On our most recent no-school day, our family decided to go on an adventure. We headed out to the Siuslaw River Road, a Backroads Scenic Byway that runs from Lorane to Whiteaker Creek through the coast range. Our plan was to find some nice creek bottoms to play in. We turned off on one gravel side road along a tributary stream to have our picnic lunch, and found a patch of newly emerged green nettles to my delight! I was so excited that I picked them bare handed, which I have done once before and do not recommend.
My wild foods instructor up in Portland once said that he picks nettles with his bare hands all the time and doesn’t know what the fuss is about. He told us we should just buck up and we would be fine, but I am put off by the tingling and numbness in my finger tips for a day or so afterwards. I am reminded of the fairy tale of the seven wild swans, where the sister must make garments for her brothers out of nettles to return them to their human form after their evil stepmother cast an enchanted spell upon them. The girl’s hands are described as raw and bleeding. I should have seen the lesson in this fairy tale when harvesting nettles. In any case, nettles are worth the trouble and gloves are helpful.
We travelled on to another side road which dead ended at another tributary stream with an overgrown road/trail on the other side. There was a nice little waterfall here, and a pool that looked like it would be inviting in the heat of summertime. We crossed the creek on a log and headed off to explore the alder and maple forest of the ravine.
I headed home with my wildharvested bounty and brewed up a big jar of fresh nettle tea. If you have never tried nettle tea, I cannot say enough good things about it nor recommend it highly enough. It is extremely good for you and is high in protein and vitamins including zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron, folic acid, potassium and carotene. It’s good for a wide variety of things including intestinal issues, allergies, healthy pregnancy, coughs, urinary tract infections, hair loss, removal of toxins in the body, blood purification, and an overall tonic. It will also keep you from getting scurvy, and nobody wants scurvy. I love to drink it in the late winter and early spring when I feel like I just haven’t been getting quite enough green things to eat. The lovely green color of the tea alone makes me feel like I am ingesting a good healthy dose of plant vitamins.
Love hearing about you and your family's adventure. It's funny that you were at the Siuslaw River, but a part of it that's not by our house. I know so much of the Siuslaw River, but I'm realizing there's so much of the river I do not know. I love your harvesting pictures. The nettles around here are still really small, I am so excited to go nettle harvesting this year when they get a little bigger. I appreciate the health info about nettles. And I've never tried Douglas-fir tip tea, I'm intrigued. Thanks for sharing your joy with the world.
Love, Taryn
You live pretty far down towards the mouth in Mapleton. This upper part of the river was narrower and didn't have any tidal influence, but was still muddy and slow. Do you dry your nettles for tea? I dried a few to store. I am seriously wanting fresh nettles right now and am hoping to implement a regular picking plan so I can eat them fresh through the spring. I'm glad other people are as into nettles as I am!
Yep, we dry our nettles for tea and soup. We usually dry them by the woodstove on a screen since we always have the fire going that time of year. We also eat them fresh, steamed with veggies or fresh in soups. Jeff and I are big lovers of nettle! We should go nettle harvesting together, that would be fun!
Nettle harvesting together sounds like great fun! Let me know when you are going.
Your nettle tea is so good. I am excited to go out and harvest soon. With all my recent health issues I could use the nutrients. It really feels like the earth is waking up from it's winter nap.