Free Starts of Stinging Nettle

Adjacent to the milkweed patch, we are growing 6 forty-foot rows of stinging nettle.  We chose to grow this native plant because it is the larval host plant for 5 species of local butterflies.  However, it is not a plant that is easy to find at native plant sales.  So we planted a lot of it so that we can give away starts and get other people to grow it too.  

In addition to feeding caterpillars, nettles are about the healthiest thing people can eat!  Nettles are 40 percent protein.  A handful of nettles provides more than 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, as well as a plethora of minerals.  They can’t sting you after they are cooked.