Though It really Doesn't Seem Like That Long Ago...

From Around The 1930s And 40's And Prior, Most Families, Especially Those Further Away From Large Cities, Had Some Level Of Knowledge About Herbal Remedies. From Herbal Pain Relief, To Herbal Common Cold And Flu Symptom Relief And ALOT MORE.

The Knowledge of It Ranged From Simple To Elaborate and Some Families Even Had Some Old Leather Bound Herbal Books With Old Family Notes In The Margins And Sheets of Notebook Paper With Corrections To Incorrect Or Outdated Knowledge On A Few Things. I remember Seeing 1 or 2 From Time To Time.

The Further Along Modern Medicine Progressed, The Further Back That Knowledge That Kept Our Great Great Great GrandParents Alive Was Pushed. We Went From Grandma Saying

"Go Into The Back Yard And Pick Me Some Oxeye Daisies, Grandpas Breathin' Is Actin' Up Again."

To "What Do You Mean I Won't Have An Appointment For 3 Weeks? I'll Be Over It By Then!"

Or More Commonly, Unfortunately From My Experience..

"I Can't Afford To Go To The Doctor" In One Form Or Another..

Or "I Can't Afford Whatever Prescriptions They Give Me"

But What Grandma And Grandpa Forgot About Herbs Can likely Clear Out A decent Section Of The Urgent Care Waiting Room. And That Isn't Hyperbole. Other Than For Truly Life Threatening Issues, Back Then People Didn't Go To The Doctors Office Let Alone The Hospital. They Would Simply Go Take A Walk To The Wood Line Or Into The local Woods To Pick 2 or 3 Herbs And Prepare A Tea Or Restock Those Old Dusty Corked Jars In The Back Of The Pantry.

A Simply Example I Can Give Is To Look At An Old Black And White Picture From The 30s, Of Old Out Of The Way Cabins And Even Houses In Small Neighborhoods, You'll See Bundles Of Herbs And Drying Plants hanging Around The House.

While This Has Become Either Some Sort of Aesthetic Alteration Or Used Only By Chefs Wanting Fresh Cooking Herbs. It was originally Used (Admittedly Also For Cooking) To Keep And Dry Medicinal Herbs.

And Had Nothing To Do With Aesthetics.

They Would Either Go To The Town Herbalist/Pharmacist , Or Pull down A Few Sprigs Of Their Own Herbal Stock To Help With Whatever The Issue Was...

That Was Actually The Origin Of The Now "myth" That Chicken Soup Could Help With A Cold. And Was Later Altered To Saying It "Was Simply Because It Was Comfort Food.."

Used To When you Were Sick, Your GrandParents Or Parents, Would Cook A Chicken Soup Made With Real Herbs That Were Meant To Help You Sleep And Get Over The Symptoms Of A Cold Or Flu...

Now All That Being Said! I Offer This Disclaimer.

I Am In No Way Saying That Modern Medicine Does Not Have Its Place. It Absolutely Does! That Is undeniable And Anyone Saying Otherwise Is Not Being Truthful, But Are Puffed Up In Their Own Mind.

The Xray And All That Has Come From It, MRI, EEG Etc...Has Saved More Lives Than Grandma Putting A Water Glass To Your Stomach And Her Ear To The Other End...

Blood Panel Tests Can Tell You Specific Ailments That Your Body Is Fighting Off. To Know What Likely Needs To Be Treated.

And Lets Not Discuss How Many Lives Antibiotics Has Saved. (Not Withstanding They Have Found More Than A Few Herbs That Contain Many Of The Same Antibiotic Properties)

And Not To Mention Surgery Coming An Insanely Long Way From Where It Used To Be...

Long Story Short, What I Am Trying To Get Across Is That While Modern Medicine Has It's Uses That Cannot Be Questioned Nor Should It Be...

In Many Things I will Look To What God Provided Rather Than New Medications Made From Stem Cells. ..But That's Another Conversation.