Milky Oats (Avena sativa)
Each year in early spring, I press dried oat seeds a knuckle deep and 4 fingers apart in 3 neat rows on the edge of my community garden plot. Then I wait for the magic to happen.
2 weeks later, grassy leaves begin to emerge. As the spring turns into summer, Oat stalks ascend 1, 2, and finally 3 feet high as curious neighboring gardeners wonder why I’m planting grass in my garden. “It’s growing too neatly to have not been planted” one gardener commented, while another exclaimed, “Oats, as in oatmeal?!”
Yes, the mature seeds of this plant is then rolled into oatmeal! However, Herbalists harvest Oats in their “milky” stage, right before they fully mature, and then tincture them fresh to harness their benefits for nervous system restoration.
So in early July, I begin testing my Oats by giving a few a gentle squeeze, checking for a milky substance to pop out. This indicates that they are ready for harvesting and medicine-making.
I use fresh Milky Oats tincture or glycerite extensively in my herbal practice as a nervine to calm the nervous system, relieve anxiety and situational depression, hyperactivity, and chronic stress. Milky Oats is also a nervous system trophorestorative, a long-term tonic that “feeds the nervous system to strengthen and nourish it. Milky Oats help to restore the “emotional foundation”. My teacher Herbalist David Winston likes to say that Milky Oats are for people who are “burning the candle at both ends and in the middle”, and “that are so fried that they are crispy.”
In Ayurveda, Milky Oats would be used to balance excess Vata presenting as mental and emotional exhaustion, anxiety, nervousness, and a general inability to relax.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Milky Oats are considered both a Shen and Yin tonic. Shen tonics calm the spirit (nervine is the Western term) and Yin tonics have cool and moist properties that nourish the tissues (demulcent and nutritive in Western terms).
How to Use
Last month, I harvested a basket full of Milky Oats and began an alcohol extract (1:2, 30% alcohol) and a vegetable glycerin extract (1:2, 60% glycerite). The alcohol or vegetable glycerin will extract the medicinal properties from the Milky Oats over a 4 week period until it’s ready to be strained, bottled, and used in formulas.
- Weigh your oats in grams, then double the number to find mL of fluid needed. Ex: if you have 100 grams of fresh Milky oats, you need 200 mL of total fluid.
- Multiply mL by 0.3 (30%) or 0.6 (60%) to find how many mL of alcohol or vegetable glycerin is needed, respectively. Ex: 200 mL of fluid needed multiplied by 0.3 = 60 mL of the fluid should be alcohol. 200 mL of fluid needed multiplied by 0.6 = 120 mL of the fluid should be vegetable glycerin.
2b. From here, if you are making a glycerite, subtract the mL of glycerin from the total mL of fluid needed to determine how many mL of distilled water is needed. Ex: 200 mL total fluid minus 120 mL glycerin = 80 mL distilled water. Skip to step 5.
- Divide the mL of alcohol needed by the percentage of the alcohol that you have on hand. Ex: 60 mL alcohol needed divided by 0.5 (vodka is 50% alcohol) = 120 mL vodka needed.
- Subtract the total mL alcohol needed from the total mL fluid needed to find how much distilled water is needed. Ex: 200 mL total fluid minus 120 mL vodka = 80 mL distilled water.
- Combine your oats, alcohol or vegetable glycerin, and distilled water in the blender and mix on high until thoroughly blended.
- Transfer the contents of the blender into a clean jar, lid, label, and let sit for 4 weeks before straining and bottling.
Dosage is 3 dropperfulls (100 drops) at least twice daily and up to 4-5x daily (for acute situations). Milky Oats work slowly but surely on the nervous system and its calming effects will be noticed after a few months of consistent usage.
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