Selected Herbal Remedies Of Southeastern Kentucky

Selected Herbal Remedies Of Southeastern Kentucky by Judy Bolyard Judy Bolyard grew up in Indiana and received the B.A. in Biology from Earlham College. She worked as a naturalist for National Audubon Society in Dayton, Ohio, for about five years. In 1977 she completed the M.S. degree in Botany at Miami University. Her thesis, Medicinal Plants of Southeastern Kentucky, was the result of an extensive study of what people of the area remembered as well as herbal literature . She now works as a naturalist at Calloway Gardens, Pine Mountain, Georgia. At some point in our lives each of us they earned a living, stored their food, becomes interested in the not-too-distant built their homes, traveled from place to past of our grandparents and great-grand- place, healed their sick, and entertained parents. We want to know what their themselves. As our curiosity grows, we lives were like, how they lived, what pro- begin to search out some of the answers blems—large and small—they faced, how about life in the "old days." We often 58 begin by questioning our friends and relatives from past generations who lived before "our time." Sometimes our interest in the past is kindled too late. The valuable sources of information have passed on from our lives, and the fascinating accounts and wisdom of a lifetime have passed with them. This unfortunate set of circumstances has happened to many of us, and in my pursuit of home remedies of southeastern Kentucky, many were the times that I would hear too late of someone who knew a use for "pert near every plant that grows in these hills." The news would stir a deeper awareness in me of the urgency of the task at hand, to interview and meet as many "old-timers" as possible before the darkness falls. There are other rewards in digging through the past in addition to obvious gains in knowledge and information. As stories and accounts of the past begin to accumulate, so do fresh insights, new appreciations, different perspectives, and a renewed respect for the creativity, imagination, courage and persistence of our forebears. My interest in and curiosity about the past includes home remedies: what people would do to treat illnesses, wounds and diseases when there were no doctors available. Although southeastern Kentucky now has access to modern medical attention, it has not been too many years since a doctor was a half day's ride from home and that was half day's ride on the back of a mule, down across the branch and over the ridge to the next hollow. There are still people who live in Kentucky today who not only remember those times, but also still know and occasionally use the old home remedies passed down through generations in their family. In the interest of collecting and preserving this aspect of Appalachian heritage, I conducted interviews with some of these people and tape recorded what they told me. I am deeply grateful and indebted to the many people who helped me with their kind and generous assistance. It is because of their willingness, that I am able to share these home remedies with you. Space does not permit a survey of all the plants employed in southeastern Kentucky home remedies, so I have chosen a small, but interesting, sample. ~