Tug Bunny Stinging Nettle Experiment; Part 2, Day 2

Day 2; August 23 (2017)

Temperature high: 71 ; low 51

NB: This post is the second in a series; please click here to read the first in the series.

This morning I noticed a copious amount of dew on the grass in the orchard. Naturally, my mind wandered to the subject of dew retting; perhaps it’s time to revisit my dew retting experiment?

This evening, approximately 25 hours after the Chemist and I began our wet retting experiment, we took the stalks out of their original rain water bath and immersed them into a new one. Being that the bins were too heavy to lift, we could not drain the original bin and add new water.

We noted that the rotting/ retting process had already begun, as the water was a darker color and a bit slimey. The stalks were much softer and more plyable and it was already possible to easily scratch away a bit of the stalk’s outer layer.

Above: Nettles after a 24- hour soak (still in first water bath)

The water from the first soak is being applied to my apple trees (over mulch).

It smelled a bit like rotting vegetation but only faintly; it was entirely tolerable.

On another note, I started to re- read a book I purchased long ago by Judith MacKenzie McCuin called The Intentional Spinner- A Holistic Approach to Making Yarn. It had been so long since I looked at the book that I forgot that there is a small- but extremely detailed- section on nettles (Chapter 1, “Cellulose;” subsection “Bast: The First Fibers.”

Judith MacKenzie McCuin writes that “the transition from hunter- gatherer to a more agrarian culture” most likely contributed to the increasing popularity of flax over nettle (The Intentional Spinner, 15), whereas our hunter- gatherer ancestors most likely harvested and used a good amount of nettle.

She also noted that nettle is still used in cultures in which gathering wild plants is still a part of the culture and economy.

McKenzie McCuin maintains that nettle is easy to process into “exceptionally long, strong, long- wearing threads” that are “impervious to ultraviolet light, mold, mildew, and bacteria” and, “other than iron contamination, only fire will destroy it” (The Intentional Spinner, 15; emphasis mine; follow this link to find out more about iron in well water).  

Isn’t nettle cool?

Reference:

The Intentional Spinner- A Holistic Approach to Making Yarn, MacKenzie McCuin, Judith, Interweave Press; 2009

NB: This book will fill your brain to full capacity- it will blow your mind; get it!

The Corriedale Conundrum; Part 2: Overnight Rainwater Soak

This is part two of a series; please click here to read first post.

I have to say that I was pleasantly impressed to see what progress had been made after a simple, no- fuss, overnight soak. While the ends are still a bit attached, the fleece is noticeably whiter and it is now a fleece I can at least process further.

From the picture, one can see that there is improved separation in the lock structure and that the water bath is filthy.

I removed the fleece from the bucket and spread it out to dry on a wire rack. At this point, I could have wrapped it in a towel and gently pressed it dry a bit or spun it in a salad spinner (I don't own a washing machine; I use bins and a 100- year old wringer) but I opted to just spread it out to dry. I didn't have a towel to donate to the cause and I was not willing to put sheep poop in my salad spinner. In any case, it dried just fine.

See? Much better!

Corriedale in the Anchor brand wringer might be an experiment for another day... I'll have to add it to my list of things to do.

The dung tags have begun to soften to the point where the dung could easily be combed or teased out. I know… most people discard the dung- crusted locks but I am in no position to throw anything out. Even the hopelessly matted bits will be used for something.

I can see more lock definition and separation and will most likely comb and/ or flick any VM out prior to scouring.

In short, I see a glimmer of hope ahead… a light at the end of the tunnel… you get the picture.

One thing I should have done was a rinse… I didn’t… my bad...

I think- had the fleece been cleaner- the end result would have been just that- an end result- at which point the locks could be spun in the grease or scoured.

I used the suint/ lanolin bath on my herbs; I think I heard a quiet “thank you” coming from the Basil.

Tug Bunny Stinging Nettle Fiber Experiment

I have been in awe of stinging nettles ever since I grabbed one in Ireland after being warned not to (after having become accustomed to the “play jokes on the yank” game). Surely a plant could not cause the sort of injury my relatives were telling me about! In any case, I can admire a plant that packs such a punch!

This experience started an obsession that is indescribable. I love living things that are able to say what they mean without being mealy- mouthed. Nettles say what they mean and don’t mince words; I can appreciate that.

Above: Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dioica)

Nettles are tasty and nutritious; they make a wonderful tea, soup and vegetable. They are earthy and soothing- which compliments their biting qualities. They are highly medicinal and good for whatever ails you.

They can also be used to make fiber. Now, to a hand spinner who is known to try spinning anything and everything, this is extremely appealing. To the hand spinner who has several patches on her property, the appeal- factor is taken to a new level.

Add to this the fact that I love to tinker and make things “from scratch” and you have a lethal, I mean lovable, combination.

