School of the Wild
  • Home
  • About
  • Team Programmes
  • Case Studies
  • Insight
  • Contact

Insight

How Eating Nettle Seeds Can Help With Stress

3/11/2015

 
Picture
Fresh green stinging nettle seeds growing on the plant
Nettles are a superfood, and nettle seeds can help with stress. Here's how to use them, or you could find out more at one our of outdoor team building programmes. 
It's September and we're at our workshop on Wild Food and Medicine, led by bushcraft and woodcraft teacher Jonathon Huet.

We're a large group, and as we wander along the forest paths, Jonathon points out plants that are good to eat or can be used as medicine, like chickweed, elderberries and the like. I'm at the back, chatting to herbalist Lucinda Warner who tells me that nettle seeds are good for adrenal stress.

I'm keen to hear more, as I've been feeling pretty stressed out lately...
​[​Click the Read More link to see more]

​Nettle seeds it turns out are great for skin and hair, and for supporting the kidneys and strengthening the adrenals. They are adaptogens ie they help you adapt to stress, and are loaded with minerals and trace elements.

​Henriette's Herbal (www.henriettes-herb.com) says this about them:
Back in the 1800s dishonest horse peddlers in Germany, Hungary and Ireland (and probably other places) used to give 1-2 handsful of nettle seed a day to horses for about 2 weeks before they took them to market. This gave the horses shiny pelts and a youthful appearance, and brought a handsome price. The youthfulness of course disappeared once the animals got to their new homes - no nettle seed. 
A German doc, working at a home for the aged, heard about this in the mid-1900's, and thought, hmmm, interesting, "Nurse! 1-2 tablespoons of dried nettle seed a day to all our inmates please." And his patients got interested in life again, got the energy to do things, and some of them even got some fire back into their libido.
Ever since I read about that German doc I've use nettle seeds for run-down, overly tired, burned-out, or just bone-weary people -- folks who would do things if they just had the energy for it.

​Lucinda explains how to use them:
  1. Pick the green seeds directly off the nettle plant
  2. If eating on the hoof, remove any sting by rubbing the seeds gently between your fingers into the palm of your hand, then eat.
  3. If you're gathering them, dry them first and gently rub through a sieve to remove the stalks.
  4. A teaspoonful a day is a good dose, working up to a tablespoonful when you know you can handle that much.
  5. Fresh seeds are okay, but it's best to dry them as "they have a gentler effect," she says.
  6. Nettles are free and grow all over the place, but if you're picking a lot, please be respectful to the plants, only take what you need and leave enough for them to re-seed. (Forager's guide: only take about 10% to 20%.)

(Whilst it's more satisfying and connected to pick your own, nettle seeds only grow in the wild in summer and autumn, at other times you can buy them on Amazon or eBay.)
Picture
How the dried seeds look when collected in a storage jar
​

At School of the Wild, we bring leaders and teams outside to help them reconnect and think differently, so that they are inspired to change the way they work. We incorporate activities like foraging for wild food to help people think differently and to create space for meaningful conversations. Have a look at our outdoor team building programmes for leaders and teams or get in touch for more info.

Comments are closed.
    Nigel Berman, School of the Wild

    Author & Curator

    Nigel Berman is the founder of School of the Wild.

    Blog HOme

    Categories

    All
    Away Days
    Campfire Conversations
    Case Study
    Leadership
    Networking
    Organisations In Nature
    Purpose
    Talk
    Team Building In Nature
    Teams
    Video

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Organisations

  • ​​Team Building​
  • Away Days
  • Walk and Talks
  • ​Why Nature
  • Guest Speaker

Leaders

  • Courses​
  • Leadership​ Development

About Us

  • ​Our Story
  • Blog​​​
  • Our Team
  • ​Locations
  • ​Sustainability

Support

  • Contact Us
  • ​FAQs​
  • Privacy
  • Covid ​
We offset our carbon footprint via Ecologi
Picture
The movement for
​Regenerative business
Picture
Picture
Picture

Sign up for News from the Wild:

By subscribing you agree to us sending you occasional emails with info about our services. Unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy
School of the Wild
​c/o 26 Seafield Road,
Hove BN3 2TP
Tel: 07764 404992
​email: [email protected]
© COPYRIGHT 2015-2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photo used under Creative Commons from gilgit2
  • Home
  • About
  • Team Programmes
  • Case Studies
  • Insight
  • Contact