Pat Banttari

Like many plants today, especially wild-crafted ones, Nettles are very valuable for human health. If you have Nettles growing on your land, consider it better than gold!!
Nettles are the most healing and are the most healthiest for humans. Some cook it up and enjoy like they would spinach.

I make an infusion each week by boiling water in a small pan. I add to a one quart jar 1 ounce of dried Nettle Leaves and stems.
I then carefully pour the boiling water over the dried Nettle, fill to the top and lightly press the Nettle down into the water and add more water to the top of the jar.
I then cover the jar and let it sit out overnight.

In the morning I strain out the Nettle debris and put the used Nettle into my potted plants as organic material, or in the compost pile to enrich the soil.

Then I refrigerate this health-giving "liquid gold" and drink it throughout the day. I make this infusion using different
herbs, like Comfrey, Linden, and a Horsetail Grass powder, Kelp and Oatstraw blend. I drink these through out the week.

I go to the doctor only once a year for a major blood test for heavy metals, vitamin and mineral content - the only thing the
doc told me this year is - "Amp up the Vitamin D3 to 3 days a week instead of 4!!" Never have colds, flu, Nuthin!! I never take good health for granted.

Here's some excellent sites for more information. You have a very valuable plant in Stinging Nettles. It is the most excellent
cure, Yep, that's CURE - for arthritis and many other health issues!!

Nettles make a very strong fiber for clothing. Nettle fiber was used during World War in Germany for the soldiers uniforms and, unlike
the American uniforms that quickly wore out, the German uniforms never wore out.

Anything by Herbalist Matthew Wood -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBTUke22us
https://theherbalacademy.com/a-family-herb-stinging-nettle-leaf-uses/

Susan Weed - Herbalist for over 50 years on herbal infusions-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJRfm70dRs

Take your pick -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urMRAfb8y-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zclQ4swsnXU

https://survivalblog.com//?s=Become+Your+Own+Herbal+Doctor
https://survivalblog.com//?s=herbal+medicinbes

Sam - Here's a few really great articles on making and using herbal medicines. When we live "far out", sometimes in the boonies, we, at least I do
don't want to have to run to a doctor for every little ailment. Can't remember when I've had even a cold, flu or anything else.

I make herbal infusions and that really helps to keep me healthy.

Here's some pictures of purslane. Identifying the right plant is very, very important when we have them growing on our property as some
"look-alikes" can be poisonous. There is also pictures of the poisonous "look-alike" plant on this same site.
http://www.ediblewildfood.com/purslane.aspx

It's a whole new and exciting "ball-game" when we grow our own medicine right in our gardens, especially when they just grow up around us without
planting them. Free medicine!!!

....."The Swales are green with wild grass, dandelions, and other weeds but I'm loving how green it looking!...."

Whether you know it or not you have one of the most valuable "medicine and food" growing right in your garden!!
Most people "spray" these powerful foods out of their garden.....
...Dandelions are one of the most healthful "weeds" you can have in your garden...the whole plant...from roots, to leaves..to the flowers.
Sadly in this wasteful society, we've made everything that is good to be bad, and everything that is bad to be good! That's the way of "mankind".
The Almighty has provided us with such great abundance of "green plants" as healing herbs that are very powerful healers for our bodies.
Dandelion is one of the greatest! And in the middle of Winter its at it's most nutritious.
Never underestimate our "weeds"...most can be the best medicine and very few to no side effects. Better than "manmade" drugs with all the harmful  side effects any day, in my book!!
There is no drug out there today that heals, only masks the symptoms.

https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/dandelion-root/profile
http://www.herballegacy.com/Chhabra_Medicinal.html
https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/health-benefits-of-dandelion.html
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/dandelion

There is much information on youtube.com. Here's a great one -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrbowas5z6g

I make infusions out of my herbs - Comfrey, Dandelion, Horsetail Grass, Linden blossoms...and many more.
1 ounce of herbs to one quart of boiling water in a quart  canning jar. Cover with both lids and let sit overnight. It has an earthy taste but the healthful benefits
outweigh the taste. People make Dandelion wine - another business, perhaps?? And use the greens in a delicious salad.
I am literally growing my own medicine right in my garden. I just went outside tnis AM to pick some Comfrey leaves to put on my wrists to help
with the arthritic pain of years of pruning, digging, etc.

Once you learn the many great health benefits of herbs, you may want to start a great medicine garden.
I am saving the dried branches of trees that I've had to cut down and weaving the branches together with wire to make a pretty creative fence around my "medicine" garden.

Genesis 1:29 "Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that
has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground
—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so."

All the information I have found...tons of it...are easily found right on the internet and for free.The information so very readily available about any herb, the health benefits, contraindications (if any), how to best use any particular herb for healing and excellent health is given many times over. Just go to any search engine, type in any ailment, any herb and it's all there! YYYAAAYYY! Making a notebook of these things really helps to find health-giving information if/when the internet is not available. youtube.com is also a wealth of good information for herbs, health and how to use the herb for maximum benefit.


Genesis 1:29-30 "Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;  
30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.…" Yes, indeed!!

Bart Wallace wrote:Interesting topic and I do not have the water issues you all have. We had a dry year this year and still received over 40 inches of rain but did have two months of no rain. The reason I am commenting and asking here is that I am looking to go towards more drought hardy plants. I have heard that pomegranates are very drought hardy. Would they work in the desert?

Pomegranates grow very well in the desert. Last year I saved the seeds from the one and only small pom. I have growing. I look forward to growing more pom plants sprouting this year.

You have some very good ideas to pass along when gardening in the dry lands of the desert. I live in the High Desert also, about 40 miles south of you at about 3600' elevation. I've been gardening here for the last 14 years and it's quite a challenge with the high, dry winds, water issues, nutrient depleted soils that have to be constantly built up for what we now grow here, and the under and above ground critters killing plants and trees.This past year I've tried to outsmart the hungry critters.

So I now plant in large pots! Continuously feeding the soil is a must to build up the good bacteria, fungi and grow a large earthworm population that can eat through the Caliche. And it all fertilizes the ground. I figure if you pull up a shovel-full of soil and its loaded with earthworms, you've got good soil. I use kitchen waste, weeds that have not gone to seed and compost where I will grow next.

It's interesting to remember that the desert used to be barren of homes. The main plants were the California Juniper, Yucca and Joshua trees and native wildflowers that have survived in this rugged landscape. Now we build homes, people want to garden and grow things so the landscape and soils have to be changed.

One of the most valuable trees I grow, although still small about 3' tall and in a pot, is the Moringa tree. It grows mostly in third world countries and is making its way in America. The seeds are hard to grow.  Seedlings grow better when starting off.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/08/24/moringa-tree-uses.aspx
http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa
http://www.moringamatters.com/how_to_eat_moringa_leaves.html

It has only been introduced in the U.S. recently but doing much research, it is one I treasure. It's leaves are nutrient rich. It's an awesome tree.

I try to only grow plants and trees that offer food, flowers, herbs for cooking and for good health and healing. And for pollinators. Shade trees are also planted.
It takes time to build good soil and I grow organically, no digging or cultivating the soil. And only grow heirloom seeds and plants then save the seeds. I water deeply about once a week during Sumer, nothing at all in Winter, and sparsely inthe Fall when needed.

Any book written by Ruth Stout - if you can find one, out of print are priceless.
Also "One Straw Revolution" or "Sowing Seeds in the Desert" by Masanobu Fukuoka are amazing books with excellent gardening wisdom.

http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/One_Straw_Revolution/One-Straw_Revolution.html