Old Time Remedies from the Mountains of Appalachia

A remedy for depression I use is watching 2 or 3 Tipper videos. After a few videos I drink a glass of cold water and I smile the rest of the day.

I’m 74 and remember Mom making a poultice of fried onions wrapped in flannel, later she used Vicks as I did with my children. Sweet oil and smoke were earache remedies, hot toddy was a cure all. Does anyone remember the dreaded mercurochrome? 😊

My Mother grew up in rural East Texas. When she was 8 years old she was bitten on the bottom of her left foot by a large rattlesnake. She and her little brother were running down a path through the woods between their house and their Granny's house. Summertime and barefoot. She said she didn't stop running when bitten just went screaming straight to her Grandmother. Her Granny made her sit on the porch while she caught a laying hen. As quick as she could, she cut that hen open with a butter knife and stuck my Mom's foot inside that bird. She tired it up with her apron and held it there until that chicken was cold. When she took the hen off her foot, Mama said it was as green as grass on the inside. Mama stayed at her Granny's for many days being cared for by her. She was extremely sick and her leg became very swollen.There was no going to the doctor. No transportation and no money. Her Granny was Viola Selette Pool Brown. Her quick thinking and tender care saved my Mom's foot and probably her life. I have never shared that story publicly. I think there must have been merit in treatment with a chicken. Perhaps it helped draw some of the venom. I don't know. I just think it was pretty incredible. This would have been about 1932.

My father knew all the herbs and his Daddy was called Dr Sam and his father was a Cherokee Medicine man. I wished I had payed more attention to all the lore Daddy used to talk about

My grandmother, who lived to be 100 years old, was the keeper of folk medicine for her family and for her whole community. I wish I had written down more of her wise words.

I took a class in anthropology, and that class was so very interesting. The instructor spent a couple of days on remedies used way back in the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs. It was the first time I heard about the wonders of raw honey for burns and cuts. I have used honey since then, and it does really work! And I have never ended up with a scar, even from a deep cut, when I applied honey on it for a couple of days. I used warm olive oil for an earache last year, and it worked. I use coconut oil for bites and sore muscles. It takes about 20 minutes to start working, but when it does, the effect lasts almost 12 + hours. I have had severe pain in my shoulders, and upper back from trying to lift a 600 pound patient by myself, it hurt so bad I could not turn my head even. I used coconut oil on my shoulders, neck, and as much of my back as I could reach, and it completely took the pain away. I also believe in sweating out a fever. I love the names of the people from your book! I am always interested in finding natural remedies for healing, as I try to stay away from man made things as much as possible. Thank you for sharing this book! I enjoyed listening to you read from it! I would love to hear more remedies and folklore. I often wonder how long each of the old remedies were used - hundreds of years? I liked how the beginning of what you read said about how many people survived using the old remedies. In my mind, anything that uses natural ingredients is far safer and more effective, than something that has been manufactured out of chemicals. All those chemicals in our foods and everything else we surround ourselves with, catch up with our bodies over time. I believe that is why we have so many diseases today. I will get off my soap box now. I really enjoyed this video! Thank you! Donna. : )

As long as I can remember we had an aloe plant in the house growing up. Gramma had one as well. All of my siblings have one and I tell my children to always have one. Great for burns and cuts.

The catnip tea for colic in a baby is amazing. My daughter...she's 38 now...developed colic when she was 3 months old. She cried constantly and was miserable...as was I. After a couple of dr. visits with no results...my granny brought a small jar of catnip tea she had made and wanted to give a half to a tsp. to my daughter. Of course I was not sure about it...and she said..."You know I would never do anything to harm that baby" and I knew she wouldn't. Within 20 mins. that little miracle tea did it's job. It was amazing. I always had it in the fridge for when I needed it for her...and shared it with friends who were going through the same thing. It was our miracle cure!

