Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Catnip Tincture ~ Insomnia

In September of 2015, I made my first catnip tincture.  I used a portion of it for making homemade bug spray, which works wonderfully by the way.

Bug Away Spray (Mountain Rose Herbs Recipe)

The other portion, was placed into a dropper bottle.  Hubby had been having trouble sleeping, and would wake up in the middle of the night.


I told him to give the tincture a "whirl" and see if would help with insomnia.  Well, I told him to open up, and dropped it in his mouth.  

He said, "hmm."

I was putting the dropper back in, and he said, "now it's your turn," and in my mouth it went before I could answer.  Oh, he's so funny.

Blech.  Ha ha!  It didn't exactly taste that great.

However, he slept like a baby.  I still woke up at 3am (and could not go back to sleep). Although the second night I slept great.   The tea we chose to drink was Holy Basil, but I do know that Valerian works well too (I'm just out of it right now).  We'll continue to use it and see if it is the cure to a good night's sleep or if it's the teas we are drinking as well.  

This particular tincture was made specifically for the bug spray.  However, if it does continue to work, I'll mix up a new tincture to include more herbs such as chamomile.

6 comments:

Sam I Am...... said...

Great info but also be sure he isn't eating within 2 hours of going to bed.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks Sam I Am, he typically is not eating anything at bed time, or near bed time.

Nancy In Boise said...

I've had great luck with OTC valerian tablets, great for tight muscles too!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks for that tip on the OTC tablets. Next time I'm at the health store I'll check on that. I don't like to buy things like that at the Big Box stores. I found they mostly carry vitamins/supplements that contain soy and other nasty ingredients. I could grind valerian root too, and fill empty capsules. Again, great idea. Thanks.

RB said...

Interesting! I've had insomnia since I was a child. It's awful. Since catnip is of the mint family, I wonder if it could be made into a tea which might taste a little better since you could add honey to tea.
Will be interesting to hear how this works for you and your hubby.
God bless.
RB
<><

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, I thought about adding it to my hot tea, but what I read stated that taking it straight was more effective. You only take it for about 4-6 weeks then stop.