Tips from the Potting Bench

Weekly greetings. This week I am going to finish up what has become a 3 part series on making your own medicine from common garden herbs. There are 3 substances that are used for the base of our medicine; in part 1 we talked about water based medicines: teas, infusions and decoctions. In part 2 we looked at oil based medicines and salves. Today, let’s take a look at spirit based medicines. These are medicines that are made in a base of alcohol or rubbing alcohol and are probably the most common. They can be found in health food stores and even super markets and traditional drug stores carry a few herbal tinctures. The problem with buying them is you never know what you are getting and they are pretty expensive. So why not make your own? It’s easy, inexpensive and the process of making your own medicine makes it more efficacious. And isn’t that what it is all about, taking responsibility and control for your own health.

The type of alcohol most used is 100 proof vodka although you could use brandy, grain alcohol or grape alcohol, just be sure it is 100 proof.

Gather your tools; these will include a knife for chopping the herb, jars and lids for storing the tincture and a funnel for pouring. Make sure everything is clean and sterile. A quick way to sterilize everything is to put it all in large pot with some water and bring the water to a boil; the steam will do the job of sterilizing. Fresh picked herbs are best for making tinctures but if all you have available is dried go ahead and use that.

Chop the herb coarsely and fill the jar to about an inch of the rim. Next take the alcohol and fill the jar so that the alcohol completely covers the herb. Remove any air bubbles by sticking a knife or a chopstick down the sides of the jar. Now cap the jar and let it rest 4-6 weeks in an out of the way spot. Don’t forget to label it with the date and name of the tincture. After a day or two take a look at the level of the alcohol, if it has gone down top it off with a bit more. Sometimes, especially if you are using dried herbs, the herbal material will absorb some of the alcohol decreasing the level in the jar.

After 4 to 6 weeks it is time to strain off the herbs and bottle up your tincture. I like to use clean cheesecloth but any clean porous cloth will work. Squeeze every bit of liquid out of the cloth, the last little bit is some of the best! I like to use brown or blue dropper bottles. These come in a variety of sizes just be sure the dropper is made of glass. Plastic will interact with the medicine and you don’t want plastic chemicals leaching into it.

A variation of this is made with rubbing alcohol, it’s called liniment and used topically. You use the same process and the resulting medicine is used externally for aches, sprains and bruises as well as for relieving bug bites and poison oak.

There is a lot of information out there; some of my favorite resources online are;

altnature.com

botanical .com

herbsandapples.com

ars-grin.gov/duke and greenpharmacy.com

Some of my favorite books are;

Planetary Herbology by Michael Tierra

Native American Plants

An Ethnobotanical Dictionary edited by Daniel E. Moerman

Early Uses of California Plants by Edward K. Ball

Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West by Gregory L. Tilford.

There are many others, and I’ll bet that the library has several of them, so check it out. Take control of your health by getting to know the plants around you. They are there to assist us and are waiting to help.