05/11/2022
Today I harvested:
Milky Oats | Avena sativa
I remember getting to know milky oats. I was helping a clinical herbalist and she gave me some glycerate to take home. She said it was nourishing for the nervous system.
This amazing plant produces the Oats commonly consumed... oat groats (essentially just the seed separated from the chaff), steel cut oats, rolled oats, and other varieties.
Many people will be surprised to find that oats are surprisingly east to grow. In zone 9b I have grown them with very little input and actually started growing them by accident.
My rabbits fancy feed has oats in it and I take the droppings and straw from their cages, which includes some feed that has fallen, and place it over our garden beds in the spring and fall. Last year I was shocked to find the milky oats growing. I figured out when to harvest them. I saved and dried some but never got round to making a tincture.
The oats reach a stage before they dry where pressing the swollen oat between your fingertips will yield a milky sap. That's when you know they are ready to harvest.
I started harvesting this crop today. There are more oats but I have to wait until they reach that milky stage to harvest them.
I took my milky oats and put them in a jar with about twice as much everclear. In the next few weeks I will keep checking the remaining oats until they are ready and eventually will fill my jar all the way to the top and let it sit for 2 months agitating it every so often.
Milky oats are rich in vitamins A, C, and E. They contain zinc, manganese and many amino acids.
It has these therapeutic actions: antidepressant, antispasmodic, anxiolytic, cardiovascular, demulcent, emollient, galactogogue, hypolipidemic, nervine, nutritive, tropho-restorative, vulnerary
Milky oats are very gentle. They do not interact with many medications and can be taken in large quantities with no adverse effects. Milky oats are well known for helping those who have issues related to the nervous system. It's action relaxes the nervous system and helps the feeling of being overwhelmed and overburdened.
