THE HELPER
(From an article on the stinging nettle by Anita Linder in Bio-Dynamics, the journal of the Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Assn. of the U.S.A.)
Despite a theoretic knowledge of the importance of Urtica Dioica many bio-dynamic gardens still fail to put their knowledge to practical use. I would like to describe, therefore, two easy and beneficial ways in which I prepare stinging nettle for use in my own garden.
I make a liquid manure by following a very simple procedure. In my compost area I have a wooden tub, 31in. in diameter and 16in. deep, but it could be any size. This is sunk into the ground except for the top half inch and is covered by a wooden board from spring to winter. Stinging nettle grows everywhere in my neighbourhood .... it is one of the first greens to come up in spring. The young shoots, just a few inches high, are cut for kitchen use. They are the most delicious spinach I have ever eaten. When the plants are about two feet high I do the first cutting for my tub.
I fill my tub with as many nettles as it will hold and cover them with water to the rim. I have my own well but rainwater would be excellent too. Every day for about two weeks I stir the contents with a wooden stick, because many of the nettles float to the top at first; after that they fall together and sink to the bottom and in two weeks the leaves have dissolved. What remains is a green liquid and on the bottom fibrous stems which I add to the compost-heap. By this time the liquid has a strong odour.
1 use the liquid manure on all my seedlings including the newly planted ones. I do not sprinkle. I remove the sprinkler top from the can and pour. This nettle manure helps wherever something is out of balance". For example in the second half of May, 1972, we had heavy frost and my wax beans, which had been healthy and strong with their first two leaves well developed, turned brown. I gave them a good dose of the manure and they recovered in a short time and I had a wonderful harvest in spite of the wet summer......
To come back to my tub; when it is almost empty I cut more nettles and fill it up again with water. I do this again and again all the summer. The best liquid, I would say, is made from nettles when they bloom. During a dry period plants which have had the manure withstand the drought much better. I also use nettles in another way, again following the advice of Dr. Steiner. Under the shade of some big trees in my compost area, I dig a hole about two and a half feet square and one and a half to two feet deep and line it with an inch or two of peat moss When the nettles bloom I fill the hole with them, pack them tight and cover everything with earth. After a year when the nettles are blooming again I empty the hole. The nettles have become rich black earth, more valuable than the finest compost. I throw handfuls over the vegetable and berry gardens only a homeopathic dose is needed.
I think I have to thank the stinging nettle a great deal, as I really have never had so far any pests or plant sickness in my garden.
Nettle articles
Re: Nettle articles
THE NETTLE
(Condensed from an article by E. H. Kleinschmidt in Lebendige Erde translated by Nancy Hummel)
Urtica Dioica, the great nettle (this should not be confused with Urtica Urens, the small nettle, which is an annual) which has been known to man for many centuries, was referred to by Dr. Steiner as "Allersweltskerla Jack of all Trades. It thrives wherever human beings live or have lived.
It creates an impenetrable mat of creeping yellow roots. Its stem is erect, tall and foursided, indicating, as Dr. Kolisko pointed out, the work of the life forces; the zigzag edging of the leaves points to the light forces. In the Bio-Dynamic way of agriculture the nettle occupies a central place because the plant is built up of both cosmic and terrestial forces, of light, warmth, water and earth making a harmony. The dynamic quality of the leaf plays a special part, reaching right into the stem. It is rhythmically balanced. Rudolf Steiner has seen and presented these connections of the life and light forces in a magnificent way.
In B-D agriculture the nettle preparation is used as an additive to manure and compost; in relation to the other preparations it also has a central position.
