You could always try this......

Medieval physicians believed that the secretions of a frog could cure a cough if they were coated on the throat of the patient. The frog was placed in the mouth of the sufferer and remained there until the physician decided that the treatment was complete.

I like this...lots of good ideas...not to sure if I would try the frog one after seeing what happed to my dog when he tried to eat one! LOL

I grow coneflowers, which is also called echinacea, great when you get a cold or viral infection. also good for cuts, boils, acne ( I just buy it at the health food store in pills but if something happens I know it is always in the garden.)

Other things in the garden I have is
Ginkgo tree - good for asthma, anxiety, blood flow, alzheimers disease
Yarrow - colds, brings down fevers, slows bleeding and wound healing
White Willow- fevers, pain
St. Johns Wort - burns, cuts, depression
Heather -muscular aches and pains
Rose hips - colds, low immunity (they have lots of vit. C )

There are too many to think of right now, I know I have many others out there...under the snow now, lol.

I have lots of herb books and edible wild plant books around (also had to study it at college), the key is getting a good book from the part of the world you live in. If you are a beginner in herbs I would suggest getting HERBS by Jennie Harding... good for Canada and US, it has great color pics, tells you which part of the plant to use, and how to make it into ointments, oils, tinctures, and so forth. There are lots you can grow in pots even if you do not have a garden or you can also find lots at the supermarket.

Always be careful with wild herbs, I would never give them to kids and always make sure you know you have the right plant, there are look alikes that are poisonous!!!!

cheers

I don't know why but it wont let me edit my first post so for now I will put what people have in one area here and try and add it to the main post later.

~Herbs:
Ginkgo tree - good for asthma, anxiety, blood flow, alzheimers disease
Yarrow - colds, brings down fevers, slows bleeding and wound healing
White Willow- fevers, pain
St. Johns Wort - burns, cuts, depression
Heather -muscular aches and pains
Rose hips - colds, low immunity (they have lots of vit. C )
Ginger and cinnamon for stomach upset. Cinnamon especially for diarrhea in babies and toddlers.
Echinacea and Golden Seal are both antibiotics. Meadowsweet is a pain reliever/fever reducer. It has the same chemical as white willow bark which is used to make modern aspirin, but is easier to extract for the home user because it is in leaves instead of wood. Since it is unbuffered aspirin it can cause stomach upset, never give to someone with ulcers etc. Also never give to a child under the age of 12 with the flu...it can cause Reye Syndrome.
~A SALVE TO HEAL UP WOUNDS.~Take tobacco, green or dry; if green a good handful, if dry, two ounces; together with this take a good handful of elder leaves, fry them well in butter, press it through a cloth, and you may. use it in a salve. This will heal up a wound in a short time
Cough Syrup: 1 part honey, 1 part lemon juice, 1 tsp brandy

~urine usage; you can use it to flush out deep cuts and wounds. The force of the stream helps remove debris and it's actually sterile.
for athletes foot, and plantars warts and even painful calluses on your feet, you pee ON your feet.
~Plantain has very good anti-bacterial properties and is good for open sores, cuts and wounds as well. For bee stings just chew a leaf and place on sting, in 5 minutes you will forget it ever happened
~Upset stomach or indigestion? Eat a small amount of charcoal from a fire- From survivor-man.
~For a bee sting you can apply bleach to it and it will hurt like a @#@#$ but then will feel better quickly. You can also use mud if you have nothing else to neutralize the venom.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals

These aren't remedies, they're folktales.

Truly invaluable advice. If you actually bother to try any of these at home you need to seek psychiatric help

Wow. that is extremely harsh. I suppose you did not take the time to read between the lines and past the 'hoodoo'. Because the PA dutch believed in 'spells' that does not make them nuts. There is alot of GOOD cures in the Long Lost Friend. Things to take care of your livestock, your crops and yourself.

for example:
FOR VOMITING AND DIARRHŒA.
Take pulverized cloves and eat them together with bread soaked in red wine, and you will soon find relief. The cloves may be put upon the bread.

or:
FOR THE STING OF A WASP OR BEE.
... A little boy was stung severely and was in great torture, until an onion was applied to the part affected, when the cure was instantaneous.

