Its Stinging Nettle season and even though we are staying home and social distancing, harvesting nettles is one way we are getting ourselves outside. Our tentative and loose schedule for life for the next six weeks includes a healthy amount of outside time. We’ve made a list of things that are fun to do, both at home and at the beaches or parks nearby:

Meet friends for walks and bike rides

Make some Andy Goldsworthy-esque nature art for others to find at the beach

Walk/Run on the trails at Paradise Valley and Island Center Forest

Make an obstacle course in the yard

Plan a treehouse/fort

Find a sunny spot and make a blanket fort on the porch

Look for frog eggs and tadpoles at Mukai or Chautauqua Pond

Build a new fairy house in the woods

Make potions with ferns, blossoms and cones

Pick Nettles and make soup, pesto, tea, pizza, frittata and vinegar in the hopes that I can preserve some of the health benefits that nettles offer this time of year! Haven’t picked nettles before? Read this for some important tips… and don’t pick them after they have flowered. The young plants and the first few leaves are the ones too look for.