If a certain lack of harmony is noticed in the growth of a plant, whether it is discolouration, malformation, signs of premature maturity, fly, etc., an application of horn manure and nettle prepara- tion can help. It keeps both soil and plant alive and this, after all, is the main concern of all soil culture. An application of nettle "jauche" will also enliven the plant. To make this fill a wooden cask with nettles cut before flowering (so that no seed will be in- cluded). Pack the nettles fairly firmly and cover with rainwater. Let it stand for 2-4 weeks. It can then be diluted 1-10 with more rainwater and sprayed evenly over the soil. It is good to mix liquid manure with it as this adds nitrogen. Good effects have also been had from making ajauche" of nettle/wormwood/onion; this helps to link health to the power of growth. To combat fly pour off some of the liquid after 24 hours, when it will have a kind of tannic acid smell but has not begun to ferment. Spray this on roses. elder and other plants and on the soil around them. Special care must be taken with pot plants, using a dilution of up to 1/10 according to the strength of the solution
a livenim always stems from the question how can the soil be enlivened? We should strive to achieve an ever-increasing activity in the soil so that it can ultimately support plants making heave demands on it; this is only possible when whole plant-dynamic brought in from the cosmote under the those we must gradually grasp the nature of the ether and of tre fordes of growth because a very variable mantle of forces surrounds the earth's sphere. Nettle is an important aid to bringing soil, seedling and growth into a right relationship.
The application of horn manure and the nettle preparation is important on certain soils if one wants to grow vegetables. Plant up a corner of the garden with nettles to back up the action of the preparations. In some Bio-Dynamic concerns nettles are dug into the soil in autumn so as to make a fine seed bed in spring for carrots and spinach. It is also beneficial to cover heavy soils with nettle hay so that the biological re-structuring of the soil can proceed without material or dynamic loss.
(Condensed from an article by E. H. Kleinschmidt in Lebendige Erde translated by Nancy Hummel)
Urtica Dioica, the great nettle (this should not be confused with Urtica Urens, the small nettle, which is an annual) which has been known to man for many centuries, was referred to by Dr. Steiner as "Allersweltskerla Jack of all Trades. It thrives wherever human beings live or have lived.
It creates an impenetrable mat of creeping yellow roots. Its stem is erect, tall and foursided, indicating, as Dr. Kolisko pointed out, the work of the life forces; the zigzag edging of the leaves points to the light forces. In the Bio-Dynamic way of agriculture the nettle occupies a central place because the plant is built up of both cosmic and terrestial forces, of light, warmth, water and earth making a harmony. The dynamic quality of the leaf plays a special part, reaching right into the stem. It is rhythmically balanced. Rudolf Steiner has seen and presented these connections of the life and light forces in a magnificent way.
In B-D agriculture the nettle preparation is used as an additive to manure and compost; in relation to the other preparations it also has a central position.
If a certain lack of harmony is noticed in the growth of a plant, whether it is discolouration, malformation, signs of premature maturity, fly, etc., an application of horn manure and nettle prepara- tion can help. It keeps both soil and plant alive and this, after all, is the main concern of all soil culture. An application of nettle "jauche" will also enliven the plant. To make this fill a wooden cask with nettles cut before flowering (so that no seed will be in- cluded). Pack the nettles fairly firmly and cover with rainwater. Let it stand for 2-4 weeks. It can then be diluted 1-10 with more rainwater and sprayed evenly over the soil. It is good to mix liquid manure with it as this adds nitrogen. Good effects have also been had from making ajauche" of nettle/wormwood/onion; this helps to link health to the power of growth. To combat fly pour off some of the liquid after 24 hours, when it will have a kind of tannic acid smell but has not begun to ferment. Spray this on roses. elder and other plants and on the soil around them. Special care must be taken with pot plants, using a dilution of up to 1/10 according to the strength of the solution
a livenim always stems from the question how can the soil be enlivened? We should strive to achieve an ever-increasing activity in the soil so that it can ultimately support plants making heave demands on it; this is only possible when whole plant-dynamic brought in from the cosmote under the those we must gradually grasp the nature of the ether and of tre fordes of growth because a very variable mantle of forces surrounds the earth's sphere. Nettle is an important aid to bringing soil, seedling and growth into a right relationship.
The application of horn manure and the nettle preparation is important on certain soils if one wants to grow vegetables. Plant up a corner of the garden with nettles to back up the action of the preparations. In some Bio-Dynamic concerns nettles are dug into the soil in autumn so as to make a fine seed bed in spring for carrots and spinach. It is also beneficial to cover heavy soils with nettle hay so that the biological re-structuring of the soil can proceed without material or dynamic loss.