I recently learned that anyone who lives in the country, has a farm or walks in the woods can make tea from a hundred different plants and flowers, and it’s perfect. Maria makes mint tea all the time from things grown in the garden.

Today, Maria suggested making dandelion tea while we were reading and sitting outside looking at the birds showing up in large numbers (I’m taking my bird lens and tripod outside tomorrow if there is sun) for Spring. I jumped at it. I’ve never made my tea.

We spent the next half hour collecting a large cup full of dandelions and removing all of the green stems to keep the tea from getting bitter. Then we took the cup inside, dropped it into a pot of boiling water, put it through a sifter, let it steep for a few minutes, and had tea and scones for lunch (and tuna fish and quinoa).

The tea was delicious, and we had fun making it. I love learning things that lots of people know about but don’t. Anyone can do this; it’s much cheaper than buying those teas at the supermarket (which I also do sometimes).

I felt pretty civilized drinking tea that we made and scones that we love.