Got A Headache?

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 2011 edition, printed several headache remedies from the 18th and 19th centuries. See how many sound familiar to you.

• Gargle with mustard
• Tie a red bandana around your head.
• Apply cobwebs across the bridge of your nose.
• Mash an even number of earthworms and rub them into your temples and forehead.
• Stick leaves from a cottonwood tree to your temples and let them stay until they fall off, taking the skin with them.
• Tightly wrap rattlesnake skin around your head.
• Stick tobacco leaves to your temples.
• Boil cottonweed in lye, then smoke.
• With the point of a knife make the sign of the cross in the air in front of your face and throw the knife to the floor.
• Tell someone to blow smoke in your ear.
• Prepare a heat-producing poultice and apply to head.
• Rub your forehead with a lodestone.
• Drill a small hole in your skull to release demons and other ailments. 😯
• Soak a paper bag in vinegar and apply to head.
• On your forehead place sliced raw potatoes.
• Scrape moss from a skull, pound into a powder, then sniff.
• Weave a match into your hair.
• Apply collard greens to your head.
• Shape into a pill a mixture of beaver gland, olive oil and beeswax, then swallow.
• Tie a salt herring around your neck.

Now tell me, have you heard of any of these?

I knew someone years ago that tied a bandana around her head when she got “the headaches”. Other than that, I have not heard of any of these.

Makes me wonder why people would try such crazy things. Was their headaches so bad that they would “try anything” to find relief?

My active imagination seems to take over when I read such things. I see a very confused beaver running from a person with leaves and potato slices stuck to their head, smoke coming out of their ears, a fish dangling from a piece of twine and holding an open burlap sack, saying, “Come here you little varmint!”  See I told you I have an active imagination!

Tell me you didn’t imagine everything I just described. 😆

Seriously, I do not recommend trying any of these remedies and I don’t think The Old Farmer’s Almanac would either.

But it sure was fun just thinking about them.

Happy Monday!

TFP 😉

Disclaimer: The publishers of the Old Farmer’s Almanac have no idea who I am. I only share these articles with you because I love the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Little Did I Know

Last year I decided to see if I could predict the weather using a persimmon seed.

They say that if the seed looks like a fork you will have a mild winter or if it looks like a spoon you will have a harsh winter or if it looks like a knife you will have an icy winter.

Little did I know that I was doing it all wrong.

I didn’t know that you had to crack open the pit to actually see the seed until after I had written that post.

So this year I’m doing it again, only in the correct way, thanks to the Old Farmer’s Almanac for printing an article on the subject.

And believe me those seeds aren’t easy to get to.

So once I cracked one open without crushing the whole thing, this is what I found.

It looks like a spoon to me, which means we’ll be shoveling lots of heavy wet snow this year in the southeast.

I would like to see pictures of how the seeds look as a fork or knife.

Wouldn’t you?

Will you be cracking open a persimmon seed in your neck of the woods this year?

If so, I’d love to know what your weather prediction will be!

And please forgive me for getting it all wrong last year.

Happy Wednesday!

TFP 🙂

Are You Doing What It Takes?

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 2009 edition has a few suggestions on how to live to be 100 and beyond.

If, in fact, that is what you would like to do.

Me, personally, I’m not too sure I want to live to be that old.

I guess it would be ok, providing I was still self-efficient.

So here are their suggestions…….

• Relax and take it easy……keep the stress to a minimum when at all possible.
• Use your brain……read, work puzzles, play games, anything that makes you mind work.
• Keep moving……walk, run, get up in the morning and do something and keep moving, get some exercise.
• Be a social butterfly…..interact with people at home and outside the home. Go visit people that are unable to get out of the home. It will be good for you and them.
• Turn that frown upside down…….watch a comedy, read a comedy, go watch a comedian, anything that gets you laughing.
• Watch that scale……find out your ideal weight and strive to stay as close to it as possible.
• Get some rays…..sunshine is good for you for many different reasons.
• Spread a little sunshine…..by giving compliments and flirting with others. It will make them feel good about themselves and you will feel good because you’ve put a smile on their face.

Also mentioned in the article is additional advice from Robert B. Thomas, the founder of the Old Famer’s Almanac. In the first issue of the Old Farmer’s Almanac he suggested along with all the above suggestions to…..

• Chew perfectly.
• Live chastely.
• Sleep long and soundly.

I don’t know about you but these all sound like good advice to me.

And I practice most of them daily or am in the process of changing things so that I can practice them daily.

How about you?

Are you doing what it takes to keep yourself healthy in hopes for a long life?

Happy Monday

TFP 🙂

Disclaimer: The publishers of the Old Farmer’s Almanac have no idea who I am. I only share these articles with you because I love the Old Farmer’s Almanac.