Why Nettles Are Worth The Sting: According to Mom
(My mom in a patch of Echinacea--I didn't have any photos with her harvesting nettles, but this picture is one of my favorites!)
This blogpost is dedicated to my mom who passed away almost 16 years ago on April 6th 2010. She was my first horticultural teacher. But she was more than that, she taught me to respect nature, to listen to what it is telling me and even thank it for its gifts. Right now it's nettle season, and I know my mom would have had her eyes peeled and her clippers ready! This one's for you mom--see I'm STILL harvesting nettles!
Me, My Mom, and a Few Nettles:
My mom was one of the first people who introduced me to the magic of plant medicine. She was an herbalist who taught me to grow, harvest, and understand the healing energy that plants could offer us. She also had a gift for wildcrafting—spotting medicinal plants in their natural habitat—nettle was one of her favorites to find in nature because it is a plant that one typically does not grow in their garden!
Keeping a spare pair of gloves and clippers in her car, as if she knew we were going to spot some at any given moment, my mom would literally stop, en route, and excitedly clamber up a hillside to tangle with this stinging plant. She didn't care if we were late! She'd take off her hat or bring a bag with her for gathering, and mindfully harvest. She always asked for permission somehow--to who, I do not know, maybe it was to the trees, to the nettles, or the powers that be. But I'd see her pause before she picked, almost like she'd be in prayer. And at the end of it all? . . . I'd hear her say "thank you." Driving away she'd remind me how important it was, with whatever plant we were harvesting, to only take what we could use and to leave enough for everyone else, humans, animals, and especially the bees.
Now if I you have never felt the sting of a nettle, I highly recommend it. You might think I'm crazy, but I'm dead serious! Yes, it can hurt, but in an odd way it feels good too. Sometimes it can create a welt, other times it barely feels like anything. Every time I have been stung though it feels as if the plant is giving me a jolt of powerful medicine. I have mentally thought of it as a form of acupuncture, or a shot from Dr. Nature. The sting itself has been known to help arthritic joints, so on an off day, you might find me in my garden during spring time purposefully stinging my achy ankle. Metaphorically, nettle is also a teacher to me. Showing me that some of the most valuable things in nature come wrapped in a little bit of a challenge. The sting of the nettle, although it might hurt, reminds me that sometimes our healing doesn't come easy.
When To Harvest:
Nettle is at its peak potency in the spring, when the plant is young, tender, and bursting with nutrients. For me, this is the true sign that spring has arrived! In spring, the leaves are soft and the flavor is bright and fresh. This is the window when you want to harvest—roughly from when the plant first emerges through late spring, before those little flower clusters start to form.
Once nettle flowers, everything changes. The plant begins to shift its energy into reproduction, which means the leaves become tougher and more fibrous. More importantly, the plant develops tiny crystals called cystoliths in the leaves—these can irritate the kidneys if consumed in large quantities.
So if you're going to harvest nettle, do it right: get out there in spring with your gloves and clippers, look for that bright green, tender growth, and harvest before the flowers appear. That's when the medicine is strongest.
Preparation and Nutrients:
When my mom and I would get home from our forage, my mom would dry bundles for winter tea and blend it into magical tonics. Later I learned how to use it in soups, make pesto out of it and even throw it in my smoothies! Nettle is a sort of superfood, but instead of buying it at the store, you can find it on your hike! I personally started growing some in my garden because I love it so much. Every time I harvest, I think of mom. The connection with this plant can get a little metaphysical for me.
Nettle is genuinely nutrient-dense. It's loaded with iron, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and K—the kind of mineral profile that makes your body actually feel supported. When you're drinking nettle tea or eating it in a soup, you're not just consuming a plant; you're taking in concentrated nutrition that your body recognizes and knows how to use.
Beyond the minerals, nettle has been traditionally used to support the body in several meaningful ways. Many people turn to nettle tea during seasonal transitions, finding it helpful for managing seasonal allergies naturally. It is not a coincidence that the best time to use nettles is in spring when they are just popping out of the ground! Others use it for its anti-inflammatory properties—my mom would recommend it to friends dealing with joint discomfort or general inflammation. There's something about nettle that seems to calm things down from the inside out.
It's also deeply nourishing for the nervous system and the kidneys. It's the kind of plant that herbalists have relied on for centuries because it actually works. It supports energy, helps with water retention, and just makes you feel more grounded and resourced.
My mom taught me that the best medicine doesn't always come from a bottle or a prescription pad. Nettles teach me that lesson every single time I encounter them-- drink them, get stung or eat them! It's a plant that demands respect, rewards intention, and gives back generously. Whether you're harvesting it wild from a hillside, growing it in your garden, or simply brewing a cup of tea on a quiet morning, nettle is a reminder that nature's most powerful gifts often come with a little edge.
