This is a good time for another West Virginia plant post.
Stinging Nettle
If you get into a patch of nettle you will know it. The plant usually grows in fairly large patches and can grow to a height of about 4 feet. It will sting you if your bare skin touches it. The sting feels a lot like a mosquito bite but only lasts for 10 to 15 minutes or… until you quit thinking about it. That sounded strange but theres a story behind the “quit thinking about it” part.
About 20 or so years ago I had a friend named Hardrock. He was an oldtimer that I learned a lot from concerning the mountains. I’ll not go into many details about him on this post but, now that his memory has come flooding back, I will post about him. He used to tell me that if you weren’t thinking about Stinging Nettle it wouldn’t sting you. I have never been able to be in a Stinging Nettle patch and not think about it. When I do get stung, I usually say something mature and profane but I resist the urge to scratch. I ignore it and before I even realize it the itching is gone. I sincerely believe its simply because I quit thinking about it. I wonder if that is what he meant and it was lost in the translation? Works for me…
