Spring Weather, Wyoming Spring Flowers, Medicinal Properties of Dandelion

Looked out the window this morning after I awoke, to see tiny white specks falling in the air.

My first thoughts were:

1)  Pollen from trees?

2)  Insects?

3)  Snow?

Yes, it was snow.  Or perhaps a combination of the three!
Being mid-March, anything can happen with Wyoming weather.
I drempt last night of an intense snowstorm where three to four inches of snow had fallen within an hour; it was nighttime and I was looking out a window at a street and sidewalks, blanketed in snow.

Friday evening I checked the weekend weather forecast for my town, and also all of the surrounding towns within a 3 hour radius.  Yesterday was damp, overcast and bleah.  Today we're having extremely high winds (gusts over 50mph!) and snow is predicted.

On the brighter side, yes the insects ARE out -- last Sunday I was in the Bighorn Mountains and saw some on a mountainside.  And green plants are beginning to poke up out of the snow.  I saw no wildflowers yet, but perhaps in a week or so they'll be showing their colorful blossoms.

 In Spring of 2011, this was the first wildflower I saw in the mountains -- a buttercup.

 

 

 

The Pasque Flower

 Thistle

 Last year I gathered young greens from dandelions found on the forest floor in the mountains.  Dandelion is a very medicinal and nutritious herb:

Dandelion has remarkable nutritional value, is very high in vitamins A and C, has more beta carotine than carrots and more potassium than broccoli  or spinach, plus healthy doses of iron and copper.

Dandelion is antibacterial, and it inhibits growth of Staphococcus aureus, pneumococci, menigococci, Bacillus dysenteriae, B. typhi, C. diphtheriae, proteus.

The white sap from stems or roots contains latex and may be applied to the skin externally to ease pain of sores and insect stings, and can help eliminate warts, acne, corns and calluses.  Caveat:  people allergic to latex should avoid external contact with this plant.

 A naturally un-caffinated coffee can be made by roasting and grinding the roots.