Nettle A safe Haven & A Tonic For Spring

 uriica dioica urticaceae

Much of the old lore has been lost and patent medicine have been allowed to usurp the place of herbal tea, but at last herbs are coming into their own again    

 Eleanor Sinclare Rhodes - A Garden of Herbs 1936

The nettle with its white flowers and dark green leaves is a common sight on road verges on waste ground  on the margins of fields and woods, in church yards.  They prefer moist, rich soil. There are three varieties of nettle in the UK: the Common Stinging Nettle, the small Annual Nettle, and The Roman Nettle which has green flowers.

To many people at my allotment nettles are something to be eradicated  with a glyphosate based weed killer. I would never suggest  that nettles should be left to grow without some control, the perennial stinging nettle is herbaceous plant with creeping roots.  In loose new dug soil rich with organic matter and high phosphate levels it can spread very quickly The creeping surface stems can extend  for a considerable distance, rooting at the nodes and producing aerial shoots. The annual Nettle can produce 10,000 seeds or more.

I had nettles growing on the edge of my plot by my water butt where they flourished as the prefer moist soil which I provided each time I dipped my watering can into the butt.  However after a few too many painful stings to my arms and legs I dug them out.  I moved them to the bottom of my plot near the crab tree.  This area is out of the way and is easily controlled by regular hoeing of the creeping roots and seedlings.  Sometimes they spread into my grass but  with frequent mowing the roots soon disappear.

It is small annual nettle that  so often stings the unwary garden in late Spring and Summer.  The Annual Nettle for a small plant  packs a hefty sting, however the heftiest sting is caused by the Roman Nettle, thankfully quite rare. The sting is  contained in the hairs of the nettle.  The sting contains three chemicals, histamine, which irritates the skin, Acetylcholine which gives the burning sensation  and Serotonin which cause the two chemicals to interact when a careless brush of a nettle  by a hand or bare leg.  Plantain leaves are the best remedy for nettle stings better even than a dock leaf or lavender.  Just crush the leaves and rub it on the skin.

Roman soldiers probably brought nettle plants and seeds with them when came with Julius Caesar to Britain.  They would flay their legs with nettles, and rub them on their cold feet and hands  to warm the skin and return the circulation after long marches in the chilly and damp climate of Britain.  This practice called urtication is still used to day by herbalist for treatment of gout. Many of the remedies for sports injuries today create a burning sensation usually called Deep Heat very like the sensation of a nettle sting.

Elsa Knitting nettle shirts
Wild swans Hans Christian Anderson

Nettles have been used as a herb and   also for weaving cloth for thousands of years, shrouds have been found in bronze age burials woven from nettles.  It was used  extensively for clothing, sheets, tablecloths until the sixteenth centenary in Scotland. Only beginning replaced by the introduction of flax and cotton. 

In the Hans Christian Anderson Fairy tale called The Wild swans, a tale of the enchantment of 11 brothers by their evil stepmother who turns them into wild swans. The spell is broken by their sister, Elsa knitting 11 shirts from nettles.

During the First World War in Germany clothes and even army uniforms were made from nettle cloth.  In England in The Second World War 90 tons of nettles were collected yearly.  from the nettles its dark green dye was extracted for camouflage material and the chlorophyll for tonics and other medicines.

Nettles are wonderful healing herb, Hippocrates, 460 to 377 BC, recorded 61 remedies for ailments using stinging Nettles.  Nettles in Spring can be valuable tonic, Nettles have a high vitamin  A & C content plus iron..  Nettle wine and beer are popular country drinks, especially in Spring.

I drink nettle tea in Spring, sometimes adding young mint leaves.  Nettle soup is also a favorite.  So grasp the nettle (with gloves) and enjoy.  This recipe is based on a recipe from James Wong's Book Grow your own drugs.

