Forum:

farm income

nettles as a cash crop

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 15 years ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I just uploaded a video featuring skeeter talking about how nettles could be his biggest cash crop:

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

great video, i grow nettles in my garden too. they are one of my favorite plants.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Ute Chook

Posts: 39

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Lovely video indeed. I don't grow nettles, they grow themselves - in abundance!
I use a lot during the growing season for the chickens as there is so much of it and it's very nutrient-rich. Donning long rubber gloves I strip a pound or so of tops + leaves into a container, packing them tight, fill up with boiling water and after ten minutes or so blend the mix with a blender stick. The 'nettle spinach' is then mixed into the chickens' morning mash. Free nutritious chuck food.

Joe Skeletor

Posts: 113

Location: Blue Island, Illinois - Zone 6a - (Lake Effect) - surrounded by zone 5b

posted 14 years ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I worked at Frontera Grill / Topolobampo (Rick Bayless' restaurants) and they would buy nettles from a local farmer in the spring. Multiple Garbage bags of them at a time. Think they were paying 6 or 7 dollars a pound.

Cash crop indeed. Gotta find more like-minded restaurant chefs!

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Joe O' wrote:Gotta find more like-minded restaurant chefs!

It's possible that just offering them something no one else sells will be enough, in some cases.

"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I would think that there are some fancy pants restaurants that would make some serious coin selling dishes featuring nettles. And, therefore, there would be some folks doing some harvesting that would make some serious coin growing it and selling it!

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

theres also a pretty good market for organic nettle tea.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Posts: 47

Location: Ohio zone 4-5

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Dried nettles could be mixed with other dried greens as a greens formula for super food supplementation. I see these offered for as much as $62.99 for a 30 0z canister. Not all list the contents, but with those that do I don't see nettles listed.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

In the video, I think skeeter makes and excellent point about the amount of money he could earn from nettles alone.

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Wyatt Smith

Posts: 112

Location: Midwest zone 6

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

If anybody has a market for these, I will harvest all you want and wholesale to you at a reasonable price.

I know a location along a flood bottom on public land where stinging nettle establish big monoculture patches over 1/4 acre and shoulder tall.

ronie dean

Posts: 631

Location: NW MO

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Mangudai wrote:
If anybody has a market for these, I will harvest all you want and wholesale to you at a reasonable price.

I know a location along a flood bottom on public land where stinging nettle establish big monoculture patches over 1/4 acre and shoulder tall.

Truthfully i would only use those flood nettles in dire emergency. It is hard to say what settled on them from upstream.

Sometimes the answer is not to cross an old bridge, nor to burn it, but to build a better bridge.

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

they would still make great rope material. i usually go for the tallest patch i can find for rope/string.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I suspect that if you make a sheet that talks a wee bit about recipes and the value of nettles and then packaged them (with a lot of air) in a regular produce plastic bag, then I would think you would be able to go to a farmer's market and sell them for $5 per bag. I would think that at a lot of farmers markets, you would be able to sell 20 to 50 bags.

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Wyatt Smith

Posts: 112

Location: Midwest zone 6

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

My nettle spot is below the spillway of a lake which contains a town water supply. Not much crud gets down there.

I might have to give this a try.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Somebody was telling me that a pound of nettles would easily sell at a farmer's market for $8.

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

fresh? or dried?

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

fresh.

I think dried gets a lot more per pound.

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

yea they sell dried nettles at the natural food store here for around 12-15$ a lb. never seen anyone selling it fresh, most people are turned off when you mention stinging nettle.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 14 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I think about half the people would be keen on the idea of "what? you can eat it?" and then wanna tell their friends "I ate stinging nettle!"

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 13 years ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski is a popular permaculture instructor well known as a first class wildcrafter. Skeeter shows off a patch of stinging nettle he is growing intentionally. This is in the fall. He talks about getting three crops out of this patch each year. First, a crop of edible leaves; then a crop of seeds (urinary tract medicine) and finally a crop of root cuttings (prostate medicine). He says that he gets about ten bucks a pound for stinging nettle root cuttings and the small patch will produce about 35 pounds.

