” Aunt Dollie’s Remedies and Tips: 175 Years of Home Remedies” by Bass, Clementine Holmes

Long before the arrival of the twenty-four-hour pharmacy, folk healers took care of aches, pains, and sniffles with home-grown remedies. Hidden in their kitchens, they had their own bag of tricks used for centuries to treat what ailed them. Growing up, Clementine Holmes Bass learned about many of these home cures from her beloved aunt Dollie, a woman whose wits and wisdom profoundly impacted the author’s life. Some of her best days were spent in Aunt Dollie’s kitchen, laughing and learning about her friends, family, and ancestors. Clementine shares some of her late aunt’s best advice, as an entertaining look at how things were once done. Aunt Dollie advocated the use of commonly found ingredients such as sulphur powder, molasses, mustard plasters, onion, and even turpentine. Clementine, however, does not advocate that these remedies be mistaken for actual medical advice. She shares this information more as a humorous glance back at simpler times, not as a handbook for modern injuries and sicknesses-and she isn’t recommending these techniques for your use. Instead, she offers Dollie’s extensive collection of recipes, tips, and advice for entertainment, amusement, and historical value. Alongside Aunt Dollie’s contributions, Clementine also shares some treasures she learned from her Choctaw ancestors and the senior citizens of Cleveland County, Arkansas. Some of these “cures” are practical-and others will boggle your mind!