25g/1oz butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g/14oz potatoes, peeled and chopped
450 g/ 1lb freshly picked nettle tops (wear gloves to collect), washed
1 litre vegetable stock
150ml/ ¼ pint double cream
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pan, melt the butter and gently cook the onion and garlic for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and nettles and fry for 2 minutes. Add the stock and cover, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Leave to cool.

2. Purée the ingredients with a handheld bender, then stir in the cream and season with a little nutmeg, salt and pepper. Reheat and serve at once.

But my favorite is Nettle Pesto  is based  on another James Wong  recipes

Just cook a big handful of the tender young nettle tips (about 150 g one cup) in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain, then drop into a blender along with some freshly grated Parmesan, 2 chopped garlic cloves, I prefer to use wild garlic cloves, a handful of pine nuts or sunflower seeds and about 80 ml  of olive oil. Whiz until smooth, then spoon over freshly cooked pasta and mix in well. It will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Only collect nettlesaway from road pollution and where no chemicals have been sprayed.

red admirals feeding on sediums
Telegraph

Nettle are important not just for their food and medicinal value they are important habitat for wildlife,   Bees and our butterflies are in decline and Bumble bees visit nettles for food and for some of our icon butterflies' life cycles nettles are crucial. The Red Admiral butterfly lays its eggs from June to September on the young leaves of nettles the caterpillar makes a tent at the base of a leaf and as it grows make bigger and bigger tents until it makes a tent of several nettle leaves when it is ready to pupate into chrysalis.  These tents are easy to see  from July to October.

Other butterflies that use nettle to lay their eggs are the Comma, Peacock butterflies lay their eggs on the under side of nettle leaves.  The Small Tortoiseshell lays hundreds of eggs on the underside of young nettles.  the painted lady butterfly lays her eggs on several plants including nettles.  the list goes on.

Nettles can be invasive, there sting is painful and unwelcome, but before reaching for the weed killer think about leaving a patch of nettles for the butterflies. The reward will be the sight of theses beautiful insects fluttering about our gardens in Spring and Summer and even on warm Autumn or Winter days. Watch them while, perhaps, drinking nettle wine, beer or tea.

With Reiki blessings

Merryb

The Dandelion

The Dandelion
taraxacum officinale 

Everyone knows this plant, In May the meadows,filled with the radiant yellow blossom can be seen from long distance.  The leaves including the roots are eaten as salad.  In autumn there roots contain a lot of sugar.  Hare, Rabbits. birds and cattle like it very much. The Dandelion has existed since the time of creation of the universe and sows itself.  Father John Kunzle, Herbs & Weeds, 1911 

I do have dandelions on my plot, I have a patch by the gate.   I love to see the the sunshine flowers in Spring and the bumble bees that nest on my plot appreciate their early flowering. One naturalist counted 93 different insects visiting a patch of dandelions.

 I try not to let them seed and produce that wonderful round seed head like  a white downy clock that I use to play with as a child.  I would  huff and puff them away counting the time.  I do not do that now as I do want them to seed all over my plot as they are difficult to root out once they get their tap root down into the soil.

 Gertrude Jekyll  recommended carry a blunt knife with you as you garden and tackle dandelions with it.:

If you cannot get the dandelion right up you should scratch away some of the top soil and cut away the root as far down as you can with the blade of the knife. Gertrude Jekyll 1908.

For many people the dandelion is just a despised as a weed, but it is a valuable healing herb that has been used for thousand of year and probably longer.  The Ancient Chinese Herbalist  would prescribe dandelion for colds, bronchitis, boils ulcers, obesity  and for kidney and bladder infections.  India's traditional Ayurvedic physicians prescribed dandelion for a similar list of complaints.

In the middle ages the "Doctrine of Signatures  used by physicians stated that parts of  plants having a resemblance to any part of the human body will have a therapeutic relationship and treat dieeases of a particular organ,therefore, the yellow flowers of the dandelion were linked to the liver's yellow bile and considered a liver remedy and a treatment for jaundice and and gall stones.  This Doctrine also valued the dandelion as diuretic because its has juicy leaves, stems and roots linked it to urine production.