So, I looked at the nettles and a thought bubble occurred… For once, my husband is on board and so harvesting and preparing my nettles must be a good thought, indeed!

There isn’t much out there on making nettle fiber- and most of what is out there is highly contradictory in nature. It leaves one with lots of options that work well for some but are ill- advised by others… but I like a good mystery!

It helps that my husband the chemist is on board because he is able to understand the scientific behind process known as retting- whereas I am an intuitive kind of person.

Before I go on, I must give credit where credit is due. Some inspirational people who deserve credit in that they have inspired and educated me are: NettleJen, Beagle Ben, and Birte Ford.

Birte Ford has written a book titled “Yarn From Wild Nettles- A Practical Guide”- detailing her experiences with harvesting and preparing nettles and nettle fibers. It is a beautiful book with lovely pictures and detailed examples of her experiences; I highly recommend it.

However, it didn’t give me THE instructions I was looking for… So, I have decided to do my own research/ experiments and share my findings with you in hopes that you, too, will come to love and appreciate nettles as much as I do.

The Chemist and I have decided to test several methods.

One bundle will be dew retted and another will be water retted. Last, we plan to collect a “root retted” bundle in early spring and try this method as well.

It is my understanding that nettles can be harvested in a similar manner to flax and also that it can be broken into shorter bits- yielding shorter fibers that should be carded. We plan to use flax- type methods for the wet and dew retted bundles and the carding method for the root retted stalks, as Birta Ford suggests (Yarn from Wild Nettles, 25, 27).

One interesting fact about Birte Ford’s book that I haven’t seen or heard of anywhere else is that she bakes her (root- retted) stalks prior to processing. She writes the baking the stalks better enables one to beat the boon (waste material) from the fiber (Yarn from Wild Nettles, 21). I am not sure if this method is feasible for me but it is something I’d like to try.

The Basics

Nettle, like flax and hemp, is a bast fiber. This means that it comes from a plant in which the vascular materials (xylem and phloem) are long, fibrous material arranged around a stalk.

It contains various gums and substances that must be removed before the fibers can be used. While there are various chemical processes that can do this quickly and easily, I am going to rely on the plant’s ability to rot (ie. ret) in order to do away with the gum and liberate the fibers.

This can be done in quite a few ways but I am going to do what is easiest and feasible for me and my situation. That’s all we can do with anything in life…

We will be still water retting one bundle. Essentially, what this means is that we will be allowing the stalks to ret in a plastic bin full of rain water. Rain water will be used in place of well water because our well water is hard and contains iron- which can damage the nettle fibers. After a 24- hour soak, the water will be emptied and replaced. Our hope is that we will be able to witness signs of fermentation and that the fibers will be retted in 4-6 days. Again, this is our hope; hoping isn’t getting. I will monitor the temperature of the water in the morning, at noon, and at night (at the same time each day) and report my results. In theory, the higher the temperature, the quicker the retting process. I will check the nettles daily to check whether or not the stalks have been retted enough.

The rate (ie. speed) of any fermentation is dependent upon temperature so, if it doesn’t work out the way we’d like, we can go back and look at temperature as a possible issue. We can also use our data from this run and compare it to future findings; thus enabling us to perfect our process.

The dew retting bundle will be laid on the ground and turned twice a day. We will ensure that it is kept damp by sprinkling it with rain water when necessary.

Again, an average daily temperature, as well as daily highs and lows will be documented. Also, length of daylight will be noted.

I expect the dew retting process to take weeks- at least 5 but, possibly, as much as 8.

We will, of course, have to wait until late winter/ early spring to try out Birte Ford’s “root retting” process- which uses dried stalks from the previous season (Yarn from Wild Nettles, (18). Also, Birte Ford stores her stalks for a year (or more) prior to beating/ carding the fibers. We plan on processing some of the stalks this spring and letting the rest mellow until the following spring. Needless to say, the results of our root retting experiment will take years to manifest and thus publish.

I’d like to point out that the stalks will be stripped of all leaves prior to retting. The leaves will be dried and fed to our ducks and rabbits over the winter.

Above: Nettle leaves and off- shoots drying for winter use

I’d also like to point out that the water used in retting is often referred to as “poison” and/ or toxic. It is the case that the fermentation process produces byproducts that can be smelly and unhealthy to aquatic (and terrestrial) life. I plan on covering my experiment at all times in order to ensure that my ducks are not able to drink the water and that my children will not be able to play in it. I am also not using my stream to ret- out of concern and respect for my local ecosystem and nature itself.

This being said, the stinky nettle “brew” is good for plants. I will use the liquid as a nutrient- dense, autumn food for my apple trees and the drip line below them.

The pith, or boon (ie. the leftover “waste”) will be made into paper, as is suggested by Beagle Ben and Birte Ford (Yarn from Wild Nettles, 46-7).

