All about the incredible medicinal qualities of nettles!

Links & resources from this episode

• Herbalism, PTSD & Traumatic Stress Course Waiting List
• Prisoner’s Herbal Book
• Prisoner's are human beings article

Find them all at solidarityapothecary.org/podcast/

Support the show

Music from Sole & DJ Pain – Battle of Humans | Plant illustrations by @amani_writes | In solidarity, please subscribe, rate & review this podcast wherever you listen.

Welcome to the Frontline Herbalism podcast with your host Nicole Rose from the Solidarity Apothecary.

This is your place for all things plants and liberation.

Let's get started.

Hello everyone.

How's it going?

This week's episode is all about nettle.

I hope you enjoyed the year review last week and some of the kind of goals I have for the year.

If you haven't listened to that episode, definitely, definitely check it out.

I'm really grateful that a couple of people signed up to be monthly supporters.

You know, maybe it wasn't that that made them sign up, but if it was listening to that show, then I really, really, really, really, really appreciate your support.

I've been working really hard on an online offering.

I've mentioned it maybe once before on the podcast, but I'm gonna be producing a herbalism and PTSD and traumatic stress online course, which is like the kind of culmination of like all of my learning through my

You know, like how we can build our own kind of health autonomy and how we can work with plant medicines.

So, yeah, a little teaser.

I'm gonna be talking about it a lot more like in the run up to the launch.

But yeah, I'm really, I'm really stoked to be working on it and it feels a bit scary to release that kind of thing into the world, but I'm hoping it will be a kind of cornerstone of my livelihood, , as a herbalist.

And I'm hoping that it'll help a lot of people because when I do one-to-one kind of clinical support.

You know, a lot of people just don't have that language around trauma or their bodies or understanding their different kind of states, whether that's like, you know, rest and digest, like parasympathetic nervous system or when

But also how like limited all this shit.

In a world that is burning and where traumatizing things are happening every day, and what is the point in healing if you're not then gonna funnel your energy into resisting and organizing and trying to change the conditions of things that traumatize you.

So yeah, so it's kind of also got this like big focus on like radical approaches to trauma and like how we frame trauma, like the language we use.

Whether we're like pathologizing ourselves or just recognizing the distress we're experiencing and kind of, yeah, some of the critiques of PTSD is like a Western concept.

But yeah, I'm, yeah.

I'm really excited.

I won't talk about it more today, but I'm going to, yeah, if you wanna know more, definitely sign up to my newsletter where I'll be announcing it first.

I haven't decided whether to do it as a kind of, Open enrollment or whether to just have like a little kind of intimate crew work through it slowly and then get feedback and tweak it and redesign it, and then do a proper launch.

I kind of feel like that might be the way that I go.

But yeah, I will keep you posted.

And yet, in terms of solidarity things, my friend Kev in prison has written an amazing, inspiring, kind of difficult to read article called Prisoners Are Human Beings, and I'll put the link in the show notes.

It's a really heartfelt article about how people interact with him as someone in prison and how that can feel challenging, especially if they have this kind of like charity case worker style approach.

Or if they're like anonymous and like not wanting to share about their lives or their photos or things like this and how that affects him.

Yeah.

And it's also about the kind of like interesting things around, you know, should we be campaigning for women's prisons to close, for example?

Like, does that justify and normalize the imprisonment of men?

And obviously, you know, there's like much more diverse genders, but like beyond that.

But yeah, it's a really interesting article and I would definitely recommend people checking it out.

And there's also like a crowdfund.

That goes with it as well.

He wants a bit more money to help people, visit him more regularly because it's like extremely expensive in England to travel on the trains.

So anyway, I would really, I'd really recommend checking it out.

So on with the show.

And let's dive in all about nettles.

Hello.

All right.

Nettles.

I think most people know nettles and know how to identify them, but I will read this anyway.

So they are part of the nettle plant family, the, Urticaceae family.

And in terms of identification, they have broad, oval to heart shaped leaves, square stems.

Their coursely tooth leaves are four to eight centimeters long.

And again, any botany people let me know if you see one that's nine centimeters long.

, , sorry.

I'm sure there's botanists that listen to this show, so I shouldn't take the piss, but it does make me laugh.

Okay.

Up the upright stem, you will know nettle because of their famous sting.

Other species Urtica urens or small nettle.

Folk names in English.

Stinging nettle, wild spinach, hokey pokey, hidgy- pidgy, Devil's leaf.

Derived from the Greek meaning of two houses.

Chemical constituents, leaves histamine, choline, acetylecholine, serotonin, and 5-hydroxytryptamine; acids including ascorbic, flavonoids, including quercetin; glucoquinone.

Minerals including calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, silicic acid.

Roots.

Phenols; plant sterols including stigmast-4-enzone and stigmasterol.

fatty acids, including palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, eicosanoic sorry, my pronunciation.

The sting itself is due to the folic acid and the action of histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin present in the leaf bristles.

Food and nutrition.

