Zen and the Goldenrod...

    There is a quiet to the morning here.  The air is lightly cool, not quite sweater worthy.  The only sound for the moment is that of an army of crickets that must be the size of dogs to produce such a sound level.  All the school buses are off and away, the clanging, banging trash service trucks have noisily finished their job and finally it is quiet...except for the crickets.  A spurt of sunshine has pointed out the goldenrod plants that are seemingly everywhere this year.  My grandmother always said that September was the month for purple flowers.  This year the purple flowers showed up in August, no doubt due to all the rain we had in the spring.  This year I would have to say that the predominant color is that of bright yellow from the bumper crop of goldenrod blooming just everywhere.  Goldenrod often gets a bad rap because most people think that is what is responsible for their fall allergies, but the truth is that ragweed is the real culprit.  Ragweed pollen is cast into the air, irritating your eyes, ears, and throat.  Goldenrod, on the other hand, has its pollen spread by bees.  The Amish use goldenrod as an after-dinner tea.  Anyone who does their own natural dying knows that goldenrod produces a wonderful bright yellow dye to natural fibers.  Several years ago during our local cider festival I was host to a weaving artist who held a demonstration of how to make dye from the goldenrod plants.  She gathered plants from my yard (it seemed that I had more than enough!) and boiled them in a pot for about half an hour.  I was impressed by how tiny and efficient a fire site she had created for the demonstration.  While she waited for the dye to be ready, she spun wool into long yarn threads that she would eventually use in her weaving projects.  Once the dye was ready, she immersed her wool into the pot of dark liquid, stirring it and occasionally lifting it out to check the color.  Once she was satisfied with the color she added a mordant to set the dye.  After a few minutes she removed the wool from the dye pot, squeezing it dry, and then hung it out to dry.  Wow, all that from the so called weeds in my yard!  Now if she can do that, surely I can try some of that goldenrod tea from my own kitchen.  I'll let you know how that turns out.