Milky Oat | Nourishment for the Nerves

It’s nearing mid-August and the Milky Oats (Avena sativa) are ripening to viable-stage in the field. The milky-stage came early this season, triggered by the hot dry summer we’ve had here in the Pacific Northwest. The plants are now a soft creamy-beige colour as the stalks begin to dye back for the season.

The seeds are becoming hard and dry, safely enclosed in their papery husks. As the wind rustles through the patch, the plants murmur their secrets of calmness, peace, and strength in non-doing. They tenderly whisper ‘shhhhhhhh’ as they gently sway against each other, ushering in the quiet ripening of midsummer.

Oats gone to seed in the garden. When the stalks have turned a pale brown and the seed heads are hard and dry they are viable for seed growing, but passed the medicinally potent stage.

Nourishment for the nerves

Milky Oats are well known for their strengthening effect on the nervous system, and are one of the most sought after of all anti-stress remedies in herbal medicine today. The medicine of Milky Oat is an earthy one, it moves deeply into the body; fortifying, calming, revitalizing, and nourishing it bone-deep.

Milky Oats is a medicine for our modern times, with so many of us stressed out, burned out, and just plain overwhelmed these days. With virtually no contraindications, Milky Oat is one of the safest and most versatile herbs for restoring healthy nervous system function and general vitality. The herb is indicated in any and all cases of nervous debility and states of exhaustion.

The Milky Oat patch in its prime this summer on our farm on Vancouver Island. This ‘green seed’ or ‘milky stage’ is the time when the seeds are medicinally potent.

Milky Oat tincture, made from the fresh seed in milky-stage, contains a collection of alkaloids, saponins, vitamins, and minerals that collectively aid in bringing a sense of peace and calm focus to the mind, while helping to restore vitality and increasing energy levels. A sedative as well as a nervous system stimulant, Milky Oat is both relaxing and strengthening to the mind; helping to improve concentration while easing tension.

Milky Oat acts as a adaptogenic nervine, and due to its special collection of properties, has quite broad applications in herbal medicine. A go-to for acute and chronic periods of stress, insomnia, depression, and general constitutional weakness; Milky Oat is also a valuable remedy for managing ADD and ADHD, withdrawal from narcotic substances and pharmaceutical medications, as well as PMS and menopausal symptoms.

We have this seasons batch of fresh Milky Oat Tincture now back in stock in the shop. You’ll find it in bottles from 50ml-500ml in our online store here.

Milky Oats combines well with St. John’s Wort (H. perforatum), and Skullcap (S. lateriflora) for general restoration of the nervous system. The combo is especially nice for calming tension, easing nerve pain, uplifting depressed states of mood, and improving quality of sleep.

One of our most popular tincture blends, our Nerve Nourisher Tincture, is formulated with the trio of herbal allies mentioned in the above, plus soothing Chamomile (Matricaria spp) and Rose (Rosa spp). Nerve Nourisher can be taken as needed in acute situations of stress and insomnia, to improve mood and concentration; or as a daily tonic to help restore healthy nervous system function over time.

Our popular Nerve Nourisher Tincture Blend can be found in our shop here. A wonderful uplifting remedy to calm the mind, improve sleep, and restore balance to the nervous system.

Milky Oat can be such a wonderful aid in helping with drug withdrawal from tobacco, alcohol, narcotics; and pharmaceuticals such as anxiety medications and sleep aids. It replenishes and fortifies the body with vitamins and minerals that have often become depleted from substance use, buffers the body against stress, calms and strengthens the nerves, and improves mood.

I also like Skullcap (S. lateriflora), California Poppy (E. californica), and Passionflower (P. incarnata) in combo with Milky Oat for aiding clients with withdrawal. Milky Oat has the advantage over many other herbs that it has no known contraindications with any medications. This makes it especially easy to apply to situations where one is weaning off meds slowly and wanting to use herbal support to ease that transition.

Loaded with healing minerals and proteins, the high nutritive content of the ripe seed heads not only help with nervous system function but also aid in the healing and maintenance of healthy connective tissue in the body. Milky Oat is an aid in cases of arthritis, helping to repair tissues, bring down inflammation, and to lubricate joints that are stiff and creaky. It works well in combination with Horsetail (Equisetum spp) and Mullein (V. thapsus) for healing the bones and structural tissues of the body.

