Tag Archives: tallow

The Herbal Superstar that is Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica)

RewilderLife Posted on by

 

I discovered stinging nettles when my kids started displaying allergies, but also had health issues that made over the counter allergy medicine complicated. It is hands down in the top five plants and herbs I like to keep in my apothecary stash.  That stash has grown and grown over the years to include several dozen herbs, many of which I do try to grow or wildcraft now.  We use nettles in tea, pills, tinctures, salves, and in cooking on the homestead.  In fact, today’s dinner will be a sausage, potato, onion, garlic, and nettle soup. All grown here on the little suburban lot (nettles were grown at our acreage, venison for the sausage harvested there and mixed here).  So why do I love this spiky little devilish plant that will sting you and leave your skin burning for a few hours (especially if you rub it, ask me how I know)? Because it is one of the most versatile medicinal plants out there with the least amount of side effects.  *A side note about the sting, saliva can help neutralize the formic acid.

Stinging Nettle

Growing: It prefers rich, fertile soil with partial shade/sun.  You can dig up runners and transplant, and because of this it can be hard to contain.

Uses: Herbal, medicinal, culinary, veterinary, animal feed, horticultural,  fiber (cotton & linen).

Edible Parts: leaf, root, seed

How it can be used:

Tea: As a mix or on its own

Pills: you can buy pill makers or make balls yourself

Tinctures: These are made with alcohol (shelf life of, many years), vinegar (shelf life of about a year), or vegetable glycerine (shelf life of, 2-3 years).

Salves: Usually beeswax, some oil (I prefer tallow)

Urtication: Bundles of fresh leaves and stems used to sting oneself to improve inflammation.

Culinary: soups, pestos, teas, nettle beer, added to flours for pasta, etc…

Veterinary: I’d do some research on this for your specific animal and consult your vet, but it appears many animals can benefit from its uses. It can help dogs with inflammation and allergies. It can assist horses in laminitis, as well as many other uses.  In one study it has been shown to reduce parasites in broiler chickens.

Animal Feed: It contains more protein than other green plants and can be used as a feed.

Horticultural: They can be used as a mulch, compost addition, and as a spray for fertilizer and bugs. Stinging nettle fermented tea.

There is a long list of ailments people use stinging nettles for.

Gout, rheumatism, skin issues such as eczema, hormones (men and women), prostate, PMS, lactation, digestion, exhaustion, kidneys, urinary, diuretic, liver, colon, is thought to be a prebiotic, help adrenal function, and so much more. I have listed many links here for you to follow and do some reading and research on. It is a deep rabbit hole you can go down for hours.

Nutrition:

Stinging nettles are a nutritional powerhouse.  The nutritional content will depend on if you eat fresh, dried leaves or cooked ones (dried, steamed, or boiled leaves do not have the sting). Fresh leaves obviously would need careful consumption, I have never tried to consume them this way. But one of my reference  books suggests rolling the leaves up with the stingers inside the leave and consuming this way.  You can buy tinctures, salves, dried leaves, seeds and roots in bulk.  I did this for years until I started my own bed of nettles which I am still expanding, you can purchase seeds many places.  Strictly Medicinals is one of my favorite companies for medicinal seeds and plants.

 

Tallow Stinging Nettle Salve:

Good for skin issues and irritation.

Canning jar that can handle some heat

95-110 F oil (I use a mix of olive and tallow, tallow alone would be too hard) 1/3 tallow & 2/3 olive oil poured over Nettles. Make sure it is covered with 1-2″ of oil. Place lid on it.

Let it sit in a warm sunny place for 4-6 weeks. Shake daily.

Strain

Add up to 1/4 cup of melted beeswax.  You can use a plate to put some of the mixture onto it and let it cool off to test and get your desired consistency.

Store in an airtight container.

Tallow has its own healing benefits for the skin.  You can mix in other herbs like comfrey, lavender, and so on.

Links to more studies:

Nettles Study

Nutrition of Nettles

Chicken Feed

Mount Sinai- uses with children

You will not want to skip reading the above studies.  My guess is you will be seeking to buy or grow some nettles once you do. What an amazing plant!  It truly is a superstar, don’t ask me why it doesn’t get more attention.

Affiliate Links

I do make some financial benefit off of the links below through the Amazon affiliate program.  Thank you for your support!

Frontier Nettle Leaves

Starwest Botanicals Nettle Root

Nettles for Dogs and Cats

I want to remind you that I am not a doctor, medical professional or even an herbalist. Through this journey I have learned what works for our family.  Consult a professional for advice.