Nothing will go to waste.

 Methods

A. Drying

I began my nettle experiment on August 17 (2017). I harvested a small bundle of nettles and stood them against a set of stairs in an outbuilding to dry. It is now August 22 and so far, so good. One thing I would do differently next time is pull the leaves off of the stalks.

As is, I think I will use them for dye rather than for feed.

B. Dew Retting

On August 18, I harvested another small- ish bundle of nettles and left them to dry for a bit, per Birte Ford’s advice. I did find, as Birte Ford mentions, that the nettles had lost some of their sting after a few hours of drying. Some- but not all (Yarn from Wild Nettles, (35)!

Above: Nettles Drying

Once they were a bit dry, however, I found it easy to pull off their leaves by holding the stalk in one hand and, starting near the top of the stalk, I used my other hand (closed while grasping the stalk) to squeeze while quickly and smoothly moving down the stalk. I did find that starting to pull from the very top resulted in broken tips and so I did not begin de- leafing from the tip (top) of the stalk- instead, I began before the stalk got very thin and then went back and did a bit more above what I had done while being extremely gentle. The tippy- top was done in the opposite direction- towards the tip- I found that this was more gentle and thus the tips (where Birte Ford states the fibers are more concentrated) remained intact (Yarn from Wild Nettles, 34).

After I took the leaves off, I lay them on the ground next to- but not touching- each other.

Above: Stripped of leaves, the nettles are ready for dew retting.

The next day, I flipped the stalks over twice and watered them, as it had not rained.

The day after that (August 20; 3 days in), I decided to scrap the dew retting part of the experiment for the time being, as we are in the middle of a dry spell and, in addition, I hadn’t felt much dew when I flipped the stalks both mornings. Since some amount of water is needed to dew rett, I decided to wait until we’d get rain consistently and when the night temperature/ day temperature difference would result in more dew.

C. Still Water Retting

On August 21, I harvested a large bunch of nettles. I dried them and stripped them of leaves as described above. I leaned them against my house in a bundle and left them overnight.

Above: Bundle of Nettles; I apologize that the picture is on its side; hopefully the Chemist can fix it once he gets home. 

On August 22, I put the nettles in a large plastic bin of rainwater and covered them with a tarp. I used two rocks to weigh the nettles down and only broke one in the process. The bin I used was large- but not large enough to comfortably contain the long nettle stalks.

Above: Nettle stalks immersed in rainwater

As a result, I would use a trough or something as large next time.

While it has been great fun preparing the nettles, my favorite part of the experience thus far has been looking at a beautiful sunset while de- leafing.

To be continued...

Updates!

References:

Yarn From Wild Nettles; a Practical Guide, Ford, Birte; Nettlecraft, Tulliemet, Perthshire, UK; 2014

Beagle Ben: Harvesting and Retting Stinging Nettles; and Processing Stinging Nettle Fibres

NettleJen: The Great Nettle Experiment

The Corriedale Conundrum

Recently, I bought some fleece from a friend of mine who keeps sheep as pets. Let me repeat that: she keeps them as pets.

This is important to know because she doesn’t care about their wool; she cares about them as if they were her children; to her, the wool is as immaterial to her as the hair on my children’s head is to me (when compared to my children themselves).

Needless to say, the sheep aren’t coated and they don’t live in a field on forage; they are fed very well in a barn in which they choose to spend most of their time (because that’s where the food is!). This means that they spend a lot of time lounging around in their own pee and poop. Such is the nature of sheep…

So, when I began skirting today, I was mostly pleased with the Jacobs fleece except for the fact that equine pine was used as bedding and there were teeny- tiny bits of it throughout the fleece. No fun! For the most part, though, the Jacobs fleece was fairly clean.

Naturally, I expected the same from the Corriedale.

As I unrolled the Corriedale, I soon realized that this fleece was another horse- of- a- different- color; it was nasty!

Be advised that the pictures do not- and could not- effectively communicate the horror that I felt as I  unrolled the fleece...

It seemed as if this sheep pooped from every part of itself; there were dung tags everywhere! Not only that, the tips of the fleece were stuck together- not felted or matted exactly- just stuck together. There was tons of large and small VM- as well as tiny pits of equine pine.

I tried combing it out- which helped a bit- but the poopy and sticky tips would not budge. Also, combing did nothing to rid the locks of the dreaded equine pine. There was absolutely no way I could scour this fleece as- is.

As I stood there looking over the fleece, a terrible thought entered my mind: could it be that the fleece was beyond help? There isn’t a handspinner in the world that enjoys giving up on a fleece but it seemed pretty hopeless.

What could I do? If combing didn’t work, flicking might- but my flicker is packed away somewhere; perhaps it is still in Ohio? Picking might just tear the stuck bits- along with the tips of the wool. Carding would open up the lock structure too much and it would be a pain in the butt to hand card it all- while using the drum carder would also tear the wool apart (or break the tines on the drums).