Okay.

This is where nettle shines.

Nettles are incredibly nutritive.

They are rich in vitamin C, N, a, iron, magnesium, calcium, chromium, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, and silicone.

The iron in nettle is very easily absorbed and assimilated.

The tops are edible.

Nettle is also made into beer, nettle, soup, pesto and nettle curry are common recipes.

Nettle stings go away when dried or cooked.

Ecological role.

Nets grow on mostly damp and moist soils, especially where nitrogen or phosphate rich nettles can commonly be an indicator of beautification, for example, where there is runoff from fertility or where grazing animals urinate regularly.

Nettles also commonly grow with cleavers.

Nettles can be found in woods scrub brambles, bren, and patches and fields, as well as on disturbed ground in urban areas.

Nettles make an excellent addition to hot composting batches.

Other uses.

Gabriela Hatfield describes how nettles have been used since at least the Bronze Age for making cloth and cord.

Referencing the saying, devil used nettles in May to make his shirts.

In addition, nettles have been used as hair tonics and you know, there's like 1,000,001 other uses of nettles beyond this book, just fyi.

temperature, cool.

dry.

cold depression, damp stagnation, heat excitation.

salty.

as a spring tonic and diuretic.

In their ethnobotanical research of the British Isles David Allen and Gabriela Hatfield found that two thirds of records for nettles describe their use as a spring tonic to cleanse the blood of impurities.

While spring tonic is a vague term, nettles are valued for their alterative action.

Herbalist Sajah Popham describes alterative remedies as those that open up the channels of elimination of the body, facilitate the expulsion of waste products, and adjust or alter the metabolic functioning of the body.

These alternative actions also mean that nettle can support folks with chronic skin conditions.

Arthritic pains, gout, and edema.

Many of these are associated with the energetic perspective of damp accumulation.

Nettle helps with the excretion of uric acid.

Sajah also says nettles also have a solid influence on hypothyroidism, at least symptomatically.

Herbalist Zoe Hawes remarks that Romans use their sting to stimulate circulation in their extremities and ease rheumatic pain when faced with the cold weather in Britain.

Likewise, it's common in many cultures to flog oneself or others with nettles due to their stimulating effect on the circulation.

This is called urtication, not for me, thanks, but I'm sure there's some plant queers on Instagram that would be well into that.

Let me know if that's you DM me.

Okay.

I'm just joking right.

Stop ad-libbing Nicole.

As a nutritive due to its vitamin and mineral rich content.

Nettles are often recommended for folks recovering from chronic illness or injury or just general weakness.

Their relative safety means that many people consume them daily in the form of nourishing infusions.

They can also be taken as decoction and integrated into the diet in diverse ways.

Nettles can also be infused into vinegar as a great fast way to access their abundance in minerals.

Nettles are an amazing ally for folks with anemia and blood deficiency.

Sajah describes nettles power not only by providing baseline nutrients to build the blood, but also through supporting the liver in the building and recycling of blood.

This building of the blood makes in one of our chief remedies for low blood pressure as well indicated by paleness weakness, dizziness upon rising, low energy, mental fog and dullness, and overall poor nutrition to the heart supporting the kidney.

Kidney failure can be fatal and any kind of kidney related illness like kidney disease needs serious ongoing medical attention and care.

Herbally nettles are a kidney trophorestorative.

Nettles can also support the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys.

They can have a stimulatory effect and so are better used when folks are incredibly burnt out and exhausted where they can have more of a restorative effect.

Prostate support.

Nettel is a very well-researched remedy for the prostate.

Sajah says it has been studied rather extensively in its capacity to reduce swelling of the prostate.

Associated with BHP benign prostate hyperplasia.

Nettles have also been used for impotence.

Seasonal allergies.

While not addressing the cause of allergies, nettle can offer relief and if taken longer term, can help significantly reduce or stop seasonal allergies.

People can either consume dried extract in capsules quite frequently, or folks can drink a lot of very strong decoction due to its drying action.

It can definitely help with dripping noses.

As well with redness, itchiness, and swelling in the face.

Comment to hay fever, uterine tonic.

For pregnant folks, nettle can provide optimum nutrition.

It is also a powerful ally post childbirth where it can astringe any bleeding.

It can also be used to help address spotting between periods for folks who menstruate.

Nettle can also stimulate lactation for people who are breastfeeding the diarrhea and the digestive system, nettles astringent action can support people with chronically loose stool.

When combined with antimicrobial herbs, they can also support people suffering from infectious diarrhea.

Nettle's toning action on Tissues has also led to its use for people with leaky gut syndrome.

It has even been used for internal bleeding, which again is very serious.

Nettles can also be used for urinary tract infections and inflammation.

For the lungs.

Nettle's powerful astringent action is also useful for the respiratory system.

It can help dry out excess mucus in the mucus membranes of the lungs, supporting the connected tissues and the musculoskeletal system.

Sajah states this affinity works widely throughout the body from the circulatory system, the joints, the uterus, hair, skin, and nails, the muscles and even the bones.

