Sunday, March 1, 2009

Native American Herbal Remedies

That's the title of my new page. Old-Home-Remedies-Guide.com will now have pages of herbal remedies used by Native American tribes.

Since I'm from the Northeast, I started with native Northeastern tribes like the Algonquian, who populated New England and the maritime Canadian provinces. Tribes like the Penobscot, Montagnais and Mohegan, used single herbs to cure illnesses rather than herbal recipes.

Their understanding of herbs came from folklore. The use of muskrat root as a general health restorative was recommended to an Indian in a dream in which a muskrat appeared to him.

The early Native Americans also used the doctrine of similarities: if a plant resembled the condition you sought relief for, then you used that plant. For example, the ginseng root resembled the shape of a child, so it was used by women with fertility problems.

If you want to read more just visit my Native American Herbal Remedies page at
http://www.old-home-remedies-guide.com. This research is fascinating! I'll be posting more soon.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Feel A Cold Coming On? Roast A Lemon!

It's January and it's cold and damp outside! Perfect recipe for a cold. But I found a cool little home remedy for colds that people used to use years ago, and it's so easy.

Just get a lemon, set your oven on "bake," and bake the lemon for about 20 minutes or until the skin starts to crack. I don't know what degree to set the oven to because in the old days there were no ovens with temperature settings. So I'd try 350 degrees which sounds safe enough.

Then squeeze out all the lemon juice -- be careful handling the hot lemon -- and drink it. That's what they took to remedy the onset of a cold.

You could also squeeze some garlic and add the juice to the drink for a real strong anti-cold remedy. Your breath won't smell great but you'll have stopped a cold dead in its tracks.

Be back soon with more old home remedies. In the meantime I will be adding pages about folk medicine for colds and coughs to my website Old-Home-Remedies-Guide.com so please stop by for a visit!

Barb