This weekend I finished my Red Clover project and was super excited about how easy it was, how fulfilling it was to feel like I was doing something as God wanted me to, and felt so close to God and nature.  I was so happy about my finished product, I started looking online to see if anyone out there was selling it.  Of course they were, but I could totally beat their prices!  So, it was official!  I was going to make as much of the tincture as I could and offer it for sale! 

Then, come Saturday night, Doug points out that it is very likely that the season for Red Clover could likely be coming to an end.  That we might not be able to make a lot but we could certainly start in the spring and make as much as we wanted then.  I was sort of disappointed since I was so excited about sharing this with those of you who were interested. 

Yesterday afternoon, I decided that I was going to go for a hike and find as much as I could so that I could at least make one batch to sell, and also have enough to hopefully get me through the winter as well.  I walked around outside hunting for clover blossoms.  I found a few here and a few there, but looking at them in the big virtually empty bowl was borderline depressing.  I searched and searched and could occassionally find one or two hiding under some taller grass.  I was sweating between infrequent cool breezes but determined that I would at least fill my bowl once even if it meant walking to the neighboring property and asking to pick their clover.  Then, as I was staring at the ground hoping for a splash of purple, I saw 3 or 4 blossoms right next to each other.  The only problem was that they were on the other side of the electric fence that I was not a big fan of handling.  But, there were several blossoms just out of my reach.  As I reached for the handle on the electric fence to disconnect it and carefully step over, I was amazed.

After 25 minutes of hunting for clover and yielding enough to make a tincture for a very fertile mouse, I noticed that the whole field ahead of me was full of Red Clover.  Seriously.  Completely full of very purple, very fluffy, Red Clover blossoms.  I almost cried when I saw this sight.  I could fill up my bowl 300 times if I had the patience (and a better back). 

I am not sure that I felt as close to God as I did yesterday.  I am so thankful that God provides us everything that we need!  As I gathered as much clover as I could fit into my bowl, I was thanking God.  I was amazed and hopeful.  I felt connected not only to God but the baby he will bless me with.  I just know that He is with me in this journey!

 

After I came in and told Doug about all of the clover, he went out and brought back two more bowls full!  And, tonight, he will be going out again to harvest some more!  Do you know what this means?!  This means that if you have any interest in buying some, I will have plenty on hand!  If you are itching to start it as soon as possible, drop me an email!  Otherwise, in the near future, I will be announcing the launch of my new herb website and blog.  I have decided that, while the herbs and the trying to conceive things overlap, not everyone is interested in both.  If you are, I hope very much to have you a part of both journeys! 

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.   











 

According to The Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, Red Clover is the "single most useful herb for establishing fertility." That is not only good to know, it is great news because of all of the greenery surrounding my house, red clover is one of them. It is everywhere! Actually we have planted some as is is a great pasture legume for our cows. Who knew it would be a great herb for women too!

Before I go on, I want to say a few words about The Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing year. This is the book (e-book) that I was so thrilled to get to read and review. I am so excited about all of the information that is packed into this 192 page book! In this book there is all that you would need to know about herbs that promote fertility, are beneficial for pregnancy, and even herbs that are known to help with your newborn, breastfeeding, and postpartum concerns including depression. There are instructions on making tinctures, infusions, and salves. There is also information on herbs that help prevent pregnancy. I really can't even put into words how much I am going to be using this book in the coming weeks and hopefully years.

I will likely be making references to the book, The Childbearing Year, in future posts as well since it really is teaching me everything there is to know about fertility herbs. If you would like to purchase this book, which I suggest you do if you are a woman who has any interest in using herbs (purchased or grown) in any capacity during your quest for children, more children, or looking for all natural means for preventing future pregnancies.* Really a wonderful tool!

Also, I want to give a special thank you to Hill Country Herbalist who helped me out by answering my questions and giving me the confidence to just dive in.

So back to my red clover! I have this stuff growing everywhere so Gavin and I went out and picked as many clover blossoms as we could find. Well... not all of them because we could have been out all day and in a matter of 25 minutes I was drenched in sweat and Gavin said he was ready for a Popsicle. So, we brought in all of the clover and admired our find. Not too bad!


I picked all of the leaves off so that all I had left was the blossoms. There are a lot of tiny baby leaves at the bottom of the blossom so it was somewhat tedious work. Actually, it took me longer to clean them all than it did to pick them! I discarded any blossoms that were too browned or unhealthy looking.


I also met my new least favorite creepy crawly. The blossoms had tons of these almost invisible little spiders that if they didn't bite, I wouldn't have even noticed them! These little suckers drove me crazy the whole time and they were all over the place! No joke... I just had to itch my neck twice as I typed that because I was recalling that awful part of nature.


I packed as many blossoms in a Mason jar as I could. I was a little surprised at how many clover blossoms I managed to fit into one, wide mouth pint jar! I thought for sure I had picked enough to make two separate pints but, after packing the first jar, I may have had enough to fill a small jelly jar but since I didn't have any on hand. I discarded the rest.


Then, I used 80 proof vodka, fighting the temptation to pour a little into a glass of orange juice, to fill in the small amount of space left in the jar until it was completely full. In fact, when I screwed the lid on some vodka did escape from the sides. After reading the Childbearing Year, I would have opted for 100 proof vodka. Next time I will. Aw shucks. It looks like I have a big bottle of 80 proof vodka I need to take care of.


Each day I give my jar a shake and see its progress. Almost immediately the color turned from purple to white. After the first day, the Clover had soaked up quite a bit of the vodka so I topped it off again.


After a few weeks of soaking I will pour off the liquid, squeeze the blossoms to get the alcohol out of them as well and place the liquid into small glass bottles with droppers so that I can start using it! I can't tell you how excited I am to start really doing this. One day I would love to have a whole herbal pharmacy but for now, I'll start with Red Clover!



* Disclaimer* I am not an herbalist. I am not a doctor. I am just a farm girl who likes to grow things and appreciates the medicinal qualities of the herbs that grow around me! While herbs are a wonderful, natural, and God given gift, please consult a professional before experimenting with adding herbs to your health regimen. Also, this book was given to me at no cost but I am not being compensated for this post. My thoughts are 100% my own.