Herbs?

My friend, B, has been making tinctures. I had no idea what a tincture was, until a few weeks ago.

This website explained what a tincture was. Basically, it's a concentrate of herbs soaked in vodka or rum. You use this concentrate to cure whatever the herb is good for.

My friend had tried a cough tincture. She said it worked for her and her family. I was amazed so I started exploring the vast world of herbs. I'd only gotten as far as The Bulk Herb Store and became so overwhelmed, I quit.

But then a few days later, I tried again. This time I slowly explored with a few minutes here and a few minutes there. I gathered enough information from the website to start a few tincture ideas of my own, running the ideas past a more experienced friend. She gave me several tips and suggestions. I wrote down my shopping list and asked permission from my husband to buy some vodka from the liquor store.

I went shopping. I bought the herbs first at our local co-op. I found most of what I was looking for. I glanced quickly, out of habit, at their "free jars" section. Guess what I found? Praise God, I found three tincture bottles with droppers! For me, that was from God. I was making three different tinctures and there were the bottles for them. Thank you Jesus!

Next stop. The liquor store. This was awkward for me. I walked in and asked the two ladies at the front where the vodka was. They pointed me in the right direction, a wall of vodka. I found the cheapest bottle I could find and noticed all the labels saying, "made from grain." My heart skipped a beat. I realized Rachel might not be able to ingest even one drop of the medicine I was making if it had wheat or rye in it!! But I asked the ladies who worked there what vodka was made from. They were pretty sure it was from corn. But, somehow I had mentioned to the workers that my four year old daughter could not have wheat. One just looked at me and said, "You shouldn't feed your daughter wheat...or vodka!"

I explained my situation, which surprisingly she was interested in and wished me luck with it.

Later, I did a google search for vodka and gluten. I found that any distilled product does not contain gluten. So even though I found that vodka can be made from a variety of grains, including rye and barley, Rachel can safely ingest the tincture.

So to shorten this story, I have now four tinctures in the making. One for coughs, one immune booster, and two pain relievers: one for the children and one for adults. (Some herbs are more powerful than others and should not be given to children).

The leftover vodka I am making into vanilla extract.

So I'll let you know the results! If this works, I'm excited to never buy cough syrup again!