Thursday, June 14, 2007

God's Gift of Nettles!

Nettles are one of my favorite herbs. Now there are some that would call them a weed....but I have found that many "weeds" are truly wonderful medicinal herbs such as dandelion, plantain and chickweed! Nettles (Urtica dioica) is a perennial plant. It grows from 1 to 4 feet high. I usually find them about 2 1/2 feet tall. It has oval leaves. The stems are covered with stiff stinging hairs. The flowers hang in long clusters. One of the really interesting things is that Nettles has male and female flowers that usually appear on different plants...i.e. one plant will have male flowers and one female flowers. You will find them growing in moist shady areas. They grow prolifically on our mountain!

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And because I think it always help to identify a plant if you can see it in bloom.....

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The sting from nettles comes from hairs that are like sharp spines. These spines are hollow and come from a swollen "base". This base holds the "venom" which some feel is bicarbonate of ammonia. All I know for sure is that it STINGS! However heating (cooking) or drying this plant destroys the ability to sting. Here is a picture that lets you see the "stingers" up close. All it takes is to gently brush against this plant to feel the effect! Rule of thumb in our home, wear long pants when in the woods, on the way to the creek or on our mountain!

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Many cultures gather Nettles in the early spring to be cooked and eaten as a "spring tonic". It is very nutritious. Nettles is high in Vitamins C and A, calcium, chromium, magnesium, zinc, potassium, fiber and protein. Nettles is also used for its fiber... which is similar to flax or hemp. You want to harvest the flowering tops - about the top 8 to 10 inches. When you gather Nettles be sure to wear long pants, long sleeves and gloves. In other words, don't let it touch your skin until it is dried or cooked! However, if you forget and get "stung" you can rub the stings with plantain, jewelweed, rosemary or the juice of the nettle plant itself! It is amazing to me that God placed the cure for the sting in the plant itself! You never have to look anyplace else for the cure!! It has been said that people suffering from arthritis and rheumatism actually find relief from pain by allowing the Nettles to sting them....

Now...for the important part...what do we use Nettles for? Nettles is a wonderful diuretic so we drink nettle tea if we think we are embarking on a kidney infection or urinary tract infection. It has been shown to increase the efficiency of the function of the liver and kidneys. Drinking Nettle tea stimulates circulation and helps to cleanse arthritis, rheumatism, gout and eczema from the system. It increases milk flow in nursing mothers! It is also a blood purifier.

We tincture Nettles in different combinations (depending on the use) for arthritis relief, heavy uterine bleeding and as relief from allergies. Nettles is also used for asthma, bronchitis, and hay-fever. We find that the Nettles tincture helps with that week or two of spring sniffles when all the earth begins to bloom. Another wonderful treatment for seasonal allergies is honey. The trick is that the honey must come from a hive that is within 5 miles of your home. This way the honey is being made from the very plants that make you sneeze! This desensitizes your body to those plants - just like getting shots from the allergist but much more fun and tasty! I have found, since having bees, that over the years my allergies have almost all disappeared! Just a teaspoon a day will help!

We can use Nettles in a compress for painful joints, sprains, tendinitis and sciatica.

Combine Nettles with Burdock for the treatment of eczema! I have often wondered if an ointment made from these two herbs would be a good topical treatment, in lieu of a compress or poultice, for eczema. I may try that this year when my niece visits...she suffers awfully from eczema.

To make an infusion with Nettles, pour a cup of almost boiling water over 3 teaspoons of dried Nettles and leave this, covered, to infuse for about 15 minutes. Drink this three times a day.

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I hope I have helped you to see that Nettles offers us many benefits that far outweigh the "sting" factor! It constantly amazes me what wonderful treasures God created to attend to all of our health needs. Nettles is such a beneficial plant, I urge you to grow some in a corner of your homestead or find them in your area. You can also order them already dried from Mountain Rose Herbs which is listed on my sidebar!

You can find more information on herbs by using the search feature on my site. If you would like more in depth information or would like to get started learning about medicinal herbs but feel like you need a little help, you might want to consider my Medicinal Herb Course which includes a month of mentoring one on one. It is an easy introduction to the art of creating medicine at home.

