Remember the days of old when Grandmother strapped a warm mustard pack to our congested chests when we had a cold? Or used a warmed tea bag to rid pink eye, a clove of garlic to stop an earache, or prepared a mixture of chaparral and olive oil as a cure for itchy skin? I do.
Distances between townships, limited funds, and the lack of readily available medical professionals and facilities all dictated that a woman be not only a wife, mother, and housekeeper, but doctor as well. Folklore healing practices, curative uses of herbs, and other medicinal “family secrets” were stealthily guarded and passed down from one generation to the next.
Of course, some of yesteryear’s touted cures were not truly cures at all. Superstition and myth “remedies,” without any practical application, crept into the mix. Little by little and through the years, suspicion as to the validity of any natural, herbal remedy began to take root.
For instance, witch doctor type practices such as hanging herbs that resembled tears around a child’s neck to help him cut teeth. “Reading” tea leaves to foretell future love interests, and assertions...