I’m Just Curious: Southern remedies

by Debbie Walker

You know by now that I have a love for odd, not the normal (?) books. I can’t help it, some of them are just so amusing and some have amazing information.

This past trip to the south (two weeks ago) offered me some very good pickins’ for books. One book I had to have is titled Thangs YANKEES Don’t Know, by Bil Dwyer. By the title you can tell the south is still blistered by the fact they lost THE war.

In this very southern book I found the section of “Rustic Remedies.” The author does give a note of warning and does suggest you should talk to your medical professional before trying any such remedies. Here are a few for you to contemplate:

Arthritis – Drink a mixture of honey, vinegar and moonshine. (Any wonder how this one works!)

Athlete’s Foot – Step in fresh cow dung (sure I’ll get right over to the neighbor’s pasture!)

Burns – Scrapings from a raw potato will draw out the fire. (I’ll bet that one works.)

Colds – Drink whiskey and honey mixed or a mixture of honey and vinegar. (Throw in some moonshine and fix your arthritis and the cold!)

Pneumonia – Give patient two teaspoonful of oil rendered from skunk fat. (Sure and they would have this at our nearest pharmacy?)

Sores – Put a little lard around the sore and let the dog lick it. The dog’s saliva will cure it.

Stop bleeding – Use chimney soot or spider webs. (A friend’s mom actually did that spider web thing on him and it worked. She also used black pepper to stop bleeding.)

Warts – Rub a clove of garlic on it every day or rub the wart with a rock and put the rock in a box. The person who opens the box will get the wart (!!!!). (Another friend of mine used clear nail polish. That one actually worked!)

Chicken pox – Can be relieved by letting a rooster fly over their head. (!!!)

Corn – To remove corn, rub it with a grain of corn, then feed the corn to a black chicken.

Cramps – If your toes cramp put your shoes upside down under your bed. (I have to tell Ken that one!)

Earache – Fried onion juice poured in the ear or persimmon sap. (Oh yuck!!)

Whooping cough – Get rid of this malady by getting a stick as long as you are and throwing it into the attic. (???)

Dizzy spells – Mixture of blackberry juice and moonshine (how do they think they got dizzy? That moonshine would be my guess!)

I know you probably have a few of these ingredients on your grocery list right now so you can be prepared! All the credit for collecting this information goes to the author Bil Dwyer and I have enjoyed sharing all this with you. Hope it gave you a chuckle or two!

And I will always be curious! Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com sub line: southern remedies.

Thanks for reading!