I also want this blog to serve the needs of my readers. If you have herbs that you would like to know more about, please leave a comment and I will do my best to write on those herbs that I feel would serve ya'll!

Well, I am off to bake a birthday cake - Josiah turns 14 tomorrow...I can't believe it! We will be having a western party! He loves John Wayne so I bet that will be a part of the day.....pictures to follow!

13 comments:

  1. I have also found the nettle tea to be a wonderful hair rinse. If you have wavy or curly hair, refrigerate the tea, then use it as a cold rinse after you wash your hair. You do not need to rinse the nettle tea out (unless you just want to, then use a cold rinse). It makes my hair so shiny and soft. Thanks for this post. Nettles are so useful!

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  2. Very, very interesting. Nettles have always been a nuisance for me and nothing else. Now I know why God put them here! Isn't is amazing how far we've strayed from home remedies? Thanks for sharing this information. Very helpful.

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  3. Hi Kimbrah,
    Thanks for the wonderful idea on using nettles as a hair rinse! I hope to have your input often!
    Blessings,
    Cheri


    Paula,
    We have lost so much...actually I believe this is an area that the enemy has stolen - and now it is permeated with new age lies .....it is important for us to know God's truth of His provisions in this area!
    So glad you found this helpful!

    Blessings,
    Cheri

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  4. Herbs I would like to know more about are Goldenrod, Comfrey, Mugwort,Lavage, and Horehound. I have these growing abundantly in the garden and am quite inadequate in making good use of them. Thanks for educating us!

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  5. Cheri,
    Thank you so much for these posts. I love learning about all the different uses you've found for these gifts of God.
    Where I grew up, nettles grew wild, and making sure you were properly dressed for hiking was a must. We also always brought along a bag of yarrow because it is a wonderful treatment for the stings.
    Blessings,
    Brenda

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  6. Faith,
    You can read my post on comfrey here
    http://tnfarmgirl.christianagrarian.com/?p=33
    and you can read my post on Horehound here
    http://tnfarmgirl.christianagrarian.com/?p=37

    I'll work on posts on Mugwort, Lovage, and Goldenrod...thanks for the suggestions!
    Blessings,
    Cheri

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  7. Hi Brenda,
    Thanks for the reminder of yarrow...I had forgotten that one!
    Cheri

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  8. My folks' property grows nettles by the acre, I think. I never saw those pretty flowery parts, though, but often with the little buds/seeds/whatever in the last picture. We always used 'bracken fern' as an antidote; thankfully they always grew together.

    Interestingly, when I was in Tanzania in 1998 our 'tour bus' stopped at a 'rest area'. There were nettles there, though they were of a different look. Some of the silly city girls that were along got stung finding their respective bush to pee behind... There were also ferns, again of a different style. But guess what? Those ferns cured the stings for the gals.

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  9. Hi Ellajac,
    Isn't it interesting that God always seems to provide the antidote within easy reach!
    Blessings!
    Cheri

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  10. Hi Cheri,

    When is the best time to harvest nettles? We have a ton of it growing with our strawberries. Better to do it before it flowers? Could you recommend a good book that tells when the different herbs should be harvested? I have heard things should be done during the sunny part of the day, not on a cloudy day, etc.

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  11. Hi Lynn!
    What a blessing! I have to climb a mountain to get mine! Harvest Nettles while they are flowering. Each herb is a little different and a good medicinal herb book should tell you when to harvest - roots are always taken in the fall after the top of the plant has died back...

    I like to gather my herbs in the morning as soon as the dew is off of the plant but before the sun has the chance to bake them :)

    Blessings,
    Cheri

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  12. Hi Cheri,

    Thank you for the information. My four year old has extreme eczema. How would you use the nettles and burdock. I would prefer something internal. It seems when I take care of the outside the toxins just build up on the inside. She is allergic to everything: eggs, peanuts, treenuts, milk, and more.

    Blessings,

    Melissa

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  13. Hi Cheri,
    I'd love to have your medicinal herb course, but I don't know how to download on the computer, or if my computer is capable of downloading. What do you think? (I'm pretty ignorant about computers!)
    Jean
    jeanhermann@charter.net

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