Folk Medicine in Appalachia
I love it when friends keep an eye out for items they know I’ll treasure. My friend Jessie slipped me a copy of Appalachian Folk Medicine: Native Plants and Healing Traditions a year or so ago and it’s a rich resource.
The spiral bound book was published in 1996 by Warren Wilson College–a school not far from me in western NC. It includes chapters such as:
Immigrant Healing Traditions
Home Remedies Sampler
Faith Healing
Herbalists
Plant Foraging and Harvesting
There’s a whole chapter on ginseng! Fortunately, it only reinforces what I learned when I did my research to make Creed a ginseng hunter in The Right Kind of Fool. But oh! The ideas for future stories!
While Ivy was an herbalist in When Silence Sings, there’s a lot more I could do with that topic. And this little book is a fantastic resource. For example–the Wallace Brothers Botanical Co. in Statesville, NC, has been dealing in native herbs and plants since the 1860s. Some of the most common plants were sassafras root or bark, wild cherry bark, pennyroyal, catnip, and sarsaparilla. And ginseng of course! By the 1880s they were the largest root and herb market in the U.S. Now I can work with that!
For now, I leave you with this bit of wisdom: For any type of elixir – Use corn whiskey as a base and soak a ginseng root in it. Take one tablespoon each day to maintain a feeling of well-being.
Hmmmmm. I think that just might work! And if it doesn’t, try TWO tablespoons 😉