Make Your Vitamins

I've grown up to be a pretty poor vitamin-taker--I can never remember to do it! So I haven't for about the last 15 years or so. I've also heard that much of the vitamins in most store-bought kinds aren't in a form accessible to the body (synthetic) so they are flushed instead of absorbed, and since vitamins & supplements aren't regulated by the FDA they aren't required to prove effective to be advertised and sold. Who knows what I could be paying for?

Recently I ran across this tutorial for making your own multivitamin tincture on Modern Alternative Momma. Since it uses dried herbs instead of chemical compounds, it's supposed to make the properties a lot more accessible to the body. Since we have easy access to a good bulk herb selection, I thought I'd try.

First I had to buy vegetable glycerin, which is not easy to locate. Luckily, this natural living hotspot is home to the Mountain Rose Herbs factory, so I made an order and picked it up to avoid shipping charges.  Then, I went to the herbal corner store and spent about $3 on loose dried herbs.

Here's the recipe:

Dried herbs in a jar.

• 6 tbsp. alfalfa

• 6 tbsp. dandelion root

• 3 tbsp. catnip

• 3 tbsp. nettle

• 1.5 tbsp. spearmint

• 2 c. vegetable glycerin

• 2 c. filtered water.

Darkened after sitting over night--the infusion begins!

Put it in a jar, shake it up, let it sit for 6 weeks, and strain! We'll see how it turns out, and if it motivates me to take my vitamins. Total cost: $11.50 for a powerhouse combination of vitamins and minerals! It makes about 4 cups of tincture when all is said and done. Taken a spoonful a day, this will last awhile.