HERB - Nettles.

[RoseThstle@aol.com]

At the risk of repeating perhaps another post, Nettles were used in early 
spring as a tonic.  In Ireland and Scotland the new plants were picked before 
they had hard spines.   The new leaves have a high amount of vitamin C and 
cooked in early spring.  If you look in medevial cookbooks, particularly 
Irish, you will find more information.   

Now, if the fibers were spun and woven into cloth, I could be wrong, but I 
doubt they were..  When dried they can be quite brittle.   The fibers are 
strong and the nettles are thought to fight rheumatism so some enterprising 
person could have thought of weaving the nettles into wool or linen.   And if 
worn in sachets they were also thought to protect from curses.

I forwarded this to our "goddess of the spindle"  Maybe she can shed more 
light.

Caitlin

    
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