A couple of weeks ago I posted about making my first tincture of Red Clover. A tincture is when you use a liquid, most commonly an alcohol and water mixture, to extract the healing qualities of an herb. I had read in the The Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year that Red Clover is the "single most useful herb for establishing fertility."





Since I am really just setting sail on this voyage with herbs, I will share with you the words of Susan Weed.  She explains:

It's high vitamin content is especially useful for the uterus; its high protein content aids the entire body; its profuse and exceedingly absorbable calcium and magnesium relax the nervous system and promote fertility.  Its high mineral content, including virtually every trace mineral needed by the glands, helps restore and balance hormonal functions.  In addition, red clover alkalinizes the body and and may balance the acid/alkaline level of the vagina and uterus in favor of conception. 

I was looking for natural alternatives to increase my fertility and this seems perfect!   So a few weeks ago I harvested the flowers and put them in alcohol to soak.  Since I had read initially that the jar should be kept in a dark place and shaken once daily that was my strategy at first.  Susan Weed stated that she didn't feel that it was necessary to shake the jar or even keep it in a dark place.  I compromised and kept it in a brown paper bag and shook it only when I thought about it which was a few times a week.

When I opened the jar, I smelled it to make sure nothing smelled spoiled or strange. It smelled like sweet alcohol.
I opened a piece of cheese cloth over a wide glass container and poured the contents carefully into the cloth.






After the majority of the liquid was in the container I picked up the cheese cloth and squeezed with all of my might to get any remaining liquid into the container.




 

Then, using a funnel, I poured the tincture into blue 2 ounce tincture bottles with dropper lids.





I was happy to see that one wide mouth pint jar filled to the top with the blossoms and then alcohol yielded almost 10 ounces of Red Clover tincture!






Starting last night, I am taking 2-3 dropperfuls in hot water 3 times a day.  The taste is actually very plain, maybe a little sweet and non-offensive.  I may experiment by putting into peppermint tea at some point but right now plain hot water is just fine.