Working with Nettle

Have you ever been ambling through the woods on the way to your favorite swimming hole, bare legs out in the summer heat, when suddenly you feel a biting, itching sting, only to realize that you’ve walked through a patch of stinging nettle? The prickly hairs of nettle are full of histamine and formic acid that say, “hey! pay attention!” and will promptly get you to reorient to your surroundings. You may even think to yourself, “how can such an innocuous seeming plant pack such a strong punch?”

Nettle is such a plain seeming plant that is anything but. It seems that one reason why nettle is so keen to reach out and grab our attention is that it is such a wonderful plant ally for our bodies, nourishing and cleansing so many systems of our bodies. Those stinging hairs are really just trying to wake us up, to move the stagnancy out of our bodies and spirits and make space for all of the goodness and healing of the medicine in this plant. Sometimes the least flashy among us has the most wisdom to share.  

In this vein, it isn’t a surprise that nettle is a great example of food as medicine and can be eaten as a cooked green or taken as a long infused hot tea or even infused into vinegar to be used as a nourishing salad dressing. It’s especially great as an addition to pesto; just be sure to bruise those leaves if you’re using it fresh!

A note on harvesting: nettle is as in tune with its surroundings as you and I are, and a little intention will go a long way when you are harvesting this plant. Instead of approaching the plant with trepidation, try taking your time to tell the plant what your intentions are, and when it’s time to harvest a portion, grasp the upper part of the stalk with a firm, caring touch as you cut the portion that you need. You may just find that this interaction gets you less of a sting while still managing to wake up your soul in its own sweet way.