nature's medicines in our back gardens

I apologise if you are all heartily sick of hearing about nettles, but I continue to be amazed by their many uses! These are truly an under-rated plant. Not only are the ponies having nettle tea to detox, and protect their laminae, but we are eating large amounts of it as a vegetable. There is a link to my nettle recipes from last year HERE. In addition to that, here is our current favourite soup recipe. All my kids have second helpings of this -- it's a real hit.

Nettle and Pea Soup

1 0nion
2 fat cloves of garlic
1/2 a carrier bag full of nettle tops ( I didn't have enough when we suddenly had an unexpected visitor, and bulked mine out with some hop shoots and goosegrass from the garden)
vegetable stock
1 mugfull of peas ( frozen is fine)
6 mint leaves and a couple of sprigs of marjoram
salt and black pepper
Greek yoghurt

sweat the onion in a small bit of olive oil. When it is done, add the finely chopped garlic and cook for another minute or so.
Add all your greens to the pan, and add enough vegetable stock to cover them all.
Cook gently for 5 to 10 minutes until all tender.
Remove from the heat, add the herbs, and liquidise.
Season with salt and lots of black pepper.
Serve with a large spoon of greek yoghurt on top.

Best with homemade flatbread, or cheese scones!

Another all-time favourite in our household is Nettle and Cauliflower cheese. You can't beat nettles served in a cheese sauce!

My sister and I debating our variations on nettle recipes!

It felt like we had hit rock bottom with Bethan last week. On top of everything else that was an issue for her, the weather warmed up and she started to show all the classic signs of sweetitch :( She rubbed the top of her tail raw almost overnight, and she had the typical pustules all down her crest and in her mane. I could have cried when I saw it - poor little pony. If I had been expecting it, I would have been prepared earlier in the season, but as it was a bolt from the blue, I had no treatments to hand. I had to wait for Monday before I could go out and buy her a fly rug. I don't want to treat her with DEET, as it's such toxic stuff, and I am allergic to Benzyl Benzoate so can't use that, even if I wanted to. So I did my research, and interestingly, two herbs came up in my search. Guess what.... Dandelions and nettles! Dandelions are high in B vitamins and potassium, and there is research shown in humans that Thiamine ( a B vitamin) is a strong deterrent to biting midges. Dandelions she is choosing anyway, and I also added Brewers yeast and garlic to her feed. Nettles, it turns out, have soothing properties for allergic itching when the tea is used as a wash for the affected area. Aren't they marvellous? So I washed her with nettle tea, applied some Cream to the sores, and covered her with a new fly rug. The cream I am using on her is Itch Cream, from Global herbs. I have not used it before, but I regard their products very highly. I have had some near miraculous results in the past from their Laminitis products.
So now I just have to cross my fingers, and wait and see. It's difficult to judge at the moment, as the weather has actually got a bit colder again.
Here she is, sporting her new rug. Despite Piper's brief strop about not being the centre of attention for the photo, the three girls are quite a little gang now.