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During all the years of following my Great Aunt Bett up the mountains of eastern Kentucky searching for one illusive plant after another, I never missed a trip with her. Well, until the year I was seven.....
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Aunt Bett was far more learned than I knew to give her credit for. Oh, I knew she was smart, and I held the deepest respect for her, which was very obvious since I was struck incredibly speechless whenever I was around her. I was only seven but I knew a thing or two about Aunt Bett. She was a widow and she was my Mother's real aunt, making her my Great Aunt. She knew everything there was to know about medicine, having learned it from her mother before her and her grandmother even before then. I also knew that people from all over the mountains came to Aunt Bett for her magic cures. During the winter of the year I was seven, two unusual things happened. I lost my dearly beloved grandfather, who was Aunt Bett's younger brother, and I had a very croupy year myself. As soon as March was over and done, my Aunt Bett took me under her wing. Her excuse was to find something to cure my constant croup. Truthfully, I think she needed a distraction from her brother's sudden death. The timing was right and I was a handy, if not willing, patient. I will tell you about the treatment first, and then will take you up the mountain with Aunt Bett in search of an unlikely remedy. Aunt Bett would say I am putting the cart before the horse. Well, sorry Aunt Bett, but I am telling this story, I promise I will do it up right. I don't remember the time frame, but I suspect that I had been the barking baby seal for more than one night. My dad was home from WWII by this time, and we were living with my grandmother who lived (by mountain standards) very close to Aunt Bett's house. It was the middle of the night of course, in the mountains that is the only hour that baby seals can be heard. I only remember that my parents were up and were applying hot towels to my chest, one right after the other when suddenly I think I smelled Aunt Bett before I saw her. It was the stinking asphidity bag which you have already heard much about in our first journey up the mountain with Aunt Bett. The hot towels came off my chest; after all. she said, it wasn't my chest that was affected, it was my throat. But over my head went the string with the new asphidity bag. Next Aunt Bett applied a cool liquid to the outside of my throat, then she placed over it a folded piece of red wool and the asphidity bag, all followed by a spoonful of another soothing liquid to the inside of my throat. At this time my grandmother Ninna brought in a kettle of steaming hot water which she placed on a chair beside my bed. Between these two little old ladies, they built a tent of quilts over my head and over the kettle of hot water. I breathed in the steam, the asphidity smelled suddenly of rosemary, the cool concoction soothed my throat both inside and out, and I fell asleep. Magic was happening and we all know that magic happens best when you are sleeping. Croup was as scary then as it is today. I can still wake up with it all these many years later, and yep, I still sound like a barking seal and scare myself to death with that bark. All that was known then was that it crept up on an unsuspecting child in the middle of the night and woke the entire household and the dog outside by the loud bark that poured forth from the unsuspecting child's raw throat. The wail that followed that first bark was no better, sounding much like the hound baying at the moon. Croup today is best cared for with the warmth of steam from a hot shower or from a vaporizer. Having neither available when I was seven, my mom simply gave me over to Aunt Bett's magic hands. Croup is an inflammation in the upper airways, most people outgrow it along with other childhood illnesses. I was one who didn't outgrow it, but I did learn to control it, thanks to Aunt Bett and her sidekick, GrannyNinna, both widowed at a young age, and both living off the magic of the mountains. GrannyNinna was the one who awakened in the middle of the night with my first seal bark, and leaving my parents to watch over me, she walked the mile in the dark to get Aunt Bett. This magic croup treatment was repeated more than a couple of times that year, but by the beginning of summer I was well on my way to learning to gather and create my own magical remedy, and to learn more about the healing powers of the women in my family. You have come to know my Aunt Bett and the magic that I thought surrounded her. I think it is only fair that you also know a little bit about the fairy land where I grew up. I know the part of southeastern Kentucky that you won't read about in textbooks or magazines, nor will you see it when you drive through the area on your way to somewhere else. I miss that part of Kentucky and though it lives inside me, I am driven to go back to regain peace for my soul and