Skeeter says that stinging nettles are a dynamic accumulator, accumulating iron and other minerals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2vXlEPhwBE

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Todd Chinnock

Posts: 5

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Going on my third growing season at my place and the nettle that showed up last year out of nowhere is popping up again. As I am just now beginning permaculture practices I am starting over with the plot. I already have a persimmon tree that provides yearly revenue for my family, but would like to take advantage of the possibilities of my new volunteers!

any resources on exactly how to prepare it? Also, maybe you can ask skeeter if he knows of folks who need more nettle than he can provide!

Michael Skeeter Pilarski

Posts: 184

Location: Port Townsend, Washington

posted 13 years ago

10
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Hi y'all, message from the nettle wildcrafter hisself.

Great to see so many nettle fans. I make more money from the root then I do the seed or the tops, but it all adds up.

If you can sell it fresh to restaurants, CSAs, farmers markets, Then $6 to $8 a pound is the going rate. but it has to be only the tops 2 to 5 inches of tops.

For dry nettle tops for medicine (and for food) I get $16 A pound. And for this I can use the top 12 inches of nettle tops including the stem. It has to be dried nicely so it is good quality. Still retaining a nice green color (does darken some). hard to air dry in a humid climate. I use a big dryer with electric heater.

Most every herb store will sell nettles. I tell people there is a relatively unlimited market fro dry nettles, but you gotta find the market. Retail, wholesale. The bigger the market and the more wholesale it is the less the price per pound. Just the way almost everything in commerce is.

Eat lots of nettle, drink lots of nettle tea. Good for whatever ails you - or helps keep you from getting ailments.

nettle love

Michael Pilarski

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

thanks for the info, your the best skeeter!

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

ronie dean

Posts: 631

Location: NW MO

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

The roots are also highly prized for allergy/upper respiratory relief. I get plenty of relief from the leaf tea, but others swear by the root.

I have asked this before (with no response) - has anyone found a stand of nettles with tubers growing along the underground runners/rhizomes? I found golf ball sized tubers on the rhizomes once and spent time making certain that they were on the stinging nettle rhizomes. The tubers were attached to the rhizomes and small nettle plants were growing above the ground from the same runners.

The tubers were unknown to the botanist at the local university and it is quite a puzzle to me.

It would seem that, since the root seems to be the most valuable, propagating and reproducing the tuber could prove lucrative.

Sometimes the answer is not to cross an old bridge, nor to burn it, but to build a better bridge.

John Polk

steward

Posts: 7926

Location: Currently in Lake Stevens, WA. Home in Spokane

350

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I must add that stinging nettles are also an important companion plant. Most mints, and Mediterranean herbs will have greatly enhanced aroma if grown with stinging nettle. Most plants planted amongst SN will have better pest resistance. It can help deter slugs and snails from the plot. It has also been reported to increase egg production in laying flocks. You do need to keep it under control, as it will spread quickly.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 52409

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 13 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

More on nettles: http://www.richsoil.com/nettles.jsp

My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!

Brice Moss

Posts: 700

Location: rainier OR

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

This is timely for me as I have several nettle patches springing up where the foul and goat wastes have been adding exess nitrogen, so I have a few questions

when is best to harvest for eating fresh and for drying? ( my plants seem to be in varying stages of maturity righ now)
can the exess be cut and stacked like hay to dry for animal fodder and how much can be cut this way without killing the patch out?
How much root can I harvest without hurting the viability of the patch?

I'd rather harvest from the patches that are occurring by themselves than to try and force them to grow elsewhere as they seem to like a couple deeply shaded corners that nothing else seems to want to grow in.

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 13 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

when is best to harvest for eating fresh and for drying? ( my plants seem to be in varying stages of maturity righ now)

the best for eating is when they are young and fresh, the growth tips are the best of that. when you cut the tops, it produces more fresh growth. you can keep up with this for a few weeks to a few months depending on environment/season.

can the exess be cut and stacked like hay to dry for animal fodder and how much can be cut this way without killing the patch out?

don't cut more than 2/3 of the total plant. i usually harvest the top half for uses other than eating. leaving the bottom half to regrow.

