Foraging Natural Fibres | harvest & process nettles for crafts, jewellery making, garden string

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Often considered a weed, the nutrient-rich nettle (Urtica dioica) is ideal for transforming into a strong, natural fibre to be used in crafts and jewellery making, a natural garden string/twine and a yarn for weaving.
Brigitte Kaltenbacher, a sustainable crafts practitioner from BeeKayMakes, explains the best time to harvest nettles and the simple methods for processing them (retting, drying scutching and combing). Once combed, the nettle fibre strands can be made into cordage, thread, string and yarn, useful in the home for crafts and the garden as a strong and natural alternative to most strings.
Nettles are often in abundance, but do always forage responsibly. They are home and food to lots of pollinators and wildlife.
Brigitte shares more about this process in PM108: www.permacultu...
For more from Brigitte visit: beekaymakes.co...
/ beekaymakes

Опубликовано:

12 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 36

@ButterflyLullabyLtd 3 года назад

Fantastic video. I read that clothes were made out of nettle years ago. Thank you for sharing. Wow, you are clever. The cushions are wonderful. I love to forage in our garden for nettle. I blend Nettle and Plantain herb and drink it daily with ice and distilled water. I wish I could grow more nettle in the garden to dry for the winter months. I originally planted nettle from a nettle plant many years ago to attract the butterflies. I hope to grow more nettle in our garden, such a valuable plant with lots of nutrition value. Also found out that if you plant Nettles near tomatoes, it stops the pests from attacking your tomato plants. Win, win!

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Thank you, yes nettle gas so many benefits that an Indian tale said Nettle had to develop a sting, otherwise it would be extinct by now :) You can eat the fresh seeds too, although opinion are divided on eating dried nettle seeds. The oils might get rancid after a few months. I freeze them! Happy nettling!

@skippy5506 3 года назад

So cool, I can’t believe nettles have so many uses 😮 I’m definitely gonna give this a try 😁

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Love to hear it! Fine string and cordage is quicker; nettle fibre is soft and silky. I use both :)

@ButterflyLullabyLtd 3 года назад

Good for you. I love plants some Elites call weeds, LOL.

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

@@ButterflyLullabyLtd Yes, nettles have a delightful subversive quality to them... you really need to look past the sting :D

@annepahler8726 3 года назад

Very interesting for me as a vegan, thank you.

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Indeed :) vegan cordage, fibre, tea, dye and food... You can tell I am a fan :)

@desiebawden61 3 года назад

Awesome . I drink nettle tea but I didn’t know you can make nettle fibre

@BeeonUtube 2 года назад

Snap :) I foraged nettles for food long before I realised it could be used as a fibre plant :)

@barefootanimist 3 года назад

I didn't know nettle fibre was soft enough to use for knitting! It's always been a bushcraft cordage for me.

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Yes, for cordage you can leave some of the outer bast on the fibre to keep it sturdy and robust. Once you remove all of the outer bast and separate it with a pet brush or carder, nettle fibre becomes very soft and drapey. For knitting with singles I would add a little wool, to make it a little easier to spin and also to get ore use our of it. The draw back of nettle fibre is that the yield is the lowest of all bast fibres (hemp 30%, flax 20%, nettle 10%). Enjoy :)

@1Lightdancer 3 года назад

Oh, what a lovely overview! Some of my nettles are starting to flower and getting tall ...

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

They are such a tease! Some of the nettles are already big enough for sting; I might just try one or two :)

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Sorry cordage or *string* I meant...

@DJ-uk5mm 3 года назад

Thanks for demonstrating very impressed

@BeeonUtube 2 года назад

Thank you, I am glad you like it :)

@CJB- 3 года назад

Nettles remind me of my mid teens. As trips to the village hall after school or later work often concluded with me being thrown in the stinging nettle patch by the other boys who were trying to impress the girls with their alpha-ism.

@j.master6688 2 месяца назад

In the German fairy tale "The Seven Ravens", their sister had to make shirts from nettle for them, to break the spell. That's the only reason I knew about nettles being used clothing.

@rosefurness8638 3 года назад

Thank you! I'm so happy you made this video, making nettle fibre is a dream I've had for a long time, which is beginning to come true! 😄 I have loved the wonderful rich flavour for many years, and now can love the gorgeous silky fibre too. Truly a magical plant! Can I ask, what is retting?

@BeeonUtube 2 года назад

Retting means exposing the foraged stems to humidity (e.g. dew in dew retting) to start the fibre / bast separation. I do dew retting which is low key: simply place the stems on the ground for up to 2 weeks (where you have dew, like grass, soil, under a hedge, etc.), turn them every other day and then dry them until you have time for the next step, which is breaking and taking the outer bast off to get to the fibre.

@rosefurness8638 2 года назад

@@BeeonUtube thank you 😁

@22temara 2 года назад

So nice vlog. 👍👍🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀

@ecocentrichomestead6783 3 года назад

on my radar for some day. I can get plenty of nettles

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

You can harvest and ret the nettle stems in autumn, and process the dried retted nettle stems over winter. It's quite traditional and that's what I do. Retted dried nettle stems are good to process for a year, just store the super dry as they are prone to mould.

@ecocentrichomestead6783 3 года назад

@@BeeonUtube good idea.

@MinimumViablePicnic 3 года назад

Amazing!!

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Or even magic! That's why there are so any fairy-tale about nettles :)

@LynnDerriman 3 года назад

❤

@livefromplanetearth 3 года назад

👌🏾

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

@theclumsyprepper 3 года назад

I love the idea but it's way too time consuming for me.

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

Yes, it is time consuming but its a great thing to share as a family and to illustrate to kids that making textiles takes a long time...

@highhat5229 3 года назад

I thought the fibers had to be boiled in ash and pine needles before being spun

@BeeonUtube 3 года назад

There are a variety of methods. Boiling in wood ash is one, but when I tried it I only ever got short fibres. This dew retting and scutching method (like flax processing) saves water, firewood and chemicals, i.e. is very sustainable. Also I get long fibres. Some people like freezing (emulating winter retting) but I ahve never tried it. Happy experimenting!