folk remedies

In My Humble Opinion
1

I rolled my ankle at work today. As I sit here with my feet up and my ankle on ice, I thought I’d entertain myself by soliciting your best, or favorite, folk remedy. It doesn’t have to be related to sprains.

I’ll start, with scorched flour for diaper rash. If you don’t have butt cream for babies, for whatever reason, put a little dry flour in a pan on high heat, stirring constantly until lightly browned, let cool, and apply to baby butt during diaper change. As a temporary substitute, it works pretty darn good and costs very little. I’ve used it here and there with my kids. The only thing Gramma didn’t warn me about was that scorching flour smells evil.

2

I was diagnosed with asthma as a child. My grandmother stood me up against a tree and drove a nail into the tree above my head. When I grew past the level of the nail, the asthma was supposed to be cured. (Must have worked, because I’ve never really had any asthma problems–or it could have just been a misdiagnosis.)

I also remember that cutting the foot off a mole and tying it on a string around a baby’s neck was supposed to cure something or the other. Colic, maybe.

(Yes, these folk remedies are on par with something from the Darlings on Andy Griffith, but I really encountered them.)

(BTW, these are worth taking a look at.)