You know I’m interested in Gabriola’s native plants, so that wild food festival in Nanaimo on Saturday was too tempting to resist. Off I went! There was a huge crowd, and the first surprise was the number of vendors selling nettle for three to five dollars per bag. At first this looked like a get [...]
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I came across this wiki on Salish weaving while looking for information on nettles. This is what the article had to say about their use of nettles: Twine made from the bark of nettle stems was used extensively in the manufacture of items requiring strength through a firm, sturdy warp strand. Dried nettles were damped [...]
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This is my stash, man. Remember that basket full of nettle? I dried those nettles, and this is what they look like now. Good news: easy to store, ready for more! Bad news: that whole basket of nettle amounted to only one cup of dried nettle.
Filed in food,Gabriola Island,native plants 7 Comments so far
These are the nettles I harvested in the woods today; they’re in my amazing Gabriola basket. It’s a Gabriola basket because it was hand-made on the island by a local artist — and with local materials, too! The handles are made of blackberry vines, I think. This basket is perfect for collecting nettles, mushrooms, and [...]
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Gabriola’s nettles are now a foot high in some parts of the woods. Have you picked some for your dinner? If so, you probably know that cooking removes the sting of nettles. Here’s an easy cooking method you may not have considered:
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The weather on Gabriola right now is more like spring than winter, and the nettles agree. Last year it was March when I noticed that the island’s nettles were ready for picking. This year? Baby nettle plants are already a couple of inches tall in many parts of the forest. Head out to your favourite [...]
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I picked lots of nettles the other day, brought them home, and boiled them. The tasting team then assembled. One of us liked the nettles quite a lot. One of us said yuck! And one of us (the dog) said people, this is not food. The human who didn’t like the nettles admits that nettles [...]
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You might have guessed that I’m fascinated by nettle. Now that I know I can make it into tea, spanakopita, and numerous other things, I’m eager to harvest some nettle and eat it up before it has the chance to sting me. I’ve been waiting for the right moment, and I’ve noticed that baby nettle [...]
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Stinging nettle is all over Gabriola, so I learned lots about it in a hurry soon after we moved here. It started with "Ow! What stung me?" and "how do I recognize that nasty plant so I don’t get stung again?" I wondered what point there was to stinging nettle, but after a bit of [...]
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This is from the Snuneymuxw exhibit at the Nanaimo Museum: The Salish used the same technique to spin all fibres. While spinning the spindle whorl is pointed upwards and the fibres are drawn down onto it. As the spindle rotates, it creates tension and a twist in the fibres, producing yarn. When the spindle is [...]
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