PEP BB medicine.sand.drystingingnettle - Dry enough stinging nettle leaf for tea/infusion/decoction

The stinging nettles were looking really healthy so I harvested some for herbal tea. Some of the leaves were almost as big as my hand.

Logged in my Permaculture/Homesteading Diary also.

I powder this wonderful weed and add it to my matcha tea during the winter months. I used to pay for this stuff and it grows prolifically here in Wisconsin on the organic farm. I asked my mom to stop pulling the ones off the chicken coop. I dry all herbs and flowers in the darkness of the garage in a herb drying rack.

I'm going to make some tea with this. Harvested from my new nettle spot

The nettle patch.

Collected nettle leaves...

Air Drying the leaves.

The labelled jar.
I know it says "dried 5/26/22" but I meant "finished drying 5/26/22"

I harvested a larger amount of nettles throughout the summer for diverse ointments and teas. Particularly as I`ve had quite some luck with a mixture of nettle and rosemary in vinegar to soothe my dandruff.
Took a few pictures while harvesting the last batch of nettles.
Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures of the drying process until close to the end of the storage process (which was quite jarring! :p ) I had some hanging and some just flat out on newspaper, just regular ole room temperature with a fan moving the air. Only got pictures of the newspaper-batch, and I hope that`s ok!

To use all of the plant an attempt was made to salvage all pieces, but unfortunately using the stems for twine did not work out well as they were a real hassle to try to split while dried. Off to compost heaven they went.
Next attempt I`ll separate the leaves and seeds from stems before drying.

The ultimate site for herbal knowledge in Norway ( http://www.rolv.no ) and also some books said that the active ingredient in nettle helping soothe dandruff would be more densely concentrated in the seeds so I really wanted to try out both.
For my diverse herbal magicks (for later BBs) I will make dual batches, leaves and seeds, and make comparisons to see what`ll work best.

Picked a handful of stinging nettles a few weeks ago, finished up today.

Finally photographed and labelled the process correctly.  I hope:

I harvested nettles down by the creek, dried them on a basket mat and then sealed them up in a jar.

For this BB, you will harvest, dry, and store enough stinging nettle leaf to make a tea, infusion or decoction.

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must post:
- a picture of the fresh herb being harvested
- a picture of your herbs drying (hanging, in a dehydrator, in a bag, etc.)
- a picture of your herbs in a sealed and labelled container, with the label indicating where the herbs came from, the method of drying, and the date

My harvest and storage of stinging nettles.

Late autumn harvest of the last nettles

Jardin = garden
Ortie = nettles

Can't believe I haven't turned in this bb yet. I harvest nettles by the lake near me. This year over a pound!