How much root can I harvest without hurting the viability of the patch?

i harvest the root once a season in the fall. i pretty much harvest it good and get a lot of it. while doing so i scatter nettle seed and leave some roots for next year. i never have the problem of running out of nettles either from my patches here at home, or my wildcrafted nettle patches.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Brice Moss

Posts: 700

Location: rainier OR

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

cool

thank you so much I'll get out with clippers and begin this weekend

Posts: 1

posted 13 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

i read u guys feed nettles to chickens. wow!!! thats like shooting bison for the pelt and throwing away all the meat.

nettles with rice pilaf is probably one of the best dishes one can try in this life. as a kid i ate many times my bodyweight of nettles. it's amazing. 30 years later driving thrugh oregon i realized the US also has a super abundance of nettle. i now have a small patch of nettles in oakland california.

the people with the big brains claim its super good for you. has a bunch of iron. my todler is low on iron. put nettle tea in his sippy cup. he loves it and his iron is going up. he pukes if we give him the standard iron suppliments. i nearly puked myself. my god have you tried a drop of that stuff?

Posts: 3

Location: BC Canada

posted 13 years ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Nettles have fiber in the stem and can be used to spin, and weave with -- similar to linen, or hemp. Nettles are perennial so you can cut the whole top down and they will send up new baby nettles. In fact, if you are harvesting nettles for tea, you can get a second harvest in late August and into the fall. You harvest the stem for fiber just as you see the fall nettles coming up in the patch.

Dry them and then rett them on the ground for a few weeks. Check them weekly to see if they are ready to give up their stringy fiber. Depending on the ground moisture and the temperatures this can happen in a week to a month. Once they are ready you dry them again and then process the fiber the same way you would process hemp or linen. Some of the fashion houses in Italy now have lines of nettle clothing. And Ramie is the Himalayan nettle fiber.

Don't try to water rett them, as you might flax, though. The nettles have a high percentage of sugar in the stems and water retting will cause them to ferment quickly, turning the stems to mush, and destroying the usable fiber.

If you have a spinner on your homestead, give nettles a try.

Jesus Martinez

Posts: 177

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Joybilee Farm wrote:Nettles have fiber in the stem and can be used to spin, and weave with -- similar to linen, or hemp.

They are related to hemp, which is why they are similar.

Does anyone know if the stems can be used similarly to hemp to make building bricks? I recently came across something called hempcrete which is essentially hemp stem w/ lime.

Landon Sunrich

pollinator

Posts: 1703

Location: Western Washington

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

So I'm not an expert on the subject by any means but re: nettlecrete

Hempcrete is made using the woody core of the Cannabis plant> As anyone who has grown Cannibis, particularly in an outdoor environment will know the stalks of this plant can get to be very thick and are quite woody being the size of a mans forearm or grater in diameter. Nettles, even epic nettles, which I am well acquainted with lack this woody core. They are fibrous with a hollow or semi-pithy core. No woody-ness. Which is too bad because If nettlecrete was a thing I could literally tear down a rotten wall, and mix the drywall with the nettles growing right on the opposite side and have a new wall! I would honestly think that alder would be a more likely substitute. Oh wait... I live in Washington State

Freakin' hippies and Squares, since 1986

Alder Burns

pollinator

Posts: 1701

Location: southern Illinois, USA

294

posted 9 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Just found this thread and know that my wife is now a big consumer of nettle tea, following the Susun Weed tradtion, and that some of the larger mail-order sources for dried nettle are selling overly heated "toasted" herb originating in Bulgaria. Anyone reading this can PM me if they know of a good source for clean/organic/wildcrafted dried nettle tops in quantity! People with nettle on their land that would qualify as such have a ready market for it among people following this tradition (Susun Weed's Wise Woman Tradtion---look it up!)

Joy Oasis

pollinator

Posts: 413

102

posted 8 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I love adding nettles to my green juices, smoothies, making nettle pesto, soups, and tea. I use rubber gloves to handle them until they are cooked or blended. However, do not overdo on them. I did eat them daily and after 2 weeks my neck started itching and I got full blown eczema after one more week until I finally understood the culprit.

