Good down home remedies was my paternal grandmother's specialty. For example, I had got chicken pox one summer and it itched like crazy. She laid out a couple of sheets and poured a lot fo corn meal on it. She told me to strip down butt naked and roll in it. Embarrassing for an eight year old. I obeyed and it was grimy but very soothing. I fell asleep in it, even.
A couple of summers later, I pulled a muscle when I fell off of my bike. After a day or so of swelling and pain, she simply rubbed red vinegar on that muscle in my leg. It hurt like hell because she really rubbed into that muscle.
I didn't limp badly at all the next day.
My friends laughed at me when I told them back home in Cleveland. ;-)