By the 17th Century the  herb was well know for being a diuretic in Europe and in England where it became known as piss-a-bed from the French pissenlit.  I can remember as a child that anyone who picked a dandelion was taunted by that name. The Pilgrim Colonist in America took Dandelion seeds with them to America, were the native Indians soon recognized it as a powerful  herbal detox and tonic in spring.

 Today it is still used as a herbal infusion in Spring to detox the body and young leaves are recommended as a blood cleanser and are beneficial to the digestion, to the kidneys and in bladder complaints like cystitis. The leaves contain high degree of potassium unlike some of the other remedies for kidney and urine complaints which can cause a loss of potassium. Potassium is vital for the heart, kidney and other organs.

 Drinking dandelion tea or coffee can be beneficial to suffers of rheumatism and arthritis.  If you get stung by a bee or other insects split the stem of a dandelion flower and dab the milky sap  onto the sting for to soothe the pain. A Tea made from the young leaves gives a wonderful boast to the body and Glennie Kindred suggests Dandelion Tea made from the leaves or coffee from the roots is:

....a very useful herb for emotional stagnation, turning depression into expression and self empowerment.

Dandelion wine is one of the best country wines I have ever tasted at one time the flowers would be picked from hedgerows and fields edges but nowadays it is best made with cultivated dandelions as there is no knowing what chemicals may have been sprayed on the ground.

Do not use Dandelions if you have kidney stones and if used as diuretic for slimming it is best use it for only a few weeks.

The Dandelion's flowers glow in the sun like jewels and they are in fact a jewel of a healing herb.

With Reiki's golden light

MerryB

...........

Couch Grass A Healing Herb, Or An Invasive Weed?

While browsing through a bookcase full of old family books I came across a Pelican books called British herbs by Florence Ranson which must have belonged to my mother.  It was written in 1949.  I took it into my study and sat and started to scan through it.  I was totally surprised to read Couch grass was a valuable herb.  I only saw it as an invasive grass that crept into my beds and I  had to tussled with it every year. 

Pops dog obviously knew this plant as healing herb because she would often seek out and eat couch grass at the allotment in preference to other grasses.  So this grass that I considered a invasive nuisance had been known since Roman times and through the centuries as a valuable herb. During the Second World War it was grown to replace imported herbs need for bladder and kidney ailments. It cleanses the kidneys and liver and herbalist down ages have acclaimed it as a beneficial herb.

  Gerald writing in the sixteenth centuary wrote:

"Although the couch grasse be an unwelcome guest to fields and gardens, yet his physicke virtues do recompense those hurtes."

The French consider couch grass as a spring tonic where it is made into a herbal tea to detoxify the body. The Swiss naturopath,  Dr. Alfred Vogel  recognized that this tea was: 

" an: excellent infusion as it stimulates the liver’s cleansing capabilities as well as promotes the body’s natural immunity to fight against diseases easily and for long term."
 
 I was ignorant of the herbal benefits of couch grass until I read Florence Ranson's book,  but Pops instincts leads her to eat this grass as a detox,  Couch grass tastes sweet and is a member of the same family as the sugar cane.   Birds and poultry enjoy the seeds,in fact all grain and plants Millet, wheat, rye, oats and barley are cultivated forms of this family.

The part of the plants used as a herbal remedy are distilled from the roots which are harvested in the Spring and Autumn.  All those rhizomes and roots I try to dig out of my beds at my plot. Despite being a beneficial herb,  I do not think it is a herb I will be brewing tea from at my plot.   Apparently it does not have a pleasant taste when made from the powdered roots, although some people like the sweet taste of a green juice made from the leaves and stems of the plant.

I still think it is an invasive grass but as I dig it out I will have more respect for it as a healing herb.

 With Reiki blessings

Merry B