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  • From: Marienne Kreitlow <marienne AT marienne.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: nettle
  • Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 09:42:32 -0500

Robert Farr gave us this interesting nettle tea recipe:

...an anti-fungal tea, which turns a deep red when ready.

To dry, cut just before they flower.  Lay outside, off the ground and in
the shade.  They'll dry in a day or two.  Nettles lose most of their
sting when dried.

For the anti-fungal tea, take a 5-gallon pail, stuff full w/ nettles,
then fill with water and cover.  Place in the shade for about two
months.  Again, you'll know it's ready when the water is a deep red.
The neatest thing about this tea:  the nettles completely disappear (not
so when making a comfrey tea).

Robert, is that the dried or fresh plants that get put in the 5-gal bucket?

Should we pre-boil the water, or is straight from the well fine?

Can we store it by freezing?

Robert continues:
Nettles aren't that bad to pick - I do it several times a year and am
not really bothered by it.  The sting, while uncomfortable, goes away in
a few minutes.

My wife, the fourth generation Minnesota farmgirl, says it's reputed to be an arthritis treatment around here: slap the effected area daily with a fresh nettle plant.

She also suggest that you have built up an "immunity" to the sting from drinking the tea.

Hope that helps - and I hope you'll all grow nettles. 

Well, we certainly don't have to try to do that here!

Thanks Robert et al.

Jerry Ford
Hei-Low Farm
Howard Lake, MN


  • Re: nettle, Marienne Kreitlow, 07/31/2002

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