Love and Hate in perfect Harmony
“There’s no such thing as weeds.”
Grandad ’76
Nettle Stings and Dock Leaves
My Granny never used to tire in telling me. “Learn patience child, not all remedies can be administered on the spot. Not all spots are made of Nettles!” Forever to be followed by a chuckle (due to my constant stumbling into patches of Nettles forever ambushing me in the glorious meadows and forests near her home). Which is also a reason for my ‘fore’forename of ‘Calamity’.
As much as my Granny was gifted with the attraction for Nature, my Grandad was the first one to teach me an actual remedy. And one that stays with me to this very day (and also still use).
On visiting my Grandparents’ new home in rural Wales, the first display of my characteristic clumsiness happened when walking out onto the pathway at the side of their house, I tripped over the step, managed to save myself (acquired skill of many moons), regained my balance and did a twirl to show off to my Grandad, followed by my arms flailing straight into a crop of Nettles that hadn’t been removed yet (they’d only just moved in and the garden was a wilderness at first). A lesson in Pride.
Grandad immediately went off in search of something, he ventured all of three paving stones of pathway before crouching down and plucking some large leaves from the ground near the Nettle patch. Rolling a few of them together in his hands until he’d broken the leaves up and dark green juice was marking his hands. He came over to me as I held my arms out to him, the stinging and burning just about getting into full assault on my six summer’s old skin. He covered the angry red blotches with his hands and held them there until the pain subsided. Grandad then proceeded to tell me that you will always find Dock Leaves living near Nettles, due to Nature’s harmony.
Lesson learned and plenty used.
Found in Old Wives’ Tales
The Angry Farmer 
Ohhhhhh….nettles! And thistles if you have them there! The devil’s plants! Nasty little monsters
I spent many a summer growing up being stung and pricked by them both!
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Bane of my childhood! Although it didn’t stop me trying them out as a ‘vegetable’ a few years back after reading a bit about them.
You’ve just reminded me I was about to follow this up with a the ‘good’ side of them (there had to be SOME redeeming feature to the rascals), thanks for the nudge!
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I’ve heard of nettle tea, but I’ve never been all about trying it! How duds they come out as a vegetable?
I spent my childhood summers barefooted and untamed, and one particular time stands out where I stepped on a thistle, only to fling myself off of it howling in pain right into nettles. I was miserable! Wish I’d (or someone) have known about dock leaves!
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Thank goodness there’s someone out there as clumsy as me! Can’t decide which is worse the thistle or the nettles! I was lucky my Grandparents lived in Wales and not Scotland, else I’d have been in big trouble heh.
As for the Nettles themselves, they were suprisingly tasty! I snipped about dozen for the first attempt, not trusting for minute I wasn’t falling into a horrid trap. I rinsed them under cold water (this apparently gets rid of the ‘sting’ – which I think it did as well as any bugs. I them steamed them about a minute, let them cool a little and bravely tried them, tasted not unlike spinach and apparently very good for you. High in Vitamin C and healthy for your pocket to boot.
Crikey, I sound like Deliah Smith (English ‘famous’ tv chef from the 70s and beyond). Definately one of those little things in life I can bravely say is worth a try.
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lol! You’re much braver of a soul than I am too try them! I’ll stick with spinach!
Funny to think we have similar vegetation, even if they are weeds, so far apart in different corners of the globe. It’s a nice though, that I don’t know if I’d given a lot of thought to before this conversation.
Who said WP wasn’t educational!?? 🙂
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Reminds me of an incident when my daughter was young. I was busy in decorating a bedroom, she was out with her friends . . . when the door crashed open and she yells up the stairs that she’s stung her thumb. Well, I thought that’s what she said. So I told her to suck it and she replied she couldn’t reach it. Now somewhat worried I descended the ladder and descended the stairs. Bless her. She had fallen backwards into a rich bed of nettles. And wearing skirt (not trousers) was stung from her waist to her knees. Too late to apply dock-leaves, I used calamine lotion.
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Hehe Calamine lotion! I remember trying to drink it once, it just looked so tasty (It wasn’t).
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