I have no idea how I ended up here a few months ago but I just want to thank you. You remind me so much of my Mother. Her paternal grandfather was a coal miner in TN before he moved to upstate NY and married a British woman. So many of these recipes, home remedies and stories are similar to what I picked up as a child from my Grandmother and Mother. I genuinely enjoy every video and “getting to know” your family. Thank you so much. ❤️❤️❤️

In 1989 I was working with an older guy, Leroy Massengale. Leroy was past retirement age, but he could still out work guys half his age, so when he told me stuff I tried to listen. Anyway, I came down with a case of the Creeping Crud. Leroy said when you leave here to today, go by the liquor store and get a half pint of Rock and Rye. When you get home, put all the cover in the house on the bed. Ever quilt and ever blanket. Drink that half pint, ever drop. Crawl in that bed and pull that cover up over your head. When you wake up you'll be fine. I was desperate enough to try it, it worked. I've always called it Leroy's Home Remedy.

My oldest son and my only nephew are 2 years apart. When they were about 5 and 3 years old, my son got into the chocolate Exlax in the fridge and shared it with nephew. They were both on the toilet all night. I called poison control but they said they'd be okay. Just make sure to keep hydrated. Hahaha they NEVER ate "hidden" chocolates again. They are 45 and 43 years old now. My son was Army Special Forces and nephew is pilot for a major airline so it didn't hurt them much. LOL

This is a salve recipe for drawing out infection or splinters from the skin. It has been in my family since the 1800’s at least. 8 lbs Rosin 1 lb Bergunder Pitch 1 lb Bees Wax 1 lb Mutton Tallow Melt together then turn in cold water and pull like taffy until cold. Melt over flame and drip onto affected area. I still have one small piece that is over 100 years old. My father used it to draw out metal shavings from his hands that he got from work, also works real well on wood splinters.

When I was a boy, our family’s doctor (Dr Knight) was an older gentleman who included remedies in his treatments. My little brother suffered from asthmatic bronchitis. Dr Knight told Mama, on sunny days, to let my brother sit outside with his shirt open and face the sun . The warm sun helped his bronchitis.

I honestly believe we've lost alot of valuable history, of the mountain remedies, that could have still be useful for many ailments. My Great Uncle Wade Gregory was born and raised in Cades Cove,I always enjoyed being around him.Papaw Wells dipped snuff,and he put the snuff on our bee stings, it helped. Thank You Tipper for Sharing and God Bless🙂.

The onion poultice was used on me when I was little. I always hated visiting my Grandmother whenever I had a cough or cold because she would slap one of them on my chest so fast. It smelled horrible but it worked. I'm 64 so this was back in the early 60's.

My husband put chewing tobacco on some fire ant bites I got. It grossed me out, but it worked. It soothed them and I was glad I let him do it. ~ Betty

Fresh aloe vera doesn't just help for burns. It relieves pain, too. I wrapped a leaf around my finger after slamming it in a door. I was desperate and didn't think it would work at all, but it did.

The flowers of the Witch Hazel plant cooked in distilled water. I used witch hazel on my Momma for her shingles outbreaks. Soaking thin cloths in the cold witch hazel. I placed those on her shingle blisters she had on her torso. It brought her great relief and it helped the blisters to dry up. Today, I use homemade (that I make) MMJ tincture for my pain.

Once a year, my paternal great grandmother, who was born on the Cherokee reservation, used to line up all of us grand and great grandkids (16 of us) & feed us a teaspoon of sugar with a drop of turpentine on it. We’d open our mouths one by one and she’d go down the line pouring it on our tongues to “worm” us.

I am from the upper Midwest, for reference: When I was about 5, I was playing in my babysitter's yard and stepped on a rusty nail. It went in pretty far. She removed the nail, packed the wound with cobwebs, sealed them in with honey and put a bandaid over it. Worked great, never scarred. My ex was a welder. I've grated potatoes into a washcloth for him. Someone in the comments mentioned red pepper heated several times in oil for joint pain. I make it, add turmeric and beeswax to solidify it. It works. Finally, my hubby's cousin makes a 'secret recipe' batch of salve about once a year, and I always get some! I am allergic to yellow jackets. I swell up like a balloon and have even passed out before. We couldn't afford the ridiculous price of the epi pen a while back, and of course I got stung! By the time I got the jar open and got some of her salve out, my arm had swelled up to almost twice it's size. I was just hoping the salve would work long enough to get me to a hospital. Within 2 minutes, the pain and redness were gone, and within 5 minutes all of the swelling had gone down! My granddaughter has been stung and I put some on her immediately. It worked within seconds! I wish I knew what is in the salve! Ps, I don't reccomend using natural remedies in place of an epi pen, blah, blah, blah 😉