Hello Friends!
My Beloved made us tuna sandwiches if you want one! The greens are from the garden.
Now that you’ve had a bite, join me while I spin a tale of Willow Manor Cattail Harvesting!
So, yesterday I went to a nearby waterway to collect cattails for my garden and encountered a painful experience.
My skin blistered, my forearm swelled, and I had localized pain and tingling in my arms and hands. The pain lasted at least 6 hours well after the swelling went down. It actually hurt so bad I could hardly sleep. Think persistent bee sting or fire ant bite at a consistent rate and you get the picture.
I really examined wher I hurt to clean the area and find out what bit me. There was a small puncture and scratch where it hurt the worst.
I made sure the area was scrubbed clean of all debris and it continued to deliver, especially at the scratch area.
Extensive internet research (oxymoron) Yielded few similar results.
I spoke with Herb Thiel my father about it and he thought I could probably figure it out if I returned during daylight hours.
Return I did. I examined the area where I began harvesting. In the picture below, you can see the small area is all I could harvest by the root before I had to return home.
At the place I started working I found a cluster of these.
They appear to be a thistle of some sort and I perhaps I had a reaction to it.
It would make sense as having a wasp or hornet crawling on me at 45F (7C) is pretty unlikely.
I did a little research and the thistles may just look scary.
The live plant next to the thistle may be a nettle. Here is a Boston Globe Article about stinging nettles.
The leaves of the nearby plant are earily similar and the instantaneous painful results are similar to this YouTube Stunt as well. As I go about fully clothed all the time, I may never have encountered these all my life walking through them.
Scientific method would require me to replicate the exposure, but I will make assumtions for now.
…Update!…
After I had done some research, Petra from https://erraticengineeress.blog/ confirmed this.
Thank you Petra!
Author: Benjamin
Benjamin Thiel is a community leader, urban farmer, and author of The Ongoing Tale at Brothers Campfire. He might know a guy...
Yum.
Ouch again!
Ha ha! At least I figured it out!
I had heard of stinging nettles. Hope you are well now!
I am! Never ran into them before!
👍🌿🤕
Ha ha! If I wasn’t working today, I would verify by trying again!
😂🤣⚠️ just like going after cougars
🐱
🦁🐅🐆🐺🐘🐻🦌
If you come to India, beware these. Following them will get you ⚰.
Except for the deer. I added that as a joke
Ha ha! I will stay on the trail and follow the directions of the tour guide!
👍that’s a good call.
There are places, albeit few that I wont hike alone here in Colorado. The area on my drive to work is full of mountain lions.
🐆
hlo
Hello!!!
🙄
Hope you’re ok!!!
I am! I will try it again for science. Crazy Idea, not fun!😜🤠🔥
Hahahaha Lol 😂😂😂😂😂😄
When I was a kid, occasionally one of my siblings or I would contact what was known as a “stinging weed”. The weed wasn’t like the nettle you pictured, just a solitary low-growing weed that cropped up here and there in fields. It stung terribly, but I don’t remember if it caused a rash. We all went barefoot in the summer months, so this happened to me on quite a few occasions.
Thanks for sharing! Where did you grow up?
The Arkansas River Valley near the Arkansas/Oklahoma border.
I will be careful walking there!
Mom said that some people make tea of nettles. Not sure what for or what use the plant might have.
I hear it is healthy.
Sandwich looks awesome and hope you are better now !! 🌸
I feel much better and I enjoyed the sandwich!
I am well!
Sandwich looks awesome. Will be making some on Saturday for a picnic. The allergic reaction made me itch…still scratching at nothing. Hope you get relief soon. 😊
Thanks! Sorry you felt itchy!
It’s all good. Made tuna again tonight to take to the beach tomorrow. I’ve only been to the grocery store once this week and am looking forward to getting out. I’m still not comfortable being anywhere people are. 😊
Take your time and enjoy!
It was excellent!
Glad to Hear!
Of course I want a tuna sandwich! That’s a pretty nasty reaction to nettles. I’ve gotten stung by nettles a gazillion times. Have I ever had welts like that from them? Maybe, I don’t honestly remember.
They hurt!
Ouch!
You Betcha!
Glad you feel better today… wow. The sandwiches look great. I think I will go home and make myself one today…😍
Take pictures! I want to see!
There was some good food when I got home. I will showcase them for you when I do.
That is really cool! I look forward to it. Be sure to leave a link here!
I will my friend, Good day to you.
To you as well!
Sorry about that. Glad you at least know what caused it!
I am good to go.I am pretty sure the nettles did me in.
Glad to hear !! 😊
Can I get my honorary doctor’s hat now? 😁
You, Petra, are an honorary Doctor! 🏅🏥
fyi: looks like wp’s new media bug hit a couple of your pics… they show broken links. To fix, you need to backspace to delete them, then reinsert from wp media.
Glad you got a diagnosis!
Hmmm. I will check it out!
I double checked my links and the appear to be working. Which ones are broke?
Soooo weird… doesn’t show in web view but on the reader there are broken image icons immediately after the 1st food pic and the 45/7 degrees paragraph.
Hmm. If you click on them they may show. Sometimes that works.
Not for me.
In web view, there are no broke image icons but also no pics in those spots
Bummer. In my future posts, I will attempt to space them out a little better. Sometimes that is the problem.
Wp currently has a media image bug. From what I’ve isolated, the upload process doesn’t always close successfully even though the uploads themselves complete. I tried to report it but their bug reporting system wouldn’t let me log in.
Hmm. Well thanks for letting me know!
That sandwich looks really delicious while those allergies look really itchy. Hahahuhu. Take care and have a great day!
Ha ha! Sometimes you take the good with the bad,Camille!
That’s a nice perspective on how things turn out. Haha! Wishing you and your family a great day!
You as well, friend!
You have a good one as well!
Hope you have recovered 😬
I am fine! I was mostly concerned at whay the cause was! Thank you for your concern!
That’s great!
Your welcome! 🤗 🤗 🤗
Big plans for the weekend?
Your blog is cool. I like it alot.
Thank you, Friend! It is nice to hear thay from an author!
Your welcome ❤️❤️🤗
🤠🔥
Thank you!