Maine remedies (house, transfer, live)

[Maineah]

My wife had a bad case of poison ivy last summer. I went online and found a Maine site that recommended jewell weed sap as a remedy for poison ivy and poison oak. We had some growing in the front yard so I picked some, mashed it up and she rubbed it on the affected area. I'll be darned if it didn't work! She was amazed! I was too. We used to cut down the jewell weed but now we have a new found respect for it. Do you have any old Maine related remedies for "whatever ails ya" you'd be willing to share?

[island mermaid]

I remember having a few ear aches as a kid and my parents would heat up a teaspoon of some sort of whiskey and pour it into my ear!!!!

Thinking perhaps that was after they had consumed a few ?

[msina]

My Mum used vinegar in our ears if we had an earache. Something about the astringant quality of the vinegar worked well if you had swimmer's ear, (water in the ear). For a cold my Dad put honey and whiskey in hot tea. He kept the only liquor in the house in the "cellarway", a bottle of medicinal whisky. Baking soda was a good "drawing salve" for bee stings, poisen ivy and rashes. Camomile tea was mixed into canned milk and karo syrup for cholicy babies.

[mollysmiles]

I'm looking forward to Bewitched's reply to this thread.....she has a wealth of information regarding things like this....it's amazing! The only thing I can remember is "butter on a burn"---a *HUGE* no-no! But when I was 5 and stepped on the tip of a still hot sparkler, that's what Nana did.....didn't help--still hurt like crazy and luckily it didn't get infected!!

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

I'm looking forward to Bewitched's reply to this thread.....she has a wealth of information regarding things like this....it's amazing! The only thing I can remember is "butter on a burn"---a *HUGE* no-no! But when I was 5 and stepped on the tip of a still hot sparkler, that's what Nana did.....didn't help--still hurt like crazy and luckily it didn't get infected!!

The theory behind butter on a burn was that the grease kept the AIR off, which helped to sooth... but this only works with UNsalted butter, which few keep these days. Yes, this was an old remedy... and did work, as long as you didn't get an infection, as you pointed out. I know it worked on me a time or two... but when I learned WHY it worked, I started using cold water... it helps if you can immerse the burn and keep it in the water for a while. I have been known to continue working in the kitchen while holding a lightweight plastic cup full of ice water, with my burnt finger stuck in it!

Is Stinging Nettle a problem along stream banks in Maine? If so, the remedy is also usually near by... creek mud! For what it's worth, young nettles are supposed to be good eating in the early spring... cooked... I have eaten them and they were not bad, but I have never had the guts to try to harvest any.

[Maine Writer]

50/50 peroxide and alcohol takes care of my swimmer's ear.

For pets with ear mites, a little vegetable oil massaged into the ear canal will suffocate the mites. Once you let go of the animal it's going to start shaking its head so I stuff mine out the door quickly.

[elston]

Originally Posted by Fort Lauderdale mermaid

I remember having a few ear aches as a kid and my parents would heat up a teaspoon of some sort of whiskey and pour it into my ear!!!!

Thinking perhaps that was after they had consumed a few ?

Dad used to smoke and he would blow smoke into my ear for ear ache--perhaps the warmth? Mom would put clove oil on a cotton ball and put that in my ear....she also used to say, "warm sweet oil" but I don't know what that is or if she actually used it. I also had a mustard plaster of a bed sheet torn into strips and soaked in some witches potion wrapped around my chest for congestion....and my childhood memories smell like Vicks and paragoric.

In my grammy's and great aunt's old cook books there were as many remedies as recipes; both the home grown variety and clipped from every newpaper and magazine in print and pasted in. It was amazing they survived treating everything from whooping cough to Scarlet Fever and St Vitis Dance with home remedies.

Dad and his mother promoted a teaspoon of cider vinegar daily and Dad swore it kept mosquitoes and black flies away!

[elston]

Originally Posted by msina

My Mum used vinegar in our ears if we had an earache. Something about the astringant quality of the vinegar worked well if you had swimmer's ear, (water in the ear). For a cold my Dad put honey and whiskey in hot tea. He kept the only liquor in the house in the "cellarway", a bottle of medicinal whisky. Baking soda was a good "drawing salve" for bee stings, poisen ivy and rashes. Camomile tea was mixed into canned milk and karo syrup for cholicy babies.

Its a wonder we survived. My mother said she was told to take a hanky and tie a bundle of sugar in one corner and dip it in Paragoric and give it to a teething baby. Paragoric is an opium derivitive. On a similar vein....she said they used to put poppy seeds in a handerchief and pound them with a hammer and let a teething or colicky baby suck on that.

To quiet a cranky child mom said to put a little honey on its pointy finger and thumb and put a down feather on it and get the little tyke to stick the finger and thumb together transfering the feather......this was supposed to fascinate and distract the tot so he would stop crying. I bet she would have tried it with me.................but I was "such a good baby!"

[Maineah]

These are good! Thanks everyone! You're right it's amazing we all lived!

The lady next door to where we lived in Cumberland was a nurse. For hiccups she would tell us to bend over up side down and drink water from the opposite side of a glass.It sounds weird and looked even weirder doing it but it worked for some reason.

[Maine Writer]

Clove oil is also good for a sore tooth.