With the easy availability of doctors, clinics and hospitals plus the proliferation of over-the-counter drugs and medical prescriptions, one doesn’t hear much about “home remedies” anymore.
Since that topic is pretty much non-existent these days, those of us of a couple of generations back sometimes think about “Mom’s home remedy” cure for everyday maladies.
As I contemplate this topic, we are in the early throes of ‘winter,’ albeit a laughable version of cold weather to those who live above the Mason-Dixon line.
One of the worst fears or expectations of winter in these parts is the onset of ‘cold’ or ‘flu season.’ And, we all dread those threats to everyday well-being plus the loss of peace and tranquility. That latter phrase is probably more applicable to the caregiver in your family (that’d be Life Mate in our house) since they have to assume the job of applying treatment and meds for so-called minor illnesses such as colds.
When I was growing up, my mother’s home remedies seemed to be plentiful enough for whatever illness settled in on her four sons, sometimes all at once.
I have written in the past about Mother and my grandmother (Mama) applying one home remedy, an old wives’ tale “cure” for chicken pox. We lived in the country and had free-range chickens that roosted at night in trees on the property except in the case of mother hens with little chicks. They were afforded more appropriate temporary accommodations. At any rate, Mother and Mama stood my younger brother, Kerry, and me under the trees where the chickens roosted, and used a cane fishing pole to “shoo” them into flying over our heads and, thus, in several days chasing away the chicken pox.
One gaggingly awful treatment had to do with constipation. The OTC product, Black Draught (read ‘dread’) was a so-called ‘powder’ that actually looked and felt more like finely-crushed asphalt and tasted like cold ashes from a fireplace or wood-burning stove. The fact that it was dispensed mixed in a teaspoon with homemade ribbon cane syrup did NOT make it taste better.
Some folks believe rubbing alcohol is a remedy for a lot of things— muscle aches, joint aches, etc. I have known it to be applied to cuts, but I don’t advise it because it burns like the dickens.
Of course, there are those who believe that ingestion of alcohol — not the rubbing variety — is good for any number of things since it seems to have a numbing effect. Naturally, “numbing” isn’t recommended if you want to perform anything physical, particularly driving a vehicle.
My dear, sweet late mother didn’t like alcohol of the drinking variety and didn’t allow it in her house. And, she preached the evils of “demon rum” at any opportunity.
However, when regular OTC products and some home remedies didn’t work in curing the common cold in any of her four boys, it seems that she could magically produce a little liquor to make a last resort elixir for a bad cold — known as a “hot toddy” because she heated it before she made you take it.
I felt a little like comedian Ron White on that one. White, in one of his famous routines, tells a story of his grandmother’s belief that enemas were a cure for almost any ailment. He said: “And, I hated it….at first.”
I was a little “gaggy” at the thought of demon rum as a cure for a cold….at first.
Mother’s hot toddy consisted of a teaspoon of bourbon whiskey (I never knew where she got it) and sugar. You didn’t dare smack your lips when the “medication” was given however, I discovered that a couple of hours later, some dramatic coughing could bring on another dose.
There are a lot of entertaining stories about “hot toddies,” and I’m sure each of you has a tale to tell. However, one valuable lesson from that remedy is moderation in all things.
Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience.