Fredy Perlman

pollinator

Posts: 288

Location: Mason Cty, WA

I like...

posted 8 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Nettles also make a great biodynamic barrel tea, fermented and mixed 50/50 with cow manure or not:

Stinging nettle tea is extracted from whole nettle
plants (Urtica dioica) at any stage of growth up to
seed−set. To make nettle tea, use about three
pounds of fresh plants for every gallon of water,
allow the mixture to ferment for about ten days,
then filter it and spray a diluted tea. Dilution
rates of 1:10 to 1:20 are suggested in the
biodynamic literature.

http://www.demeter-usa.org/downloads/Demeter-Science-Biodynamic-Farming-&-Compost.pdf

Anne Christgau

Posts: 10

posted 8 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Joy Oasis wrote:I love adding nettles to my green juices, smoothies, making nettle pesto, soups, and tea. I use rubber gloves to handle them until they are cooked or blended. However, do not overdo on them. I did eat them daily and after 2 weeks my neck started itching and I got full blown eczema after one more week until I finally understood the culprit.

Good Morning from across the pond. When I was a little girl 70 or more years ago, I lived in Gloucestershire, sometime we had to pick nettles to sell, I think to Herbalists or the like,
we'd start out with great enthusiasm cutting the nettles and watching the pile get higher and higher and getting very excited in anticipation of all the money we would earn, then off for tea break,
and oh disaster when we returned to find our big pile completely diminished, of course they had wilted through, so disheartenening for one so young.
Also My Grandmother would never have to wear gloves, she would pull them up from the base under the leaves
you dont get stung, well she didn't. If we were stung there was always an abundance of dock leaves to rub on. Nettle soup as Joy writes is great and very very young fresh nettles are good in salads.

Mick Fisch

Posts: 672

Location: cache county idaho

102

I like...

posted 7 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I always heard nettles were like love. If you hold it firmly, it won't sting. If you try to brush it or hold it lightly, look out.

I've always enjoyed nettles, but my wife objects to the "wooliness'' of the leaves when their cooked. We've only eaten them as a side dish, boiled quickly and served with butter and salt. Next time I'll try adding sauteeing a little garlic in the butter before I add it to the nettles (my kids say the family is immune to vampire predation, I like garlic). I'll bet they would be great in any dish (like quiche) where you include cooked spinach.

I read somewhere that archaeologists view a nettle patch in the middle of nowhere as a probable sign of a homestead (nettles like lots of nitrogen and disturbed soil and an old barnyard has both). Also, europeans hundreds of years ago commonly had a nettle patch near the house for greens, for cordage/linen, for fodder (when dried).

Shari Clark

gardener

Posts: 219

Location: East Beaches area of Manitoba, Zone 3

I like...

posted 1 year ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Wow, this is a very old thread but so much richness here! I have posted several times about nettles before but was amazed to see someone actually grow it as a crop to sell. I have no idea how many people are growing it here in Canada to sell but would love to hear if anyone else is doing that.

I did send a batch of it to my sister, who has arthritis, for tea. Just out of curiosity, I searched for "stinging nettle tea in Canada," and found this link: https://grandrivertea.ca/products/organic-stinging-nettle-herbal-20g-new-canadian-herbal It's going for $9.00, plus $9.00 or so shipping, for 20 grams. That's not much tea!

That being said, though, I am not sure if you need a license to sell that kind of product as either tea or fresh. So many questions!

Best serotonin-booster ever: garden time.

Shari Clark

gardener

Posts: 219

Location: East Beaches area of Manitoba, Zone 3

I like...

posted 1 year ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I found this while searching for stinging nettles in my province, Manitoba. It gives the per-pound rate for nettles in 1998. So interesting!

https://discovery.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/crop-management/stinging-nettle.html

Best serotonin-booster ever: garden time.

Skool. Stay in. Smartness. Tiny ad:

A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home

http://woodheat.net