Nettles

Stinging Nettle is an herb that grows wild all over the place. A while back, I had the opportunity to go to a wild foods class. There I learned about how to identify stinging nettles. I had heard about this herb before, so I went out and found some to transplant to my garden.

The leaves have one of the highest protein contents of any plant. Back in WWII, when meat was rationed, people would use it in all kinds of things to up the protein content.

From what I understand it is a jack-of-all trades when it comes to medicinal uses. Some common uses are: arthritis, an herbal treatment for allergies, relieves hair loss, treats Celiac disease, bleeding, bladder infections, skin complaints, neurological disorders and a long list of other conditions.

I grind it in a coffee grinder and put it in capsules to take as a supplement. I also use the leaves in soups or to make tea.

There is quite a list of drug interactions so if you want to use it, do your research. I'm not a doctor :) It is a diuretic and can affect blood sugar and blood pressure. Be careful!

The fresh leaves and stems can sting you so I only sell the dried form.

Our chickens love dried nettles. Not sure about fresh ones. Occasionally our flock gets a “cold”. Usually if this happens, they drop production for a few weeks. Sometimes they even go into a molt.

This spring when they started to sneeze, I put some dried nettles in a pillow case and stuck it in their water. Within a couple of days the sneezing and coughing had stopped and the egg production was better than normal.

It's a pain to harvest (quite literally), but we have decided we need to grow a whole lot more of this gem :)

Have you learned something? One wonderful life rule is : "Learn something every day." It's a good rule. If you have, you can go back to bed now :)