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Backyard Bazaars

Backyard Stinging Nettle Textile Fiber Scutcher

Harvest wild stinging nettle stalks, ret them in water, and crush stems to extract silky natural fibers for hand spinners.

Startup Cost: £20 Location: Hybrid Difficulty: Medium Potential repeatable business A few hours a week

Earning and time figures are our broad estimates, not guarantees — actual results depend on your area, your effort and demand.

Why it's left-field

Hand spinners buy bundles of silky green plant fiber extracted from stinging nettles grown in your garden patch.

How it works

  1. 1Cut tall stinging nettle stalks in late summer using thick protective gloves.
  2. 2Soak stems in water barrels for two weeks to break down outer woody bark layers.
  3. 3Crush dried stems to extract inner bast fibers and package for craft spinners.

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