-RWL

 

Oral Care from the Woods and Garden

RewilderLife Posted on by

 

One of the blessings of chronic illness is it forces you to take care of yourself. It forced me to listen to my body.  Yeah, I know it sounds woo-woo. But, learning to slow down and take notice of the way things effect my body is one way I’ve found solace from chronic debilitating auto immune diseases. Because I learned to listen I figured out that my toothpaste was causing a stomach ache. Which led me to researching the ingredients and that is when I stopped using toothpaste all together for a very long time.  I just couldn’t find one I was happy with that made my teeth feel clean or had ingredients I was willing to use daily.  I also started diving into wild edibles, wild medicinals and growing medicinals in my garden.  I have tweaked this recipe over the years by adding things and removing others.  Today this is my favorite rendition of toothpaste that I feel leaves my teeth, gums and belly feeling clean and happy.

 

Pine, Yarrow and Peppermint Clay toothpaste:

4 Tbs clay

1/2 t or 1 capsule of charcoal

1/2 t Himalayan salt

4 Tbs tallow, preferably grass fed or wild harvested

Brew the liquid for the tea (combine 2 sprigs of yarrow, 6-8 peppermint leaves and handful of pine needles,  and 8 oz of water) You should first crush the leaves and needles to help the oils release then add them to the water to steep for several minutes.

Add 4 Tbs of this tea to the clay, salt, charcoal and tallow then mix until smooth.  You can now add some essential oils or stevia if you wish.  I prefer to add nothing.

This makes about 3 oz.  If it dries out you can add some warm water and stir.  I store it in a jelly jar.

With the remaining liquid from your tea…

Pine, Yarrow, Peppermint and Salt Mouth Wash

Add 2t of your Himalayan salt to your mouth wash. I store this in a jelly jar on the counter.  It does not last long so I do keep it on the counter.  It makes about 7 ounces.

Bentonite Clay:

One of the two controversial ingredients in the recipe.  It is a natural abrasive and can support inflammation which I struggle with due to my health conditions. Some say it can help remineralize teeth others claim it does not.  It does have a small amount of lead in it, but many, many things do.  Link to more info about clay and lead here.

Charcoal:

Now you can use activated charcoal or homemade charcoal from a safe tree source or you can use tablets as I did.  This is not charcoal you start your barbecue with. I think you have all started to see charcoal toothpaste on the market.  I chose this because it can help whiten teeth and is full of minerals.

Himalayan Salt:

Also chosen for its mineral content and ability to balance oral PH assisting in balancing bacteria in the mouth. There are more benefits but I will link to an actual dental clinic who wrote an article about salt rinses for oral health.

Tallow:

Tallow is the second controversial ingredient because it is a saturated fat and it is an animal product. This is a fat taken from deer, cows or sheep.  One reason is my fats are either locally pasture raised and grass fed or wild harvested.  All other fats in my region must be shipped in or are seed oils, which are heavily processed. Personally I avoid seed oils due to their effects on my inflammation.  Tallow is minimally processed to get to my toothbrush. The other reason is for its healing properties.  Tallow has been used on skin issues for eons.  I will link to a Wiki article about the vitamins and properties that make this fat so desirable for skin and oral health.  And the last reason I chose it is because tallow remains soft but not melted even at normal room temperatures.  It is why it was used in traditional pemmican recipes.

Pine needles:

The main reason for this is the vitamin c content which is much higher than lemon. Vitamin C is excellent for oral health.  They have done many studies on this.  It is the reason I also make my mouth wash with it.

Peppermint:

Cool, refreshing, and tastes good!  I mean do I need more excuses to add it?  I don’t but I  found more because thats what I love to do.  Peppermint helps with bad breath.  It isn’t just a myth, its proven!  So again I will add another study on this.  In the study they use the clinical name for bad breath which is, halitosis.

Yarrow:

I chose yarrow because of healing properties that  help with swollen and bleeding gums which you can have even if you have good oral hygiene due to inflammation and autoimmune disease.  Some interesting info on yarrow and other herbs linked from another dental clinic.

 

All of these ingredients can be purchased but I chose to grow and forage for many of them. Anything you put in or on your body can always have side effects or create reactions so it is important to consult your dentist and/or doctor with questions. I am not a doctor, or a dentist, or a herbalist.  This blog is about how I and sometimes my family do life.  We’ve found that the closer we follow a seasonal and local wildcrafted diet, the better we feel.

Links to articles noted above (also linked above)

https://wellnessmama.com/natural-home/lead-in-bentonite-clay/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2676112/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894100/

https://www.sutherlanddental.com.au/blog/benefits-of-saltwater-rinse-for-oral-health/

https://www.robinafamilydental.com.au/blog/herbs-and-gingival-health-19465.html

I also must add that the links to purchase products are affiliate links.  I have high standards and only use this for products I have personally used.  The two links I will post are for the clay and charcoal.  I have used both of these products for several years.

Redmonds Clay,

https://amzn.to/3CwmAJZ

Activated Charcoal:

https://amzn.to/3C4DbmZ