A Letter From Mom
An intimate stinging nettle experience
Sharon painting a mural on the outside of our house
Hello Erika, Alexi, Corey
I thought of you and your close encounters with herbs as I had an intimate stinging nettle experience.
We have an abundance of stinging nettles here and many casual close stinging encounters. A couple of days ago I pulled out ones that were keeping one of our tomato plants company and of course got the usual stinging sensation on my left arm. What I noticed as the initial stinging subsided was the deep tissue sensation that lingered into the next day. And no arthritis pain in my left hand or wrist.
So after doing some research I've decided to apply nettle leaves to my right hand and arm where I have much more pronounced arthritis pain. 30 seconds is supposedly all it takes. But I'll wait until I finish my paintings for the show. The healing isn't permanent and needs to be repeated so I'll use a stinging nettle salve after the plants take their winter rest.
Yes, you can post my Nettle story on substack. I'll follow up with an update after I give my right hand a nettle treatment.
Hope you enjoy today's herb group.
XOXOXO
Nettle is a weed people generally dislike, as when they touch it, it burns the hands, but they do not know the wonderful medicinal properties it contains.
Jethro Kloss - “Back To Eden” (1939)
NETTLES are so well known, that they need no description; they may be found by feeling, in the darkest night.
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal (1653)
Nettles has been known since Culpeper’s day, and long before and ever since, as one of the most multifaceted and beneficial herbs in the herbalist’s garden. There is so much that can be written about the many gifts of Nettles, but its use for “rheumatism” or arthritis is found throughout the literature. Nettles is high in protein, and naturally likes to grow near outhouses, septic systems, manure piles … rich soils. Matthew Wood sees this as a signature for one of Nettle’s essential properties, “its utility in dealing with protein waste products … [nettles] helps all protein pathways in the body — digestion, immune response, liver metabolism, skin reactions, and kidney elimination.”
In the case of kidney elimination, because of how Nettles aids in the removal of waste products (proteins/urates) from the system, it is a powerful remedy in “gout, arthritis, muscular soreness, tissue acidity, and kidney disease.” This is why, throughout the ages, it has been used both externally and internally as a remedy for the rheumatic condition.
In addition to general nutritive effects and specific effects along protein pathways, nettle also has a specific action as a tropho-restorative, bringing back function to parts that have become paralyzed, atrophied, or functionally inactive … In the old days, the part paralyzed or arthritic or gouty was whipped with the fresh-picked nettle.
Matthew Wood - The Earthwise Herbal, Volume 1
From Maude Grieve’s A Modern Herbal, we read that Nettles was also used historically as a textile, the fibers from its stalks used to weave into clothing, household goods, fisherman’s netting, etc. The early 1900s in Europe saw large trials of Nettles to determine whether or not it could be a viable crop for textiles alongside flax and cotton. In Germany, tests in 1916 found that “goods woven from this fibre were for most purposes equal to cotton goods, so that it was believed that, for Central Europe at least, a large and increasing use of Nettle fibre seemed assured. Mixed with 10 per cent cotton, it was definitely shown that underclothing, cloth, stockings, tarpaulins, etc., could be manufactured from the new fibre.”
However, Nettles’ preference for rich soils was a liability for ongoing large-scale production, as the cultivation was costly to rear the large plants that yielded the longest fibers, and they could grow flax, for example, on less fertile land for less cost.
'In Scotland, I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other species of linen.'
Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (1777-1844)
Here is a fun recipe! (Also from Maude Grieve’s A Modern Herbal):
Nettle Beer
The Nettle Beer made by cottagers is often given to their old folk as a remedy for gouty and rheumatic pains, but apart from this purpose it forms a pleasant drink. It may be made as follows: Take 2 gallons of cold water and a good pailful of washed young Nettle tops, add 3 or 4 large handsful of Dandelion, the same of Clivers (Goosegrass) and 2 OZ. of bruised, whole ginger. Boil gently for 40 minutes, then strain and stir in 2 teacupsful of brown sugar. When lukewarm place on the top a slice of toasted bread, spread with 1 OZ. of compressed yeast, stirred till liquid with a teaspoonful of sugar. Keep it fairly warm for 6 or 7 hours, then remove the scum and stir in a tablespoonful of cream of tartar. Bottle and tie the corks securely. The result is a specially wholesome sort of ginger beer. The juice of 2 lemons may be substituted for the Dandelion and Clivers. Other herbs are often added to Nettles in the making of Herb Beer, such as Burdock, Meadowsweet, Avens Horehound, the combination making a refreshing summer drink.
Below is a section from Susun Weed’s must-have book, Menopausal Years - The Wise Woman Way:
Stinging Nettle
Urtica dioica, Urtica urens
Brennessel, Ortie
A few post-menopausal women tell me stinging nettle is too nourishing, too energizing; they found themselves unexpectedly having a normal menstrual flow after regular use of nettle. The more usual effects of nettle will be to:
• Nourish, strengthen, rebuild kidneys and adrenals
• Ease and eliminate cystitis, bloat, and incontinence
• Rehydrate dry vaginal tissues
Nettle has a miraculous ability to heal and restore adrenal/kidney functioning. I know of several women who never went on dialysis (as doctors suggested) and one who even went off it — thanks to sister spinster stinging nettle. Think of what she can do for your kidneys and adrenals if they aren't on the verge of failure! Nourish your post-menopausal adrenals with nettles and they'll produce enough estrogen to keep you looking and feeling juicy.
• Create strong, flexible bones
Nettle infusions, vinegars, and soups are fantastic sources of calcium, magnesium, potassium, silicon, boron, and zinc: the strong bone sisters. Nettles are also a source of vitamin D, necessary for keeping bones flexible.
• Stabilize blood sugar
Rich in chromium, manganese, and other nutrients restorative to glandular functioning, nettles, I suspect, help prevent adult onset diabetes.
• Reduce fatigue and exhaustion; improve stamina
Nettles nourish your energy at the deepest possible levels with intense supplies of iron, chlorophyll, and copper.
• Reduce and eliminate headaches
• Nourish and support the immune system
• Nourish and heal the digestive system
• Nourish and strengthen the nervous system
• Prevent cancer
Nettles are an optimum source of the vitamins critically important for health: vitamin B complex (especially thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin), carotenes (vitamin A), and vitamin C (ascorbic acid and bioflavonoids).
• Nourish and energize the endocrine glands
• Nourish and rejuvenate the cardiovascular system
• Normalize weight
• Ease and prevent sore joints
• Relieve constipation and reduce hemorrhoids
• Nourish supple skin and healthy hair
Nettles' super supplies of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and micronutrients nourish every bit of you, encouraging optimal functioning in all aspects of your being.
Enjoy cooked nettle greens all spring, but be sure to harvest and dry enough for winter-time infusions, too. Pick nettles only before the flowers emerge. Fresh leaves left to steep in olive oil impart a rich taste and innumerable healing qualities to the oil. And it makes a lovely vinegar as well.
Dosage: 1 cup/250 ml or more of dried leaf infusion daily.