OR:
TO HEAL BURNS.
Pound or press the juice of male fern, and put it on the burnt spots and they will heal very fast. Better yet, however, if you smear the above juice upon a rag, and put it on like a plaster.

These don't sound like folktales to me, but like folk medicine. Nothing wrong with the affairs of plain living. I don't think the Amish run to a doctor for every little ailment. They have homeopathic cures for a lot of simple ailments.

2 ways to prepare concentrated essential oils for storage.

#1 Low Tech

Get a clean mason jar and pack firmly with fresh herbs. Really pack it in there as much as you can.

For adult usage pour in vodka or clear moonshine enough to cover herbs. Seal and place in cool dark location. Let steep for 2 weeks. Use a rubber band and put a coffee filter over the top of a clean jar pushing it down into the jar creating a paper cup inside the jar. Slowly pour the alcohol/herb mixture into the filter and let all the liquid filter through. Take the filter off and squeeze remaining herbs to extract as much liquid as you can. You should end up with 1/8 of a jar of liquid or so if you have done it correctly. You can then put into smaller jars for storage in a cool dark place for up to 1 year.

For children or people who wish not to consume any alcohol use the same technique above except use olive oil instead of clear alcohol.

#2 High tech

Dry your herbs on a rack for 2 days. Pack dry herbs into the kettle of your still again as tightly as possible. Put just enough water in to fill kettle about 1/2 full. Distill very slowly. You will end up with a cloudy mixture in your collection cup. Let settle for 4-6 hours and skim the oil off of the top (you will probably end up with less than a tsp of oil). Again store in cool dark place for up to a year.

Remember that with both of these methods we are talking about CONCENTRATED herbal remedies. Especially with the still method think drops, not tsps.



[edit on 21-1-2010 by americanwoman]

Hello, I had no idea what a "homeopathic remedy" was, so I looked it up.
According to Wikipedia:

...Dilution often continues until none of the original substance remains.

What is the point if none of the origional substance remains? Surely ordinary water would work just as well.

[edit on 24-1-2010 by Incendia vox]

Wasp, Bee, Hornet stings:

Take tobacco and place in paper towel, wet it and apply to sting, it stops the pain and swelling!

A buddy walked out my back door one summer day, a red wasp stung him on his lip, it swelled up past his nose in seconds and looked like it was going to pop. I called E.R. and of course they said bring him in, I said no way (live in country - 20 minutes away) they told me of this and it was unbelieveble! The swelling went down in a minute and pain gone. I have used this several times since and it works!!

Boil some ginger to make some improvised ginger ale. It will help alleviate the flu's symptoms if you don't have any chicken to make soup out of.

Garlic is an antiseptic so that's self explanatory

Washing your nostrils if you feel that there are allergens nearby is a good prevention for some respiratory diseases.

Those minty oils or balms like Vicks can also soothe insect bites. Maybe an eucalyptus leaf will do the trick if you live in Australia and know what it looks like if a Koala isn't up there.

Eating a Banana can help remove any small fish bones stuck in your throat. Then again, I think most foods can push the bugger off.

Orange peels smells good and will make people with respiratory diseases feel a little better but not necessarily cure them.

Exercise cures insomnia. Then again, there are a lot of causes for it that isn't necessarily lack-of-physical-activity-related

Salt is a good preservative for meat particularly fish if it's the summer season. Not exactly a remedy but it might help just in case.

Aloe is... I forgot, but its slime is also a remedy of some sort. What for, I have already forgotten.

Honey is also a remedy for something which I also forgot.

I swear by tea tree oil.

that stuff is awesome.
I got bit by a wasp...well more than one wasp once on my knee (the nest was under a picnic table) Put tea tree oil on and within 10 minutes it stopped stinging and hurting.

Something for the survival bag.......

Tea-bags

Dry tea-bag over a mouth abcess for 30 minutes removes puss, pain and allows you to eat.

Dry tea-bag over tooth if having toothache, as above.

Dry tea-bag used over infected body cuts or wounds, again removes puss/poison.

Take 1 tea-bag, empty it of all tea and fill it with finely chopped or grated onion. Lie down, place over nose and breath. Clears conjested lungs, sinuses and tubes within an hour.