to touch the hand that my ancestors reach out to me over the years. My home on the western side of Pine Mountain, in the Appalachians of extreme southeastern Kentucky was built just where the north fork of the KY River bursts forth from the flowing springs of Mother Earth. It sat in the valley surrounded on four sides by those beautiful Appalachians. I could climb to the very top of my back yard and look down the other side into Virginia. We did not have to travel far up the mountain to find the illusive mouses ear, Aunt Bett's sure cure for croup. In fact it wasn't illusive at all, but it did not grow in abundance on the mountain. Mouse's ear (Hieracium Pilosella) is also known as Hawkweed, but to Aunt Bett it was always and ever Mouseseer. It does not grow well in the mountains because it needs sunny, sandy, dry soil, and mountain soil in eastern Kentucky is certainly not dry nor sandy. But hawkweed is adaptable and of course now is considered invasive, so it persisted and there were spots of it to be found even in the mountains. Aunt Bett taught me where to find them. I was expecting tiny little round mouse ears, all soft and fuzzy. I had the soft and fuzzy part right but the plant looked like a hairy dandelion to me, and it even had a yellow bloom also much like the dandelion. We were to gather the leaves and the bloom, so I carried the dozens of brown paper sacks and clothespins, and Aunt Bett carried the big burlap sack in her long skirts. You and I both know the ritual by now, we gathered the plant, careful to not bruise it, folded it safely in the paper sack and dropped the clothespinned paper sack into the big burlap bag. When we filled up the burlap sack, always leaving enough plants behind to reseed and regrow, we headed back down the mountain. Sweat had darkened my new asphidity bag, and the heat was causing strong and unusual odors to pour forth from it. However, I had learned early on that no two asphidity bags ever smelled the same. New smells coming from it no longer worried me because much as I hated the stinking thing, Aunt Bett told me it protected me from evil, and I for sure believed every word out of that little woman's mouth. I stunk, but there was nothing living or dead in those mountains that could ever hurt me! The story that Aunt Bett told to me during May and June of my seventh year is that mouse's ear is named hawkweed because old folks thought that the hawk would tear open the plant and wipe its eyes with the juice so that it could have better vision to find its small prey in the large forest. Aunt Bett swore by the story and though I have never seen the hawk tear into hawkweed, I know it is true because Aunt Bett said so. Aunt Bett taught me to brew a tea from the small hairy leaves, and that is what she put inside my throat when I had croup. She also told me that using an external application of the tea soothes the parched throat. I know now that the tea acts as an astringent, and is in fact a very cooling agent. She went on to tell me that mouse's ear "eases the muscles of the throat and the breathing tubes inside a body. It makes you cough up all the pizen (poisen). It cures asthma, croup and whoopin' cough, it is for sure a magical cure." Aunt Bett also taught me to dry the leaves and stems and to grind them into a powder. The dry powder was used alone for stopping nose bleeds. Sometimes new leaves had to be gathered very quickly if there had been an accident which involved a bad cut to a person. I remember being sent to the hawkweed spot alone one time when one of Aunt Bett's nephews had cut his leg while cutting firewood. You must remember that a fire in the kitchen stove was needed at all times, so cutting firewood was not just a winter activity. I raced to gather new leaves of hawkweed, and while I was gone Aunt Bett had cleaned the wound and bound it together with clean strips of white cloth. When I returned with the hawkweek, the fresh bruised leaves were placed over the bleeding wound in a cross pattern, much like a weaving of the leaves, then they were bound tightly by a clean new binding. The binding was not to be changed for 5 days, and then only Aunt Bett was allowed to change it. By the fifth day, Aunt Bett opened the binding, removed the leaves, and the healing of the wound was obvious. For good measure Aunt Bett let me place more new mouse's ear leaves over the healing wound this time, and I was delighted to use my best over and under weaving method. It was so good I was disappointed when Aunt Bett bound it again in more wrappings and not another soul was able to see my amazing woven design. I absolutely knew it was the magic in the design that had healed the cut in the man's leg. INFUSION: The most common use of mouse's ear was as an infusion. In Aunt Bett's words, here is how an infusion is prepared: Gather the mouseseer in a bunch tied with a string.  