The old adage, “what goes around, comes around”, may be true in most cases. There is a recent resurgence of herbal use and getting away from “big Pharma”, and returning to nature- but has it ever really been gone in some circles?
Herbal remedies, back to nature, doulas, birthing centers, etc., seem to be popular now, but in some of the rural areas of the country, like Appalachia, those ideas and practices have been handed down through families, and in some cases, are still in use.
The older generation, who grew up with the old-time traditions, is slowly aging, but there is a new generation hoping to learn from these people before time runs out! The internet, and old book series like Firefox, magazines like Homestead and Mary Jane’s Farm, are wonderful sources for learning how to bring back the old ways. Sometimes there will be a new twist, but the original ideas and methods still hold true.
Jay Fulk, of Fulks Run, remembers one of his relatives, Sara Mam, worked with Elder John Kline, and as a granny woman, was well known in the Gap area for doctoring people. Jay’s grandmother could cure warts, by holding a hand, whispering something only a granny witch would know, and the warts would disappear. Another wart cure mentioned in one of the Foxfire books, was to rub a rock on the warts, put the rock in the box and hide it. Whoever opened the box, would get your warts!
Jay also recalls how a granny witch could blow on a burn and heal it. Local Fulks Run healer Dede (Denyelle) Stroup remembers the same.
There is nothing in Dede’s remedies, as she says, “that couldn’t be found in a kitchen.” One time when her daughter was small, the school held a DARE program assembly. The question was asked, has anyone ever come to your house to get drugs, and her daughter raised her hand, and said “people come to my house all the time.” Fortunately, the officer, knew her family, and knew Dede made herbal remedies and her children were raised around the natural “drugs”!
The herbals were normal to Dede’s upbringing, with her grandmother and 3 great grandmothers, who had remedies for everything. She remembers if she had an earache, her mother would light a cigarette and blow smoke in her ear. Maybe not politically correct now, but it worked! The family, of course, had regular allopathic medicine, “but if it was Sunday night, and you had a sick kid, what do you do? What’s the least invasive thing I can do, quickly, that I have in the spice rack, or in the yard? These things grow everywhere- dandelion, chickweed, comfrey, plantain. They all grow up and down Fulks Run. I gather them, I dry them, I tincture them, I make the salves. It works for me, and I share it with someone, and they share it with someone, and word gets around. If you are accepting of trying these things, they were the original medicines.” Her sister is a retired surgeon, and formally schooled, but respects the old ways, because they grew up with it.
You can go out in your backyard, in season, if you don’t have a pristine astroturf looking lawn, and find all the herbs and wild things growing that you would need to make salves, teas, tinctures, and even salads! Some people might call them weeds, but those in the know, do not!
You do have to know not to confuse hemlock flower with Queen Anne’s Lace, and know your mushrooms, to avoid any adverse side effects.
One of Dede’s baby bottom ointments for diaper rash, was born out of necessity with her own baby years ago. Commercial ointments were not working, so the young mom created a salve of sunflower oil, comfrey, beeswax, calendula, and chickweed. Each with its own properties combined into a cure for painful yeasty diaper rash- gone in 2 days.
An old remedy, which was used by a horse barn we boarded at, was spider webs on a wound. Old time barns left spider webs up for that reason.
White pine needle tea is good for colds, as well as mullein tea for congestion. Both are becoming popular again today. But, to many people, these remedies never left, they are just now being rediscovered by a new generation.
Retired professor, and author, Dr. Peggy Ann Shifflett, grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, a rural area known back then as Palos. Her mother’s generation depended on granny women to help with birthing babies. In the early 1900s, Hopkins Gap had 10 midwives or granny women. One of Dr. Shifflett’s books, Mountain Women Live On: Life and Legacy of Appalachian Women, mentions early herbal remedies. “Blackberry tea was given to women both during and immediately after a birth to prevent hemorrhaging. Raspberry tea was used to relax uterine muscles and improve the efficiency of labor. Another therapeutic drug in her arsenal was slippery elm bark to improve the ease of labor. Slippery elm was also used for abortions in different circumstances.”
Another remedy Jay Fulk recalls is rubbing a raw potato on a burn, to draw the fire out.
Several old-time remedies from the Foxfire series, include using a magnet to pull the arthritis out! Or, drinking honey, vinegar, and moonshine mixed together!
One remedy also mentioned in Foxfire, that probably won’t see the light of day again- for a nosebleed, place scissors pointing up on your neck!
Beef tallow has always been around but is becoming popular again as a skin cream. Today, it can be found mixed with manuka honey, beeswax, and essential oils, and also in soaps.
Dede Stroup can be found at craft shows from time to time, but if you are interested in her Hell’s Kitchen products, she can be reached at 540-208-5232
There is so much more that can be written about the use of herbals and old-time remedies. There is plenty of information on the internet, and old books such as the Foxfire series. If you have memories of parents or grandparents in the area, using a granny woman for birthing or family members harvesting greens and flowers, in season, for food, or medicine, send me an email. There will be a follow-up article!
