I'm a self confessed nettle pusher. I want everyone to be as addicted to them as I am. For some reason that's not the case - people can't be bothered, are a little scared of the sting, or trepidatious about wild plants.
So when I put a shout out on a local Facebook gardening group that I run, people had no problem sharing nettles from their farms, where they'd rather dig them out and be done with them all together. As much as I try to persuade people to eat the weed, they're not overly keen. And so I end up with boxes of it, spikey and pungently green, to dry and cook with whilst fresh.
The woman I collect them from works in mental health. It's a particularly stressful job at this time. We talk about being grounded in nature, and coming into the body through being with plants and animals. Her daughter has a chronic illness and they moved to the country to care for her. We talk about the book 'The Body Keeps the Score' and the importance of educating people about how their minds work, and biochemistry. I think to myself about how much I want to bring people to plants, because plants bring me into my body.
Nettles appear just when you need them most, usually when you're suffering from hellish hayfever. They're anti-inflammatory so are said to reduce the symptoms of hayfever (inflamed sinuses and so on) and it's also a natural antihistimine. It always makes me marvel that a plant will grow at exactly the time you need it most. Yet we tend to ignore nature more than we should. It's like it's tapping us on the shoulder and we're going 'oh yeah whatevs', when really we should be listening.
I was reading the other day that a guy in the UK swears by touching nettles and intentionally stinging himself early in the season which helped entirely get rid of his hayfever. There's a lot to be said for these stories of medicinal plants. Whilst there hasn't always been the 'scientific' research needed to make these plants more 'popular' and accepted, loads of stories like this are valid, and worth listening to. At the very least, it's full of iron and other vitamins and minerals, so why shouldn't we be adding it to our food, rather than buying plastic wrapped greens at the supermarket?
And I adore adding nettle to my food. Dried or fresh, it's a fantastic green to add nutrients to all kinds of things, like these inspired wontons with tofu, garlic leaves, shitake mushrooms and lots of nettles. It's simply a matter of blending the ingredients with a splash of tamari and maybe some ginger, and wrapping them in wonton wrappers, steaming and perhaps frying if you'd like a crispy bottom.
Tonight's dinner is roast fennel, garden swedes, asparagus, and layers of other plant goodness.
One roasts in minutes - fifteen for the swedes, and potatoes for another fifteen, add the fennel for fifteen, then the asparagus, nettles, the last of last year's sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped garlic leaves, salt and pepper, and bake until beautifully tasty and caramelised. Add a dollop of coconut yoghurt or vegan fetta, some finely chopped fennel fronds, parsley, calendula.
It's a medicinal plant feast that doesn't taste like medicine at all.
This is how I like to deepen my relationship with herbs, through stories, and food, and community.
And so I continue to push nettles, and hope that people learn to live with their sting.
With Love,
The Herbal Hive Community
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I need to tell a friend who suffers from hayfever every year about the nettles! It's definitely worth a try to sting yourself with them and try to finally get rid of it. He is the kind of guy who would try it without hesitating :)
I found it interesting that you say plants appear when we need them the most.
Right now I'm in an area where a lot of sage grows in the forest, and I'm wondering if that is for a reason.
What do you know about sage?
I'm sure I'm gonna gather some the next days :)
Sage! Oh gosh I love sage so much - when it's growing full season, I know to gather it to make an oxymel so that when winter and sore throats come around, I have a gargle/syrup to stop it in it's tracks! I have never found a more effective sore throat remedy. I don't tend to use as much honey as a normal oxymel, because honey is expensive and I don't mind ACV taste at all (yum!). I was totally in love with turmeric/honey paste for sore throats, but since found sage vinegar/oxymel is superior for me.
Oxymel?!!
Oh goodness!! That's a whooollleee other post!!! I'll try to get around to it this week!
Aah, that sounds great! I need to gather some more, for now we were just burning it, I love the smell!, or smoking it, it tastes great with tobacco or also without.
Thank you for the insight, for now I haven't gotten into medical uses for herbs, but I always love to get inspiration :)
Well from one nettle pusher to another I also hope people learn to live with their sting! Earlier this week I picked armfulls of the wonderful nettles and .... just think what I can do with that!
And on another note: swedes. We battle to get them here. In fact I recently planted my first ever swede seed aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then the chickens had a feast yesterday. I see only three survived but I'm excited about my first homegrown swede. As you so perfectly summed it up @riverflows:
"It's a medicinal plant feast that doesn't taste like medicine at all..."
Aw, I hope you grow some!
I'm having success growing things in the wicking beds, like beetroot and fennel. Swede would probably do okay there too. I find timing is everything - and rainfall. Half of them have gone to seed now! Then we get a huge rain dump. sigh.
Wow. I see such plants in my area but I see them to be weeds and don't really pay attention to them not knowing they are really good. Thanks for sharing I'll join you in your nettle pushing. !PIZZA
@riverflows! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @teknon.
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They are! Let me know if you pick them!
Sure
I am so hungry now! Your posts tend to do this to me! I love nettles so much. I actually pick them and eat them. Is there a way not to have them burn your mouth? I usually keep plantain ready to relieve the sting in my mouth. Maybe it's sadistic that i kinda enjoy it. I also fell in a nettle bush just a day before i had a photoshoot as a model. I actually didn't give a shit and it felt so good in so many ways.
Hahaha!
I believe that crushing them a little before taking a bite will do the trick.
How do you know witch one to eat?
Do you mean nettles or herbs in general? Some I just know (like nettles) because they are soooo common and recognisable. Others I will spend time identifying in books or online until I am sure.
I was asking about the nettles.
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Yes I am totally with you on this, I love nettles, they are such a wonderful addition to any garden and to your diet. I love the look of those wontons, Yum!
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Thankyou @trucklifefamily!!! They are so easy to make and I buy the wrappers from the Chinese grocers. Hoping to make lots of crazy herb wonton!!!
I lost most of my nettles in the build. There's a new stand of them in the briars along the front pasture fence. I left them this year in hopes they'd get well established.
Is a nettle pusher related to a firestarter? ( Prodigy joke )
This was a fun read! You seem to be in your element in this new/ rebranded community, I can really feel the flow and energy of your writing. Do you mind me absorbing some of that? I would be lying if I said that my trip to The Netherlands recharged my batteries. I don't regret it though :^)
Big hug,
Friendcent