To blanch nettles, boil a large pot of salty water (it should taste like the ocean) and toss 3-5 tong-fulls of freshly washed nettles into it. I say tong-fulls because you will be stung by the nettles if you grab them. Boil the nettles for 2-5 minutes; dwarf nettles need only 2 minutes, regular nettles need 4-5 minutes. Remove the nettles from the boiling water and dunk them into a bowl of ice water to cool. Let them sit there for a minute or so, then wring out as much moisture as you can from them. Now they are ready to use.
Bring another large pot of salty water to a boil -- or, if your nettles were nice and clean when you blanched them, you can use the same water, although it will turn brown because the chlorophyll leached from the nettles will overcook. I change the water.
Put 1 cup of blanched nettles into a blender with the cup of milk and buzz to combine. Pour this into a bowl and whisk in the eggs.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in the wet ingredients. You will get a sticky batter.
Put this batter into your spaetzle maker and run it over the boiling water. Allow the dumplings to boil for 1-2 minutes on the surface. You can eat them now, or you can save them for later by shocking the spaetzle in a bowl of ice water and then laying them out on a sheet pan to dry a bit. Coat with a little oil to keep them from sticking together.
If you do not have a spaetzle maker, you can use a colander with wide holes, or you can put the batter on a cutting board and flick little pieces off with a knife; this is a country-style spaetzle.
Serve your spaetzle with brown butter, a cream sauce, with mushrooms, or really with anything you'd like. Once shocked in cold water and coated with oil, spaetzle will last in the fridge for several days.