Thursday, January 5, 2012

"Frontier Fixes"

I thought it would be a fun way to begin the year by looking back in time at some very silly sounding remedies of North America's pioneers.  I found these in Canadian Edition of The 2012 Old Farmer's Almanac by Robert B. Thomas.  Please do not try these at home.

Arthritis: Rub rainwater collected in a stump on the joint.
Baldness: "Fertilize" new hair growth by smearing cow manure on head.
Boils: Eat roadrunner soup.
Chicken Pox: Run around the chicken house naked 3 times.
Chills: Stand behind a dogwood tree from dawn until sunrise.
Colds: Drink a mixture of fruit juice and pounded dried frog skins.
Cuts: Have a large red ant bite the cut while its jaws on each side of the wound then pinch off the body leaving the jaws to hold the cut together.
Headaches: While leaning your head against a tree have someone on the other side drive a nail into the trunk.
Hiccups: Jump over a broom that is laying on the floor 3 times.
Pinkeye: Kill and fry a chicken snake.  Rub the grease collected in the pan onto the sore eye.
Sore Throat: After tying 9 knots into a string of black thread, soak it in turpentine, and wear it around your neck.
Toothache: Spit into a frog's mouth, and ask it to leave with the toothache.
Warts: Dip the eye of a dead cat in spunk water, and place it on the wart.


I wonder how these came about or why the settlers believed they had any power.

What olden day remedies have you heard of?

5 comments:

  1. Those are some crazy ideas!! I am def. not smearing manure on my head no matter how thin my hair gets! LOL

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  2. Wow! These are some interesting remedies. You really do have to wonder how they came up with them.
    Lisa

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  3. @Anonymous Spunk water is apparently rainwater collected in a stump.

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  4. I think I'd actually heard of the hiccup one somewhere. LOL I have a copy of The Frugal Housewife from the 1800s (my edition is of course much newer). There is a lot of interesting & crazy stuff in there too.

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