Still not a homesteader!
If you find something that works embrace it!
Don't misunderstand me, I love modern medicine. I love dental, optical, general, and specialized medicine. I adore the chemical solutions to some of my more memorable migraines. I’ve found however that a home off the beaten path sometimes leads to minor injuries (we won’t count that ax incident) that need a small, quick fix. Enter grandma’s old folk remedies!
Consider that there is a fireplace, stove, and oven which has generated a few minor burns, then there are blackberry bushes which have backward thorns - you have to move into the plant before it will release you (and then you’re in the middle of the plant… Hmmm, that worked well!), then the insect bites! Arrrgh! The insect bites!
The generally well-known first aid medicines work for about 5 minutes after they were applied but then I was in agony again. I began to reconsider the old-style poultice idea that grandpa swore by. I started with the old soap and sugar drawing salve (recipe here: http://www.homeherbals.com/soap--sugar-poultice.html). Despite having such a wonderful recipe (being the modern, non-homesteading type) I went online and bought the commercial equivalent.
It wasn’t at all impressive on insect bites or the evil blackberry splinters which always get infected, but the Curet works very well on minor burns - the kind you get when you accidentally bump a hot pan or bush against the woodstove door then which turn red or get a water blister. Monster relief! It stops the burning feeling nearly immediately!
The spikes on the blackberry brambles never stood a chance against my favorite (commercial) baking soda-powered product…
It pulled up both the splinter and the imminent infection all at the same time!
Of course now there’s the bug bites… 15 years living here and all I have come up with is to wear mosquito repellent and stay away from bugs.