A natural itch remedy, perhaps right in your backyard

Pardon me while I GUSH about a home remedy for itching. It started one May with relieving a rash from stinging nettle. We were foraging for lambs quarters to make our very green soup and ended up in a stand of stinging nettle as well. I am quite allergic to stinging nettle but I harvested it anyway. It was great in the green soup. Much to my delight, a friend had recently mentioned that you could rub lambs quarters leave on the nettle rash to relieve it. My nettle rashes disappeared entirely.

Lambs quarters is seasonal for us and I end up in nettle leaf pretty much year round, so I made lambs quarters extract. I made it like you would for any herb, spice, or berry: I put lambs quarters leaves in a jar and covered them with vodka. I left the jar in my dark, cool pantry for three months. I shook it gently when I thought to do it (which would ideally be about weekly instead of twice in three months).

While picking blackberries over the summer and doing my best to keep from getting EATEN by blackberry thorns, I realized I was in a patch of nettle as well. The rash started immediately and I remembered the lambs quarters extract. I removed the extract from the pantry and applied it to the rash. The rash symptoms disappeared within an hour.

Then one morning I woke up itching like crazy and suspected that my cold water creek soaking (which I describe here as a potential remedy for depression) may have had some unintended consequences. All of the cow pies in the creek and the dead possum upstream from my little pond made that particular spot a pretty bad idea. I scratched for an hour before deciding to find an itch remedy. We have some homeopathic creams for itching but I thought I’d try the lambs quarters extract. It relieved the itch immediately and entirely.

Find lambs quarters in your area.

It grows all over the United States in the wild. That’s my mom above in a field full of it. Call your local extension office to find out when and where it grows. If you find a great supply, don’t miss your soup opportunity but also set aside a cup or two of leaves and make your own extract.