It’s Spring! The nettles are out! In Russia (and many, many other places) nettles were an important source of textile fibers. Here is a great and well-translated piece about the subject.
Unless you’re a textiles major at one of our great land grant universities looking for a project, you probably don’t want to try this. (It would be a great project; the equipment is probably available in your department’s lab, particularly if they work with linen or hemp.) But some spring nettles make a great vitamin C rich addition to your fermented vegetables. A special shout-out to OlyKraut of Olympia Washington for keeping this product “alive” (no pun intended.)














