Mountain City Montage
by PAULINE TOM
Unpainted oak wounds beckon, “Come here, sweet little beetles carrying oak wilt… Bring oak wilt here and let it creep through roots to oaks all around me.”
Oak wounds must be painted immediately. Fifteen minutes can allow the entrance of a beetle carrying oak wilt. Now, infection is less likely than cooler months; but, it’s possible.
Sometimes, weather creates an unpaintable wound. That’s nature.
For annual limb pickup, limbs (none larger than 6 inches) must be out this weekend. Bids come in after a visual survey on Monday morning.
Have you weeded stinging nettle from your yard?
Weeding out Wikipedia statements not backed up with a citation, tons of citation’d tidbits remained.
Nettle is one of nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century.
““Urtication”: flogging the skin with stinging nettles for the counter irritation effect.
Well, knock me over with a nettle stem! I wrote, “sounds like treating a burn with fire” and then came across facts on the University of Maryland Med Center website.
“When they (nettles) come into contact with a painful area of the body, they can actually decrease the original pain. Scientists think nettle does this by reducing levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body, and by interfering with the way the body transmits pain signals.”
That website goes on to say the root is widely used in Europe to treat urinary symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate.
One preliminary human medical study indicates nettle could reduce hay fever symptoms. What about cedar fever? Quick, someone, test it out!
EHow.com gives a recipe for stinging nettle dandruff shampoo with words, “Gentle, effective and natural, you will have beautiful dandruff-free hair before you know it.”
Dorset, in the UK, sports an annual Stinging Nettle Eating Contest. It started in 1986 when two customers at the Bottle Inn in Marshwood argued about who had the worst infestation of stinging nettle. According to British newspaper coverage of the 2009 competition, one of them said, “I’ll eat any nettle of yours that’s longer than mine.”
Nowadays, 65 contestants are given 2-foot long sticks of stinging nettle. After an hour, the contestant with the greatest cumulative length of bare stems wins.
See fun video online. The Mountain City July 4th Lawnmower Race trophy would tower over the dinky Stinging Nettle Contest trophy.
Fibers in those leftover stems could be processed for clothing. Do you vaguely remember that a princess broke a spell that bound her 11 brothers in bodies of swans by weaving 11 jackets of nettle in silence? Open your Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales and turn to “The Wild Swans.”
Companies in The Netherlands, Germany and Italy make nettle clothing. Nettle is a sustainable crop that requires little water and no pesticides.
And, nettle attracts knock-down gorgeous butterflies in Europe.
Here in Mountain City, swarms of beautiful butterflies feed on my Frog Fruit.
Painted Buntings on a feeder at my kitchen window knock me down to my elbows for close looks at their beauty from a sink of dishwater. Soon, they’ll be on their way to south of the USA.
See anything interesting from your kitchen window? Please send tidbits to ptom5678@gmail.com or call 512-268-5678.
