Stinging nettles

[bladeracer]

So, I went on a difficult hike in the bush yesterday with a mate, no tracks for much of it so we were pushing through waist and chest high bush. I had my first encounter with stinging nettles in the process, what fun
I caught it mainly in the V between the first two fingers of my left hand, which pretty effectively put that hand out of action due a combination of stinging pain and numbness, very odd. I put my gloves on at that point.
When I got home I Googled it and learned that I'll be annoyed by it for a few days. But tonight I noticed it had stopped bothering me already. However, we have a cow in labour and I just went up to check her. I made the mistake of putting those same gloves on as they have dried out today. And I soon noticed the stinging was back, though not as bad as originally. Is this something that has contaminated my gloves now? If so, how do I kill it?

Otherwise, it was a very interesting trek. Unfortunately I didn't have the map on Avenza so couldn't record the route. I took lots of photos but only about 30% have GPS coordinates, which I plotted on GoogleEarth last night. We had to wade back and forth across the creek up to our knees about 40 times. Very slippery rocks under fast flowing water but neither of us managed to fall over at all. We didn't quite reach our goal as I decided if we wanted to get back to the vehicle early enough to drive out before dark we had to head back. After plotting our route on the map we were only about 150m from the waterfall I've been looking for. Very annoying but I'm looking forward to getting in there again very soon. I took my helmet camera to record the hike but the battery was flat, next time I'll take two cameras, spare batteries and a pile of SD Cards.

[stihl88]

Beautiful bit of country there!

Got to piss on your hands to stop the pain, well that's what Dad would tell us to do when we were kids right after he told us to go and "pick some fresh Mint" for him! As for the gloves just crush them a bit and it should crush any residual nettle stingers, they don't usually have any lingering effect per se as it's the stinger that deals the damage in my experience.

Nettle are a wonderful plant, you can make very strong fiber even bow strings if done properly and the leaves are very edible and contain a lot of nutritional value.

[Wm.Traynor]

Forty creek crossings!
Where's the, "Screaming with Fear" emoji?
I hear you about nettles

[bladeracer]

Beautiful bit of country there!

Got to piss on your hands to stop the pain, well that's what Dad would tell us to do when we were kids right after he told us to go and "pick some fresh Mint" for him! As for the gloves just crush them a bit and it should crush any residual nettle stingers, they don't usually have any lingering effect per se as it's the stinger that deals the damage in my experience.

Nettle are a wonderful plant, you can make very strong fiber even bow strings if done properly and the leaves are very edible and contain a lot of nutritional value.

The cow birthed at 0215 (we finally got back home at 0400, sopping wet and freezing).

20231031_030958b.jpg (440.97 KiB) Viewed 1562 times

So my gloves are wringing wet and slimy with various cow birthing juices, they'll be getting a bloody good wash now which Rose thinks should sort the nettles out. Rose makes tea out of the damned things

[bladeracer]

Forty creek crossings!
Where's the, "Screaming with Fear" emoji?
I hear you about nettles

We were apprehensive as the rocks are very slippery and out there would not be a favourable place to break a leg. Trying to cross by staying on top of any rocks would be a recipe for disaster. We each used a six-foot stick to probe ahead to identify the slippery rocks and hidden holes and managed to get across uneventfully. My mate did make four crossings by walking across fallen trees but I felt this wasn't worth the risk, losing your balance up there would result in a fall of about two meters into rocks in the water - I'd rather just get wet, especially as we were already wet anyway from all the crossings without "bridges". There was one section where we had to walk in the creek for about 40m (and on the return), but we did so without going above our knees. On the way back I noticed I was starting to drag my feet as my boots were so heavy with water.

We had to clear trees driving the vehicle in, which worked out well as I had just cut two trees off the track when I got the ute bogged. We walked back and got the logs which helped get the ute out. So much deer sign in there but no shooting allowed, bloody shame. Lots and lots of trees down so any "tracks" that might exist through the dense ground cover are mostly blocked and overgrown out of recognition. Lots of blackberry so the secateurs got a work out in places. But the hike is relatively flat so no real hills to speak of if you stay down in the creek. I'll have Avenza to track my route next time as well as a video record so I should be able to plot it fairly well on the map afterwards. We did find the remains of a track that we think we might be able to get to from the top of the falls and walk down to the bottom, we'll investigate that next time as well. It's easier getting to the top as you can drive in to about 300m, then walk down the hill, but the drive in is long, and the hike back up the hill is very steep (90m up over 300m distance).

[bigpete]

I believe dock root relieves it

[Wm.Traynor]

I envy you your adventures bladeracer

[bladeracer]

I believe dock root relieves it

Thanks, Pete, I'll make a note of that.
Rose's mum swears by bracken fern juice. Shame I didn't know that as I was wading through bracken fern when the nettle got me.

[bladeracer]

I envy you your adventures bladeracer

I'm hoping to get the grandkids feeling the same way about the bush. That's why I want to find the route beforehand, then take them in there. I don't to spend a whole day with them wandering around in the bush trying to find it, with a good likelihood of failing

[Die Judicii]

Stinging nettles exude a very light "oil" when something brushes up against them.
It is this oil that imparts the stinging.
You can actually grab them between the palms of your hands (if done quickly like as if your catching a fly) and suffer no sting.
Its only the casual brushing of the leaves that stimulates the plant to release the oil.
Slap your hands flat together and hold firmly with the nettle in between, and you'll not get stung.
Releasing the plant cleanly and quickly is also paramount to not getting stung.

As a kid I used to help my parents weeding a crop of onions,, and the odd nettle or two was inevitable.
I used to do as above and just pull it out of the ground, swing it to one side and release it.
Never ever got stung.

Oh, and yes, the juices out of the thick roots of bracken fern are also a cure,, when rubbed over and around a bull ant bite.
It takes the burning right out of it.

[NTSOG]

G'day,

In my experience stinging nettles aren't in the hunt compared to poison ivy that they have in the USA. When I first went to the US in 1977 I stayed with my in-laws in northern Wisconsin. They had a fairly large property with a spread of lawn that needed mowing. One warm summer's day I got out the local equivalent of a Victa and started mowing. Being hot I took off my shirt and ploughed ahead. However, being new to the locality I did not know about poison ivy and shoved the mower through a patch of it. Of course the mower chopped it up and ejected it in fine particles some of which landed on my bare skin. It was terrible. Only an injection of cortisone stopped the itch.

Jim

[bigpete]

You should try eating them

[mickb]

Nice country blade and what a stream! I havent encountered nettles but did run into the stinging trees of North QLD once, worlds most pajnful plant. A good hit hurts for up to 4 months, excrutiating mostly for the first day pain comes back to lesser degrees iwhen you get it wet , rub it or changes in temperature. Tourists occasionally get large area hits or across the face and will spend a night in the ER on painkillers. I had a small hit on the left wrist in 2015 and it was too aggravating to wear a watch for about 8 weeks, also gave me nasty jolt s if I forgot whilst getting into the shower.