A Whistling Milk Thistle View
Weekly Prompt 30 of 52 of Dancing Elephants Press
The purple of the milk thistle and the golden sunset suffused me.
During our most recent walk, Dorrit, one of my good friends remarked that I am not great at identifying plants and flowers. I admitted that she was absolutely right, which is why I did some research on what I first called a beautiful plant for me to stop and admire during my run. I found out that the milk thistle is a highly invasive plant, because it grows in dense patches, outcompeting native plants and depriving them of water, sunlight, and nutrients.
Introduced to North America from Europe and Asia during colonial times, the milk thistle has been historically used as a medicinal plant. Due to the fact that it can grow in a variety of soil types, the milk thistle is one of the most resilient plants, which also happens to be pollinator friendly.
According to the website How to grow and use milk thistle — Tyrant Farms, technically all parts of the milk thistle are edible.
- Roots — the large carrot-like taproots on the young plants can be cooked and eaten before they get too old and fibrous.
- Leaves — the leaves can be cooked and eaten like spinach, although it’s advisable to cut the spines off first.
- Flowers — the young flower stems can be eaten before they mature and hollow.
- Stems — the immature flowers can be used to make sun tea; some people report eating them like their relative artichokes, but that seems like a lot of work relative to the reward, given their relatively small size.
- Seeds — mature milk thistle seeds are the most commonly used edible part of the plant.
Not only was the sunset glorious, but I learned more about the milk thistle, a resilient and beautifully-colored plant that produces thousands of seeds that are viable in the soil for at least nine years.
And yet, I have no desire to cook it up soon or eat parts of it.
Many thanks to Dr. Preeti Singh for the wonderful nature prompt. I can always write about nature and sunsets, so I combined both in my haiku.
And I loved reading this lovely poem by Douglas Lim, as he relished some wonderful views just like me.
I also enjoyed this lovely poem about joy and finding our inner child by Garima Sharma.
I am honored to be part of The Dancing Elephant Publication and have five of my essays published in Holistic Journey Toward Wellness, a wonderful anthology. Please buy it and enjoy its positivity year-long.
For more poetic musings and short-form philosophy, please check out my new book, Inspirational Signs for More Sunshine in Your Life and Morsels of Love, A Book of Poetry, and Short-Form, published in 2021. You can also order directly from my website www.carmenmicsabooks.com to receive an autographed copy.
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