Nettled

Grandad is like a toddler who has figured out how to get his own way...in a negative manner.  Instead of howling and throwing himself on the floor and kicking his feet (wouldn't that be a show?), he bugs and pesters and nettles us until we throw up our hand in exasperation and say, "FINE!"

Urtica dioica

The things he pesters about aren't even that important...to us.  They are so unimportant that I can't even think of any right now, except today's example.  Nettles.  Everyone knows that nettles are perfectly safe to consume and quite nutritious.  All you have to do is boil them to get rid of the sting.  And this is the perfect time of year to harvest nettles: when they are young and tender.  For days now, he has been bugging us about going out and picking nettles for dinner, claiming they are just like spinach when they are cooked.  I counter with, "Can't we just eat spinach?  We have a whole bunch of spinach in the freezer!"

M, S, and E foraging for food

I don't have anything against eating nettles.  I just would rather get old stuff out of my freezer to make room for meals we will actually eat and enjoy.  Especially when the baby is born.  And we certainly aren't starving to death.  The end of the world isn't quite here.  I'm sure when society breaks down completely I will be happy to consume nettles.

Make sure you wear gloves!

So yesterday we decided to go nettle harvesting.  And Grandad actually came out with us.  We harvested a whole shopping bag of stinging nettles.  My (celebrate the boy) dear son IJ was sent back to the house to put shoes on.  But why bother if you are going to wear shorts?  And use your bare hands to hold the nettles?

To wrap up the five minutes of fun, we headed around to the pond for some bubble blowing.  And yes, IJ was stung.  So were the rest of the kids.  They forgot all about it by the time the bubbles were flying.

E with Bubble Action

Bubbles are hard to photograph

Bubble blowing is all about technique, IJ reminds us.  "Technique, technique!"  One of my favorite SpongeBob episodes is all about the technique of bubble blowing.  Squidward loses his temper, follows the techniques outlined by Spongebob, screams into the bubble wand, and creates the Masterpiece of All Bubbles...which then carries him away.  Silly, but hilarious.

We did indeed have boiled nettles for dinner.  The leaves tasted...just like spinach!  Amazing!  And the stems were tough and fibrous, just like asparagus!  Let's see...I'm sure I have a child here that hates cooked spinach and asparagus more than any other vegetables... A, you are lucky you weren't here for dinner last night!  The kids and I cleaned our plates, not because we like nettles and cod, but because I made strawberry ice cream with my VitaMix for dessert!