Dandelion Flower tea

Did you notice how fast dandelion flowers have appeared overnight and all the trees are not barren anymore? As we enter the spring season and the Wood element in Chinese medicine, have your allergies flared up with sneezing and watery eyes? Do you feel restless, angry or more irritable? Does the warmth of the sun and the flowers blooming naturally lift your emotions? Do you stand taller now and you carry a "spring" in your step?
Wood element is ruled by the Liver and Gallbladder energies, thus the common "spring liver detox" programs.  Liver energy rules the eyes and an imbalance is characterized by "windy" conditions: sneezing, red itchy eyes, sudden bursts of anger, headaches that come and go, PMS, indecisiveness. It is the Liver energy that maintains the free flow of qi, which is the basis of mind, body, and emotional balance.
Gardening has been a great way for me to be in touch with the seasons & with Nature, and has provided much philosophical pondering and wonderful spiritual lessons. Garden and you will never feel lonely.
Thus, the dandelion flowers were calling out to me yesterday and I remember fondly a dear elder, Mrs. Georgia, who passed away last spring and of her dandelion flower wine. I have not made dandelion wine, but "I can certainly have dandelion flower infused water", I thought to myself. So I filled half a pitcher of water and picked twenty or so dandelion flowers, covered the pitcher with a thin cloth, and set the pitcher in the sun. After a few hours of gardening, I mashed the flowers in the water and strained this sun tea and enjoyed it with a squeeze of lemon. The light honey scent of the dandelion flowers was divine! Today, just as many of the flowers as I picked yesterday have bloomed! Try it and enjoy. (Don't pick the flowers if the lawn is sprayed with pesticides, nor from roadsides).