Nettles

Okay, allergy season and its ugly side affects have hit. John is the target. I seem to have escaped the curse all my life. Anyway I thought I might check out some natural helps for him.

A few posts on the net came up with nettle tincture and echinacea tincture. I flew to my herb room to the tincture cabinet and what do ya know. I had the wherewithall to make those two tinctures last fall.
A tincture is an infusion of an herb in vodka or brandy or other high alcohol contents. This is a simplistic definition but it fits with how simple it is to do. I basically forgot about mine and didn't strain the herb out till now. And that is perfectly fine. And they last oodles of years.

You can take a dropper full of it under your tongue or in a little water. I need to see what the dose is more specifically so I can be a bit more scientific, but I do rely on intuition sometimes. Gasp!

I only used a small amount of the echinacea as that can work the opposite way. And today I am just using the nettle tincture.

In the picture on the left is the stinging nettles and on the right is the wood nettle. The difference? Stinging has opposite leaves right across from each other, and wood nettle has alternate leaves and less stinging hairs. Please have fun looking them up in books and on the web as there is so much to know about these wonderfully nutritious and medicinal plants.

After I took the picture I made a pot of hot nettle tea with a few other nettles I picked and will take my cleansing drink as soon as I am done here.