Chamomile tea- relaxing and soothing. (digestive, muscle spasms and earache) Sometimes, I sprinkle in cinnamon or ginger to change the flavor or add a spark. My grandmother use to boil dried chamomile when I was a child and dip a cotton ball in the solution and place it in a painful ear. (hot, but not enough to burn) It stopped the pain. I think the inner ear pain was from the extreme outdoor cold. I loved to stay out playing in the snow and was oblivious to the cold temps. Never saw a doctor for ear pain as a child, so not sure if the ear drums were inflammed or what. The chamomile worked everytime. I've planted seeds twice in NC and can't get it to grow. Peppermint tea- energizing and soothes an irritiated stomach. Beneficial for nausea. High Cacium tea-pg. 51 in Rosemary Gladstar's book, _Family Herbal - A Guide to Living Life with Energy, Health and Vitality_. 1 part horsetail (shavegrass), 1 part nettle, and 1part oats and oatstraw Sometimes, I add a teaspoon dried bilberry leaves, too. (great for eye health) Sometimes, I spice it up with other herbs/spices. Add powdered pumpkin seed for a zinc boost or dissolve a tsp. of bee pollen. I buy in bulk. Garlic- cooking with fresh and dried. Parsley- dried and fresh currently growing. I add it to lots off stuff. (soup, tomato recipes, meat, potatoes) Chives- fresh. Great with butter(margarine) bread with cut chives sprinkled on heavy. In salad or home-made salad dressing and just about everything else we eat. Red clover tea- (used occasionally) great for clearing mucous (especially, bronchial) R. G.'s book--> detoxification herb and respiratory tonic Supplements Hawthorn berry-heart Bavarian Seasoning- made by Penzey's (brown mustard, rosemary, garlic, thyme and bay leaves) I've added this to all types of soups and veggies and meat. I really like the aroma and taste! Oregano (dried) in potato soup. yum I use several others, but not regularly. On my to do list, I want to get some stinging nettle growing on our land. Nettle is suppose to be rich in iron, calcium, potassium, silicon, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and chromium as well as host of other vitamins and minerals. I want it fresh to use in place of spinach. It has a variety of medicinal useages. I never knew what a wonderful plant it was, my only memory from childhood is the sting is painful. Anybody here use it?
ahhh yes, those rotten stinging nettles....... :waa: just kiddin, We have them all over the place I always have to hack it down to get to the currents in my "special" picking spot. I don't use them but my grandmother says that when they are young they make a nice salad. I'll try to remember to harvest some seed later this year. You may have to send me an e-mail or remind me. Anyway that darned stuff will grow just about anywhere the ground has been disturbed... Let me know if you will want some.... working-mom
Nettles are very useful plants indeed, but they do try to punish you for taking bits of it! But Nature really does look after us. If you look nearby, you'll almost always see a dock plant. When the nettle bites, rub on a dock leaf. Or, if you've already managed to harvest some nettle before it bites, use some of the sap from inside the stems to rub onto the sting. Pain and relief from the same plant!
I know nettle will grow in the mountain region of NC and probably other parts. Any idea how humidity,heat tolerant it is? If it'll grow here, I'd love some seeds. I'll do some more checking on my own, too. Place I'd like to get it started beside a stream also has pines growing. Our woods are primarily pine surrounding our pond. So, I need to check if nettle tolerates acid pine needle soil, too. Er, and sandy soil, too. Shepmom (Diana)
Ok, Culpepper, now I understand what Wildman Steve meant by "Dementia Botanica" stated so wisely in his book. Going to look up Dock plant.... Thank you for the anti-burn tips. If I grow and harvest it, I plan on harvesting with gloves on. Will it leave anything on the gloves that might burn me if I make contact with it?
We are fairly dry out here in western Nebraska but I think that they will grow around pine trees as that is probably the most dominant tree life in this area. It gets pretty hot out here in late June through mid Aug the temps can get up to 110 degrees. Sometimes a little more. I usually find it growing around the semi shaded areas along ditches and creek beds. Now out here in the late summer they get a kinda powdery "residew" on them so when you brush them with a sweaty leg or arm then it feels like its on fire. :waa: I know that if you ever have a fire with these around and especially poison ivey/ oak you need to use extreme caution so you don't inhale the smoke and ash as it can cause burns and chemical reactions inside your lungs and mucus membranes in your nose. I will do my best to remember to send you some. Just remind me from time to time.