This is achieved through its nutritive tonic effects, as well as the inflammation modulating activity.

Nettles are chlorophyl rich and this has an alkalizing effect on tissue.

Infused vinegar is a great way to support bone health, especially when combined with dandelion and chickweed that are also listed in this herbal burns.

In terms of treating burns, following all other conventional burn advice.

Nettles can also offer support is recommended to make a strong decoction or infusion of the leaves and soak a gauze in the infusion, and then wrap around the burn area.

Cautions, nettles are generally considered very safe, however, due to their diuretic action.

Caution may be needed if someone is taking other forms of diuretics.

They can also be quite drying.

If you notice this, you may wish to combine nettles with a moist herb like mallow that is detailed in this book.

How to practically use nettles in prison.

Where you might find nettles.

Nettles will be where they're is damp, or often where they're a shade.

We used to find them in a patch near the segregation unit, which didn't get any sun.

However, they were also happily growing the sun.

They're most likely going to be growing in a patch together out of sight where gardeners can't get their hands on them to pull them up.

How to harvest them.

As you may know or may learn, they have a nasty sting.

It's hard to harvest them in prison unless you work in the gardens and have access to proper glove.

If you have no gloves, you can use the inside of your jumper sleeve or some other kind of fabric.

Just make sure it is thick enough.

You can also put a plastic bag around the top of the nettle stock and then cut them.

The getting hold of scissors is probably going to be as difficult as anything else.

Either way, the adventure of harvesting them will be worth it for the amazing nutrition they have.

The more you develop a relationship with nettles and the more you pick them with your hands, you do get used to the stings and the way they sting you.

Alternatively, the folk expression grasping the nettle now used to talk about going for something with courage is a reference to the fact that one way to avoid getting stung is also to take a firm hold or pinch the stem as you break it.

This crushes the needles and minimizes the thing.

It is important to harvest newer growth before they flower after flowering.

Once the leaves are older, there is a concentration of constituents that may be irritating to the kidneys.

Nutrition.

To really maximize all those vitamins and minerals and nettles.

The best way to consume them is to either eat them directly or to infuse them in water overnight or for several hours to make a strong nourishing infusion.

Nettles are only safe to eat if you have a way to de-sting them.

The best way is putting them in hot water.

You can also add them directly to things like soups and stews, but only really if you can cook them up as part of them.

If you just mix them in a plate with food, you'd be given, you'd probably get stung in the mouth still, which is not fun.

So unless you can access a kitchen, I'd re, I'd recommend making an infusion.

Simply add nettles to the warm water and cover.

The longer you let them sit in the water, the stronger they will be.

So you might want to experiment with the flavor that you like.

After however long, a few hours or overnight at the longest, strain out the nettles and drink the infusion.

It has a strong flavor, but is such a powerhouse of nutrition.

You can also make a nettle infused vinegar by following the instructions of how to make a vinegar in the medicine.

Making section vinegar is a great way to extract minerals from plants, arthritis, gout, or edema.

Try to drink nettle tea regularly or make strong infusions as often as possible for pain relief in the affected area.

You can also sting yourself to get blood flow to the area.

This was a traditional way it was used.

Digestive inflammation for people with stomach ulcers, titis colitis, enteritis, Crohn's, disease, reflux, heartburn, et cetera.

Drink a cold infusion of nettle, ideally combined with plants like plantain and mallow listed in this book.

People recovering from chronic illness or weakness.

Regular nettle infusions and eating nettles as much as possible.

It is also necessary to take nutritional supplements where it is not possible to get enough high quality nutrition, such as in prison.

This is especially important for vegetarians and vegans in prison.

Anemia, regular nettle infusions, and eating nettles.

Prostate swelling or impotence here, your biggest ally is the root.

On the outside people are going to be able to access powders of the root and or nettle root tincture for people in prison.

It'll be harder to access this medicine.

Options could be to harvest and dry the roots in your cell if possible.

You could then powder this up yourself and mix it into water and drink two to three cups per day.

Seasonal allergies like hayfever.

Drink a very strong infusion before going outside.

If you can continue to drink nettles throughout the winter too, then your allergies will be significantly reduced the following year.

Spotting between periods, drink nettle tea or infusions regularly.

Leaky gut syndrome, drink two to three cups of nettle tea a day.

Ideally in combination with other herbs.

Urinary tract infections, drink nettle tea.

Chest infection.

Drink nettle tea, ideally combined with other non-infectious herbs.

Burns after standard first aid for burns, eg.

If it's a minor burn running under cold water, you can then make a strong infusion of nettle leaves and soak gauze in the case of prisons, some kind of fabric or cloth that you have access to and wrap around the burn area.

Plants like plantain or mallow are preferable.

But if, if nettles are all you have, they will definitely help.

All right, that's it today on Nettles and next week I'm gonna be talking all about chamomile.

Thanks so much for listening to the Frontline Herbalism podcast.