Hang the bunch upside down from a nail on the back porch. Hang there till dry then grind and save in a covered glass bottle. To make an infusion, measure out a ounce of ground mouseseer in a cup. Pour on biling (boiling) hot water. Sweeten with a dose of honey. Drink a cupful. The infusion can be used on the skin, too. FLUID EXTRACT: A fluid extract must be made when the plant is fresh because all the plant is used, except the roots, to make the extract. Aunt Bett taught me to make the extract over a hot stove on many hot summer days, and sometimes I wonder if any of those glass bottles are still there in the house where she lived. An extract is made by boiling the chopped plant in about two quarts of water, boiling down to one quart, straining, then saving the water and the strained plant parts. The process is repeated with the plant parts in a quart of of clean water, boiling again until only a pint of liquid is left. The third step involves the same plant pulp, and a combination of the first saved water and the second saved water all mixed together and boiled again until only a couple of ounces of liquid remains. Strain and discard the plant pulp. Save the remaining liquid in small glass bottles, and when cool, vegetable glycerine can be added to preserve the medicinal quality of the herb. Making fluid extract is an absolutely exhausting process, and I hope Aunt Bett is not listening, but I really don't recommend it. The processes that Aunt Bett and GrannyNinna taught me are priceless. In reality I know that I will never use them, just like the stinking asphidity bag. But just having the knowledge living inside me is such a treasure. I will always catch a whiff of rotten leaves and remember the asphidity bag, that is something I can never forget, but it isn't something I think about consciously. It is the same as knowing secretly that I can still get to the top of a mountain much more quickly than most, because I know the secret that lies in climbing sideways and leaning into the body of that amazing mountain. 'Cause that's one of the lessons I learned when Aunt Bett took me "diggin' sang where the trilliums grow." Another story for next time. Photographs in this article belong to the author, with the exception of the hawkweed (www.glaucus.org/mouse-ear). The first photo is a watercolor done years ago by the author. It is the house where I grew up surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains. The second photo is my GrannyNinna and me taken when I was two. The third photo is of the author in her first flower garden. It was a blue garden, my favorite color, and was filled with spiderwort and blue iris. The last photo was taken the summer when I was seven and began following Aunt Bett all over the mountains in search of magic. My dogs are Tuffy and Pepper, and they followed along as we went on our searches.
 | I am a retired high school art and humanities teacher. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains of southeast KY and now I live with my two rescued cats, Jazz and Daisy, in far western KY. I love daylilies and perennials, and thanks to my DG friends this year I am adding roses to my gardens.
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Subject: Wonderful memories !
Posted by mary0520 (from Olive Branch, MS) on April 3, 2008 at 6:31 AM:I remember going with my granmother to pick blackberries and tying some type of matieral around our ankles to ward off chiggers. then we made the blackberry jelly. oh man did it ever smell good and taste good. we made jellies all summer. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on April 3, 2008 at 11:46 AM: And wasn't it fun to squeal every time you ate a blackberry right off the vine along with the ant that you knew you just swallowed?
The photo is lovely, thank you, Mary. ...
Subject: Aunt Bett
Posted by daisyrock1 (from Norfolk, VA) on March 31, 2008 at 11:28 AM:This is the first time I have met your Aunt Bett and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the introduction. Hope to read more soon. I'll be looking for your byline.. :) ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 31, 2008 at 11:31 AM: Thank you, Daisy. There will be more coming up. ...
Subject: Another Aunt Bett story
Posted by rubyw (from Crozet, VA) on March 31, 2008 at 10:39 AM:Another great story. You write beautifully. I felt as though I were there with you experiencing these things. How wonderful that you have these great memories.
Ruby ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 31, 2008 at 11:00 AM: Thanks, Ruby.
I do have good memories, I am grateful for that. ...
Subject: Thanks
Posted by herbalbetty (from Middleburgh, NY) on March 31, 2008 at 7:48 AM:Sharon, you create your own bit of magic with the weaving of your stories. It would make a best-seller, I'm sure. Thank you for letting us in the world of your childhood. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 31, 2008 at 11:01 AM: Thank you. I am so glad you enjoyed it. ...
Subject: Thanks
Posted by pupilpropogtr (from Birmingham, AL) on March 29, 2008 at 11:44 PM:Sharran,
Thank you for sharing a bit more about how you grew up. Your words paint a picture equal to your art.