Now that I was thinking clearly, I began to think logically about the skirting/ processing process. I started to define my goals and set priorities. Obviously, I eventually want- and need- a clean fleece but first I must (somehow) remove the dung, VM, and get the locks to loosen up a bit.

Earlier that day- just for fun (which is how most good things end up happening)- I put a few locks from the fleece in a bucket containing rain water. By the time I was on the right track as far as doing something with the fleece, I was able to observe that the locks had separated and the locks were much cleaner. This led me to wonder if, perhaps, I could simply soak the fleece to get the locks to loosen up a bit while, at the same time, being able to make some progress with regards to the dung- crusted bits.

As a result, I decided on the suint method and, from there, decided to experiment a bit. I have read Wool Ewe’s  blog post on the suint method and have felt intrigued by the fermentation process of de- greasing wool ever since. I like fermentation; I like kefir and natural yeast starter… But I digress… So, I decided to begin a suint vat, as Corriedale- being a high suint, high lanolin wool- will be perfect to start a vat.

In truth, there isn’t much out there on the suint method and so I am flying blind. I am not sure whether or not the dung will be loosened or used as fodder for whatever microbes are responsible for the suint method. I am not sure whether or not the locks will loosen up, either. I feel as if it’s worth a try, though.

Being that I really don't know much about the suint fermentation method, I would be hard- pressed to explain it is a succinct way; however, I will try, while- at the same time referring readers to Wool Ewe's explanation; she really does a great job! Or, if you are into the science behind the method, check out Blue Barn Fiber's post.

Basically, the Suint method uses suint (sheep sweat) to clean the fleece. Somehow, a microbial brew is created that is used to de- grease the fleece by way of fermentation. While some people claim that we really can't say that there is fermentation going on in our suint vats, I'd have to disagree since bubbles (ie. evidence of breathing and excretion) occur. Surely the fleece itself is not de- gassing?

When starting a suint vat, one must use a high- suint, high- lanolin fleece. It can take 1-2 weeks for the fermentation to occur and so the fleece should be checked every so often and evidence of microbial life should be noted. After the initial fermentation is successful, other low- lanolin, low- suint fleeces should be treated. I use the word "treated" because the suint method is not the same as scouring; it isn't really cleaning per se and so some fleeces will still need scoured after being treated in the suint vat. Subsequent treatments should not take as long; and, in some cases, de- greasing might only take a few days. The rate at which the fermentation, and thus de- greasing occurs is dependent on temperature; too high and the microbial agents will be killed; too low and they may not be able to multiply fast enough to get the job done. Room temperature- or as close as one can get- is suggested.

What is really great about a suint vat, though, is that it is reusable. Also, because there is no agitation or change in temperature, felting should not occur. What is not great, apparently, is the smell...

I used rain water in a large, plastic bin. I put the fleece in a mesh laundry bag and squished it into the water. It still floated, though, so I will have to either move it around every once in while or weigh it down with rocks in order to ensure that the entire fleece is saturated. I covered the vat with a large tray from a rabbit cage (because, you know, it was just laying around...).

I picked and shook out as much of the large VM as I could but left the tiny bits.

The purpose of my suint vat is to (1) start a re- usable vat for future use; and (2) to loosen the locks a bit- thus better enabling me to pick pick out the VM.

Above: My Suint Vat

Again, I do not expect the fleece to come out as white as a newly fallen snow; my goal is not to wash the fleece but, instead, to make it possible to get the bits of VM out without having to harm the fleece or ruin the lock structure. I feel like I must state that I do not expect miracles. Moreover, a high- lanolin, high- suint fleece like Corriedale would likely need scoured post suint vat, anyhow. The goal is to loosen the locks up enough so that I can scour and process the fleece.

Immediately, after I immersed the fleece in the water, the water turned brown. Yuck!

Of course, I couldn’t stop there. From the suint method and the soaking experience I had earlier, I decided to experiment a little.

While researching the suint method, I came across an Ask the Bellwether post in which Amelia describes a 3- day water/ soap soak followed by three rinses- as taught to her by Judith MacKenzie. Ask the Bellwether describes the method as “gentle”- which is just what I am looking for.  

Bucket A will be soaked in a rainwater/ Dawn dish soap solution for three days- after which it will be put through three rinses and dryed. Again, the purpose of this bath is not to clean the wool as much as it is to loosen the locks- better enabling me to clean the VM bits out of the fleece.

Above: Bucket A; 3 day water/ Dawn dish soap soak

Bucket B will be soaked overnight in plain rainwater and then dried. I don’t want to scour the fleece after the soak because the VM trapped in the fibers can lead to felting while washing.

Above: Bucket B; overnight soak in rainwater

To be continued….