Wet, wrung out tea-bag over sore tired eyes.

Respects

I was wondering if you guys knew any remedies for strengthening teeth? like to re-harden enamel? I'm not saying like grow new enamel, but something to like strengthen and repair it. Know what I mean?

Great thread idea S+F!

I have to reiterate Tea Tree oil (antiseptic antifungal) but also Neem Oil (antifungal, antimicrobial and STRONG natural insecticide).
Superjuice Recipe:
Mix equal parts of Neem, Tea Tree and optionally Eucalyptus (for better smell) and then dilute with 10-20 parts grapeseed and/or oilve oil. Dilute it according to what use it will have. It works well for ezcema, rashes, ringworm, athletes foot and as a nontoxic bugspray. I also imagine it would also work well on head lice and crabs if made strong enough.

Tea tree oil added to your toothpaste gets rid of bleeding gums, gingivitis and deters bad breath.

Baking soda and water works well as a backup antacid, i sometimes just add (slowly!) sweet juice and drink quickly.

Kombucha tea when drank semi regularly can control and sometimes reverse the effects of acid reflux and indigestion. It is known for balancing the Ph levels of the human digestive tract, and you can create your own delicious flavors from what you can grow for free! Its easy, very easy. It also helps with digestion and is a source of antioxidants.

Sodium Alum deodorant crystals DO work, and they also benefit your skin in general and ward off fungus, They last forever and are self disinfecting, they dont transmit disease. This means you can ALSO use them as a stiptic pencil (albiet big and clumsy) to stop shaving cuts too. They are worth every penny you spend on them.

Misting your vegetables with a diluted colloidal silver and water mixture makes them last longer. The silver has natural antibacterial properties. Colloidal silver solutions also make effective additions in most cold and flu remedies, and can help diahrea. It can be misted directly into the sinuses, and is almost flavorless. The best part is you can make your own using a few silver ingots, some wire and 3x 9v batteries.

Garlic in high doses has been known to rid the body of internal parasites. Take several heads of whole garlic and cut the very tops off and bake, lightly oiled, in some tinfoil for 45 min at 325 or until soft. Once cool, squeeze the garlic into cheeses, or mayo spreads, or on potatoes or bread.

Cayenne pepper is good for a cough as well, put in hot water, add some honey and cinnamon. It will kick your butt, but stop that cough. vicks vapor rubs on the bottom of your feet for a cough.
Ginger root or willow bark tea for vomitting. The willow bark tea was from some country folk down south, it's what they use for morning sickness. Ginger root, well, there is a reason they tell you to drink ginger ale, but most is not even made with real ginger, go make your own tea from ginger root.
Sea salt is a good healer. Some places that do piercings suggest you so a salt water soak to speed healing.
If you can get some bag balm it is amazing on burns, scrapes and shallow cuts.
A paste of mud, asprin or baking soda is super on bee stings. So, on the line of asprin you could probably use white willow tree bark if you can't get asprin.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
One more urine usage; you can use it to flush out deep cuts and wounds. The force of the stream helps remove debris and it's actually sterile.

My home remedy for sinus infections is to simmer plantain leaves (plantago spp) in water until it turns green. Filter, allow to cool, then place in spray bottle. 2-3 squirts each side twice a day clears it right up. I've had that work when anitbiotics would not. Plantain has very good anti-bacterial properties and is good for open sores, cuts and wounds as well. For bee stings just chew a leaf and place on sting, in 5 minutes you will forget it ever happened. Did I mention that ticks don't like plantain? Just like for the sinuses, boil some down and place in spray bottle. Squirt this liberally over shoes and pant legs (it will stain green!), this is the only non-toxic method I know for keeping even seed ticks off.
I swear this plant is amazing and grows in everyone's yard. Or if you're hungry you can just eat it.

What survival book are you referring to that you found whoshotJR?

OK, am very interested in the palntain sinus infection cure, but are your referring to the banana like plantain or the small shrub, also known as plantago? I have looked up both, I'm guessing the shrub is the one you are referring to. It says it grows in Australia, was wondering how it would be identified, or even if it could be purchased. Having many problems with sinuses over the years, a cure would be great.