Herbalist Kids: Speedy healing nettle wash with superpowers

I'm going to drop the occasional herbalist-kid tip in here under the Herbalist Kids tab.

Here's an ultra simple how-to from six-year-old Shaye and four-year-old Marik on how to cure a painful allergic reaction on your skin FAST! This really works and doesn't hurt at all. Instant relief if you can get it brewed quick.

Here's the timeline according to the phone that took the pictures.

10:10 - Marik falls on his arm in a patch of stinging nettles while playing with his new soccer ball. These are big, mean Eastern European nettles. They cause an allergic reaction that leaves blisters and it hurts like the dickens. Marik has painful blisters all over his arm. BUT nettles also contain the antidote to the allergic reaction you get from them and to a lot of other allergic reactions too. (You can use the same remedy to relieve mosquito bites, insect bites and stings, skin allergies from strawberries and other skin reactions as well.)

10:12 - Big sister Shaye swings into action, picking some of the offending nettles with a rubber glove and putting them in a cup.

10:14 - Mama puts some boiling water in the cup and Shaye stirs the nettle infusion while it steeps for a few minutes.

If we had time we'd let this brew longer, but Marik's arm really hurts.

10:16 - Shaye puts a clean cloth into the hot water, takes it out and waves it in the air to cool it. You might want to let a grownup help if you are doing this while the water is still hot (like we did).

10:17 - Marik puts the cooled cloth that's wet with nettle tea on his arm. It's instant relief! The nettle burn stops stinging immediately. He's so excited that he can hardly sit still for a picture.

10:20 - The blisters are all gone. Bye bye stinging allergic reaction! Pretty good for ten-minute herbal first aid by a six-year-old! 

This is a simple herbalist trick that kids can do. It's good to know that nettles sting only when they're fresh. If you dry them or cook them, they lose their sting. Nettles are delicious in rice, or steamed with butter and lemon juice. Grownups sometimes drink nettle tea and it is good, but drinking a lot of it every day might not be good for kids.

Before you eat a new plant or use a new herb (like nettles) for medicine, it's a good idea to try it out just a little first. Especially if you have any allergies. Try nettles by pouring boiling water over nettles the way Shaye did. Be a bit more patient and let it cool off. Then dip your finger in and take it out again. Wait a few hours. If your finger feels itchy or gets read, you might have an allergy to the good medicine in nettles as well as to their sting. If not, try washing your hands with the nettle tea. Almost no one is allergic to the good stuff in nettles, but it is a good idea to check anyway.

Almost everyone is allergic to the sting of nettles, except for our Papa. But that is because he grew up in a swamp with lots of nettles. And his dad and his grandpa and his great great great great great great... grandpas and grandmas and so forth lived in the same swamp. And they had lots of nettles. And they eventually got used to them. (Unfortunately, Shaye and Marik aren't immune to nettle allergies.)

Remember to ask a grownup before you pick or eat plants. Many plants look a lot alike and some of them can really hurt you. Plants have strong medicine and we have to be careful with it. We hope you have fun trying out our Speedy Healing Nettle Wash with Superpowers. Tell your friends about it! No one should ever have to suffer from these blisters for a long time.