What a cold spring we are having. My sister Kate lived in England for more than 20 years and she commented that it was just like English weather. It is nice to see everything turning green. Now is the time of year to pick wild herbs like nettles and dandelion. Nettles are what I called itch weed when I was growing up. When ever I brushed past them my skin would break out in small bumps and itch like crazy. Now I don't mind the sting of nettles and when I brush against them I know that plantain an herb that usually grows next to it will take away the sting of the nettle when rubbed on skin.

I first learned about eating nettles when I lived in Ireland. I had an old cookbook that had recipes using native Irish food, and nettles were in several recipes. Nettles are full of iron and strengthen the blood. I ate them after I had my first child because I had hemorrhaged. I was pale as ghost and anemic. I lived on top of a mountain when my son was born that was four miles from the nearest town. Fresh food wasn't plentiful in the area.

There was a large nettle patch next to the cottage where I lived and I picked the nettles and added them to soup and ate them steamed with rice. My strength slowly returned and I got color in my face from eating them. The neighbors thought I was insane to be eating itch weed and would shake their head at the crazy Yankee woman. They had never read the cookbook about native Irish foods.

I first ate dandelion greens when I lived in Belgium. I ate them steamed with vinegar and soy sauce sprinkled on them. I had never tasted anything so delicious. If you want to eat dandelion greens you should pick them before they flower and become bitter.

My brother Tim's wife has an herb shop in Arcata, Calif. Tim knows a lot about gathering wild plants. He has come to my farm twice and given wild herbal identification walks. I have leaned a lot from him and have given herbal walks myself. The first time he gave an herb walk on my farm was in late July and several members of my family were home and they came with their children to the herb walk. I had invited 10 other people and we were gathered with our notebooks to write down the healing properties of each plant that Tim identified. My brother John didn't want to participate in the herb walk. He lived in Washington, D.C. and had come to socialize. He called the herb walk a weed walk and he said he was identifying herbs when he popped open a bottle of beer and said, "This beer has hops in it. Hops are an herb. I don't need to go on a weed walk to identify an herb when I can taste one just fine."

Tim laughed and said that yes hops was an herb, but we were going to be identifying and picking herbs that might help John's liver if he consumed too much hops. John laughed and kept calling us weed walkers as we gathered plants. We cooked the wild plants we gathered and made a salve out of some of the plants with bees' wax and olive oil. I have continued to make the salve each year. It is the best ointment for rashes and itches.

My sister-in-law Mamik is a great gatherer of wild plants. She has taken purslane and lambs quarters and cooked some wonderful dishes with them.

She reminds me of the bountifulness that is already growing naturally in my garden. Each year when my garden is planted, I look forward to the weeds coming up so I can eat them first. Mamik says the weeds are the best, I think they are too.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com