Thank you for the additional information. I hear you about remembering. lol I tend to feel overloaded most days. Too much stuff to do and remember to do. Diana
Culpepper, is dock plant anouther name for jewel weed? I think the Native Am. had anouther name for though I can't think of it at this moment. Lyte
I would like to know more about the dock too. Could it be yellow dock? Burdock? One of my biggest problems is getting past the differences in common names. They vary so much regionally. Now, as for herbs I use often. I LOVE plantain. I use it in a poultice for mosquito bites all the time. For bee stings, I like a lavendar poultice. I also use lavendar oil, or fresh lavendar in a posey for headaches. I make sleep pillows out of a mixture of hops, lavendar, and chamomile (sometimes with a bit of lemon balm). I've use a lemon balm tincture in the past for anxiety, but I honestly don't know if it's the herb or the vodka doing the trick :haha: . I love black tea to sooth a nervous tummy, and a tea of mint and fennel for digestive upset. Calendula water is my favorite hair rinse. It makes my hair really shiny. A toner made of 1 part witch hazel, one part vodka, and a few drops of tea tree oil is great for acne breakouts. While I don't make my own lavendar oil, I always put a few drops of it on a cotton ball, and leave it in the bottom of my garbage can under the bag. Whenever the can is opened, all I smell is lavendar and not garbage! I have one practice that makes people laugh, but I swear by it. I eat an onion every day. Onions=fortitude as far as I'm concerned :haha: . I could go on forever. I figure, if you love herbs, learn about them (I've been reading about them for years, and I'm still only a beginner), and find as many ways as you can to use them in everday life!
Wildman Steve mentions that Plaintain will also work against the sting. dumb question, but...... If I seed the nettle will the other plants show up? Or, will they need to be seeded/planted to be available? Diana
I believe nettle is very heat/humidity tolerant. I am in NE Texas, very humid, very hot. We have tons of nettle, everywhere. Even around our pine trees. I havent seen as much around the creek (down in some bottoms) as on top of the hill. Actually, it grows really really well in my gardens. Some day, I am going to harvest it. It makes really good addition to manure tea fertilizer too. Good luck!
Thank you MamaJ. I need to walk around and take a closer look, maybe it is growing here and I've just missed it. How much do you add to the manure tea? Does it matter? Does it add mineral? I was going to try making my first batch in a 5 gallon bucket. (straw, manure (duck and sheep) and water and let it set a few days) I use the duck juice right out of the pool, it works great on all my potted plants.
Jewel weed and dock are quite different. The only dock I remember growing up (with all those stinging nettles) was braodleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius), but here we have curly dock (Rumex Crispus) and bloody dock (Rumex sanguineus) all over my "lawn" - they all work for stings. Jewel weed is the common name for many plants of the impatiens family (busy lizzy is another common name for them), but impatiens capensis or impatiens pallida are the varieties used to counteract poison ivy and stinging nettles. I am not sure if you could use the bedding plant varieties in the same way.
We usually just put a handful in there, I dont guess it matters. This weekend, we went to work a portion of garden that hadnt been touched, and we have a rather large crop of stinging nettle there.... We just left it. My husband has told me that when they were kids they would eat the fruit that came after the flowers, real seedy, but real good. Think I will try some of that... We usually just till it in the first tilling, but didnt get it done this year. A 5 gal bucket is what we use, fill with poo,straw (bedding) and some nettle, add water and let sit. The longer it sits, the stronger it gets. I also found a wonderful gold mind,,, An old compost barrel (uhm, trash can) that was about half full of hog pen cleaning, a little chicken coop cleaning and kitchen scraps thrown in. Well, it was forgotten (compost is the kids job, they started using a new barrel) We have had lots and lots of rain, this barrel filled with water, then we had lots of hot sun, and presto! instant liquid fertilizer of the strongest kind! PEEEYUUU TOOO!!! Cant wait to use it...
