Mary Belk: Home remedies can be the right prescription

Imagine my surprise the other day when I read a report from the Alabama Poison Control Center describing the application of meat tenderizer to an insect bite as “folk medicine.”

I learned years ago while living on the Rappahannock River in Virginia that sprinkling the white powdery stuff on stinging nettle whelps would take the swelling down. And later a family doctor told me those granules would ease the itching and soreness brought on by hornet and yellow jacket stings. Law me. I thought this remedy was modern medicine. My idea of folk medicine was the old treatment—slapping a wad of wet tobacco on the wound.

My mother’s Uncle Ed, known far and wide for his herbal cures, was called on whenever a neighbor took sick. I can picture that Barbour County root doctor deep in a tangle of honey suckle at half past sunup, fighting wild blackberry brambles, zigzagging through a lake of purple flowers, to get to a patch of Virginia Snakeroot. With the sun on his neck he’d dig the camphorous-smelling roots of the pale green plants. Then dirt-streaked and briar scratched he’d pull up the moist, juicy Goldenseal roots, Stargrass and Wild Ginger. Another day he’d work on the barks and gather richweed pollen.

In those days most folks used salves, poultices of gum camphor, and Sassafras tea instead of patented medicines.

Some folks still swear a penny wrapped in a piece of bacon and held on with a clean white rag will draw the poison out of a rising and make it come to a head. Others claim that spreading sautéed onions on a congested chest will clear up a cold.

I’m thankful I wasn’t born into a generation that believed in a spring purge. I missed out on cleansers such as castor oil and Black Draught. And I was never given a dose of cod liver oil or a mess of dandelion greens to build up my blood. But I do recall when my nail-punctured foot had to be soaked in turpentine for an hour, until the blood came.

Folk medicine is much more interesting and a good bit cheaper than scientific cures. I’m sure most people have a favorite treatment, something they learned from a grandparent and practice only in secrecy. You keep it to yourself because you feel so silly telling someone that you make a syrup of honey and stewed onions to soothe a sore throat.

I’m glad to see the use of at-home-remedies gaining popularity again. I wouldn’t mind trying pineapple as an anti-inflammatory or chewing on a piece of candied ginger to prevent motion sickness. I might even boil some Sassafras roots to make a flea-shampoo for the dog. And I’d never turn down a strong-scented cup of Chamomile tea as a sleeping potion. I’ve used bacon grease to kill red bugs all my life. But I draw the line when it comes to covering a blister with moleskin or wearing a garlic clove around my neck.

Mary Belk lives in Auburn and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.