This has been the hottest, driest summer I can remember. Many plants have gone dormant, including the whole lawn. 

Here's the best dandelion recipe I've ever tried! Made it tonight in fact. (see picture above.) It tastes heavenly!

http://www.rebeccawood.com/food-as-medicine/dandelion-greens/

Dandelion Greens
Brush away the protective blanket of last year’s foliage and a scant layer of soil to expose dandelion crowns. Don’t bother gathering from plants that have gone to flower. Here’s why: as the energy moves up to the blossom, the greens becomes quite bitter and require blanching to be toothsome.
The flowers, however, may be used to make wine or Honey-Preserved Blossom Spread (see below). Please note: do not gather dandelions from lawns, public trails, roadsides or any chemically-tainted area.
Back home with the goods, I pick over my haul and discard extraneous leaves and grasses. I’ll sauté the crowns (and leaves) with an onion and garlic and season with a pinch of sea salt and few grinds of fresh pepper.

Spring! March, 2011. It's tough. I've been wallowing in what ifs and watching my daffodils turn brown before they were even supposed to be blooming. Add to that the fact that today I mis-identified a pretty little seedling tree, and pulled it with my bare hands, brought it in to look online for the proper name.

Given the way things are not as they have always been, this will be the first time in my life that I had an allergic reaction to poison ivy. I hope not.

The one thing that seems constant in this Spring of change, is the prolific dandelion crop. So it's time for dandelion soup and dandelion tea. Recipies to come!