Thursday 11th May 2023

This time last year we made a rather smelly nettle fertiliser for all our plants. This year, we don't have quite so many nettles, but we still needed to responsibly forage, so only picked a few handfuls (with gloves of course), so that we left plenty for our pollinators, especially peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies which favour them. Nettles are amazingly nutritious, containing vitamins A, C and K as well as all the B vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium and phosphorous. They also have anti-inflammatory properties, which is why the ancient Egyptians used them to treat arthritis, but we decided not to use them as the Romans did to keep warm, by rubbing their skin all over with them! First, we washed the nettles and then carefully removed the leaves-still with gloved hands.  We added these to a pan with garlic, onion and potato which we had already sweated down and simmered them in vegetable stock and oregano. Finally, we blitzed them all up to create a smooth green soup. Nearly everyone in Class 2 had a taste. Anya helped throughout and took all the photographs. Next week, she will be in charge with her own recipe using the school herbs and in the following weeks each nature club member will take a lead with their own recipes. Watch this space!