have various other things planted in there among the weeds. I don’t consider dandelion a weed. I think it is as nutritional as kale. I often use it in salads, juices, and pestos.
It was also the first day of the year on which I mowed the lawn.
Dandelion is great for the bones, being rich in calcium, and anit-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Luteolin. Being rich in these anti-oxidents it could be useful for cancer prevention. It helps with liver disorders, particularly jaundice, helping to maintain proper bile flow, stimulating the liver and promoting digestion. It is a natural diuretic removing extra sugar from the body, thus being beneficial for persons with diabetes. Being a diuretic it cleans out the kidneys and removes toxins from the urinary system. Being a toxin remover it also helps with acne. Some people will use it for weight loss due to its diuretic properties. It is also beneficial for the gall bladder, anemia, high blood pressure, and is a great source of fiber. I offset it with something sweet in juicing as it has a very bitter taste.
Below is the kale we started in the greenhouse.
J. Schlenker 
I LOVE your home! What a beautiful exterior and I also adore your kitchen bench tiles 🙂 (forgot to mention it last time I noticed them but then I DO tend to get carried away tapping out comments 😉 ). Our own garden (what is left of it) is a bit sad at the moment. It’s an in-between garden and we are off to my friends house next week to get motivation and inspiration from her large fully enclosed area. She has been growing me some veggie seeds for my winter garden. She works in a nursery and is after motivation herself as we have both been hit hard by possum bombs that have eaten a lot of what we have planted this year. Even our pines haven’t been safe and the wallabies have been eating the needles including one small lovely dwarf white pine that we planted out…they ate it down to the trunk! Love the celery idea and I am SO jealous of that gorgeous kale! My 4 pathetic plants got constantly grazed over the summer by “something” that I never caught in the act and that didn’t leave a trail. I also consider dandelion to be a bonus. Most of the things that I thought were “weeds” have now been reclassified in my mental storage unit as useful and if you can find a use for them, BONUS! Even your most stubborn weeds can be pulled out and allowed to be baked by the sun and then used as mulch (if they don’t contain seed) or if you are concerned that they DO contain seed, you can toss them into a pail of water and when they reduce to a delicious highly “scented” (read STINKY) sludge, they are perfect for fertilising your veggies with…those weeds pinched the nitrogen out of your soil… they were very GOOD at their job and if you can take it back, kudos and BONUS to you! 🙂
We did the tile, too. If you looked up close you would see so many mistakes in what we do.
That’s the beauty of photography, you only let your viewers see what you want them to see ;). I can’t see mistakes and it looks lovely to me :).
Do you use the dandelion greens in your juices?
Yes, I do.
What other greens/veggies do you combine with the dandelion?
Kale, carrot, cabbage, celery, apple. Apple helps ward off any bitter taste.
I was wondering about the bitterness! The only dandelion we have growing around us are regularly “watered” by our canine and feline neighbors, and probably sprayed with who knows what pesticides. However, it’s good to be prepared should the opportunity to harvest organic dandelion arise. Thanks! xoM
Love your place and enjoy learning from you about the greens which I keep trying.