My herb garden is growing really well this season, and yesterday I steeped up my first cup of Fresh Raspberry Leaf Tea. It was yummy!

You only need a small handful of leaves to make one cup of tea

Distress the tea leaves by crushing them in your hand and then tearing them into a tea mug

Pour boiling water over the tea and enjoy when it has cooled!

First raspberries of the season!

Raspberry leaves next to my herb planter

My two favorite cooking herbs – Rosemary and Basil
When I was expecting my oldest child in 1988 I read about the marvelous effect raspberry tea has on labor. I steeped up a concentrated thermos full of this wonderful tea and added in a couple tablespoons of honey for use as a labor drink while giving birth to my daughter. When I arrived at the hospital the nurses would not let me drink anything for a couple of hours. (I sadly had chosen to give birth to my daughter Michelle at a high risk detroit hospital that had a 50% c-section rate in the late 80’s) When my doctor arrived at the hospital he was mad at me for not allowing the staff to do contuous fetal monitoring. My labor was stalled and I had been fighting with the staff for hours on various issues.
When I asked the doctor for permission to drink my tea, he said, “oh she can have her tea…sure”.
And in reverence to all of the medical gods, the nurses bowed down low and “allowed” my husband to take my very strong, very powerful tea out of our bag, heat it up in a microwave, and hand it ceremoniously to me. I glugged down a quart of this tea, and then….stand back people this first time Momma is GIVING BIRTH!
Within a couple minutes of drinking the tea, I was in transition, then smoothly moved over to a couple hours of pushing, and what the heck do you know? My eight pound nine ounce daughter Michelle was born magically without induction, no epidural, no forceps, no episiotomy, and NO PAIN!

Expecting Michelle in 1988
I could feel the change that came over my body when the nutrients in that tea started moving through my system. I have been drinking the tea ever since. I asked a friend in my ward if I could have a couple raspberry starts from his amazing garden a few years ago and started my own raspberry patch by our back porch. (Thanks Brother Allred!)
Jenny Hatch