Another hint at its amazing revitalizing properties, Milky Oat, sometimes referred to as ‘herbal viagra’, is well known as an aphrodisiac. Perhaps this is where the expression ‘sowing your wild oats’ came about. The herb is helpful in all genders for increasing sexual potency, and pairs well with Ashwagandha (W. somnifera) for this purpose. Milky Oat is also an especially nice aid during menopause to ease mood swings, states of tension, and systemic dryness, while increasing a sense of liveliness; Licorice (G. glabra) is great here as well.

Harvesting & making medicine with Milky Oats

The same plant as the common cultivated oat, Milky Oats differ only in the stage of harvest. Whereas oats for culinary use are harvested once the grain is fully brown and hard (viable-stage), oats for medicinal use must be harvested when still green in the (milky-stage). For the strongest most medicinally active preparation, the oat seeds need to be used fresh and gathered when milky.

During the milky-stage, the seed, when pressed between two fingers, will exude a milky looking sap. You’ll find this stage passes quickly and presents a narrow harvest window of only a week or two. The milky stage is after flowering and before the plants begin to turn brown. It is best to get out in the garden every day or two after flowering to check the oats for milky-ness.

When ready to harvest for medicinal use, the oat seeds will feel plump and fat, and exude a milky sap when squeezed between the fingers.

Harvesting can be done by snipping the clusters of seeds at the base of the flower stalk, right at the point where they emerge from the leaves below. Harvesting the seed heads in this manner will allow for a second crop of oats to re-grow from the stalks below.

The plants can also be harvested by cutting them back to the ground. The green leaves and stalks are known as Oat Straw and can be used as a mineral-rich tea, or for mulch in your garden. I like to leave the root mass in place in the soil after cutting the plants back. As an annual, it won’t regrow, but the roots left in place help to build healthy soil as they break down, and increase aeration and water retention.

After harvesting the seeds in milky-stage, the best way to extract the medicine is to tincture it fresh in high proof alcohol (75% or higher is recommend). The seeds need to be broken open to release their medicine into the menstruum, they will not extract if placed in alcohol whole.

A basket of freshly harvested oats in the medicinally potent ‘milky-stage’. The seeds strip off the stems easily by running a hand up the stem. The seeds are processed further by blending and extracting into alcohol.

A simple way to go about this is to weigh out your herb before hand, and then measure out your alcohol portion. Use a 1:2 ratio for best results, for example 50 grams of herb to 100 mls of alcohol. In a blender place a portion of the fresh oats with some of the pre-measured alcohol portion. You’ll want to add only a small amount of alcohol at first, and add more as needed only to get the blending action going.

Pulse the oats in the blender until the seeds begin to open up and the liquid becomes a bright milky-green colour as it mixes with the sap. Place the resulting oat-alcohol mush in a glass jar and cover with the remaining portion of pre-measured alcohol. You’ll want to place a tight fitting lid on the jar and let the tincture steep for 4 full weeks undisturbed (no shaking needed) and out of direct sunlight.

After four weeks the herb matter can be strained and pressed out, and the finished tincture bottled and labeled. You’ll find when the strained tincture settles that there will be a large amount of milky-coloured sediment in the lower half of the bottle. This sediment is mineral-rich and a good component of the medicine; it should be mixed into the solution by shaking the bottle each time before use.

Growing Milky Oats

A member of the Poaceae, or Grass Family, oats are a true grain. They are an annual crop that is super easy to grow. The smooth large seeds are fun to plant and sprout easily even in the cool moist soil of early spring.

We have Milky Oat seeds for growing available in our shop here. They are available in regular and 12 gram bulk packages.

We start ours in early March as soon as the soil thaws and is workable. In warmer zones of 8 or more, oats can be planted in the fall and overwintered. The plants sprout and grow fast into bushy clumps of grass, with the warmth of early summer they will shoot up and flower, reaching full maturity by the end of August in most climates.

Oat seeds are tasty to wildlife, so if you live in an area with lots of wild foragers, such as squirrels, stellar jays, or robins, you may want to cover your freshly seeded area with mesh or remay as a physical barrier to the tiny paws, beaks, and feet. Once the plants are sprouted and a couple inches tall, the barrier can be removed.

Oats can be planted in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. The plants grow rapidly through the spring for harvest in August.

Oats need little to no care to get growing. If they are planted in early spring when there is lots of natural moisture in the soil, they won’t even need much in the way of irrigation. Once sprouted they are quite drought tolerant. The plants like a sunny spot but will do just fine in part sun too.