I walk daily, and this morning I headed out along our favourite path with my grandsons, aged four and seven. The air was cool, the hedges wrapped in autumnal quiet, and the earth felt soft under our boots. We carried a basket and a pair of scissors, nothing fancy, just the tools we needed for something utterly ordinary and completely sacred.
We went to pick nettles.
For many people, foraging is an occasional activity or a seasonal novelty. For me, it is part of daily life. Nettles are not a plant I visit once in a while. They are part of how I live, breathe, and stay well. They are the thread that runs through my days, my work, my creativity, and the teachings I pass on.
As we bent together over the bright young tips, I could see the boys watching closely. They noticed how gently I lift the stem, how I honour the plant before cutting, and how I explain which leaves make the best tea and which will become pigment for nettle paint. These tiny rituals matter. They show children that nature is not separate from us but something we live alongside, learn from, and respect.
I want my grandchildren to grow up knowing that healing does not only come in bottles or boxes. It comes from the land beneath our feet. It comes from understanding a plant so well that its qualities become part of your everyday wisdom.
Nettles have shaped my life for years. Their spirit, nutrients, resilience, and quiet intelligence are present in everything I teach. Whether it is a workshop, a cup of tea, a strand of fibre, or a moment outdoors with family, the message is the same.
Nature heals us when we slow down long enough to listen.
Today was not about running a class or teaching a technique. It was simply about living my truth. I am raising the next generation to know that nourishment lives at the edge of the path. That their hands can gather medicine. That the sting of something is often where its power lives.
We came home with a basket of fresh nettles. Some will become tea. Some will become green pigment for painting. All of it will become memory, a gentle lesson folded into their childhood.
This is the heart of Nettle Revolution.
Not an occasional experience but a daily way of life.
A legacy passed hand to hand, leaf to leaf, heart to heart.
With gratitude to my grandsons and daughter for walking this nettle journey with me.