Your biggest cheerleader,
Traci ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 30, 2008 at 12:05 AM: Thank you, Traci. Very nice to hear from you. ...
Subject: Again, I am Speechless,
Posted by MistyPetals (from North Augusta, SC) on March 29, 2008 at 5:09 PM:you're so gifted and to have you among us exercising your gift is wonderful. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 29, 2008 at 5:16 PM: And you are so kind. Thank you. I am glad that you are enjoying the articles. ...
Subject: Great article
Posted by Zanymuse (from Fortuna, CA) on March 25, 2008 at 11:46 PM:I am beginning to feel like your Aunt Bett is an old friend. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:48 PM: Thanks, Zany....and it isn't over yet!
... Posted by Kathleen (from Panama, NY) on March 26, 2008 at 8:05 AM: Sharron, what a great story! Thank you for writing all of that wonderful knowledge down. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 26, 2008 at 9:46 AM: Thank you, Kathleen. And I did love your dog story. Made me spend time thinking of all the dogs I have had and how special they all were in their own ways.
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Subject: I want an Aunt Bett, too!
Posted by vossner (from Richmond, TX) on March 25, 2008 at 1:16 PM:Both my parents were only children so I had no aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I wasn't around any seniors until I was about 15 and by then teenage mistrust of grownups was well within me and kept me from appreciating the opportunity to learn from them. Parents had elders but they weren't close. When I read stories like this, Sharran, I'm faced w/ how much I missed and a little envious about your wonderful experiences.
But all is not sad, now I am the middleaged woman and every time I see a "grannyless" kid I try to talk to them and take them under my wing. Your article makes me more determined to do that. Thanks.
PS: I have no potions, though. I will just have to drive them to the Walgreens, lol ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 2:30 PM: What a beautiful note, Vossner.
It makes me appreciate more what I do have, and I am thankful that I can share it with folks like you.
Thank you for your words and for reading the article. ...
Subject: Aunt Bett would be proud of you Shar!
Posted by Bettypauze (from Victoria Harbour, ON) on March 25, 2008 at 11:59 AM:Imagine, all those memories and treasures hidden within...it's wonderful that you are sharing, are your children aware that they have a 'medicine woman' for a mom..recipes passed on and on and on..now is the time to tell Ethan of these .. ... Posted by Seedtosser1 (from Glenview, IL) on March 25, 2008 at 1:45 PM: Shar,
Just happened to look on my navegator side and low and behold...I see Aunt Bett's name! I just love to read your stories of you and Aunt Bett. What wonderful memories you are sharing with us. I love that you still have the recipes and directions!
...and Oh My you were as adorable as can be...I can just picture following and listening up the mountain.
AND...my favorite line, Because Aunt Bett said.
Thank you opnce again for a grand smile today and a lesson too. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 2:34 PM: Betty and Seed, thank you. I am so glad you enjoyed. ... Posted by lizrainey (from San Mateo, CA) on March 31, 2008 at 8:03 AM: omg shar, im suppose to be putting hair color on and im running behind i absolutly loved this story, you have made aunt bett so real i almost feel like i know her to!
wonderful story thank you for sharing , cant wait for the next, you have a natural talent for captivating your readers.. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 31, 2008 at 11:02 AM: Thank you Liz, glad you enjoyed. ...
Subject: I want an Aunt Bett!!
Posted by daylilydaddy (from morehead, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:58 AM:Outstanding Sharon!! I love these stories of mountain lore and mountain medicine. My grandmother was always mixing up something to cure this or that. I just wish I had listened more.
Geo ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 9:00 PM: Thanks, George, glad you enjoyed the article. ...
Subject: More please!
Posted by cathy4 (from St. Louis County, MO) on March 25, 2008 at 11:32 AM:Please share more of the stories of your Aunt Bett, these are so interesting! ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:35 AM: Hi, Cathy..
Thank you. There are more on the schedule. I am glad you enjoy them.
Sharon ... Posted by nanny_56 (from Putnam County, IN) on March 25, 2008 at 8:06 PM: Beautifully written! It must be so wonderful to have such sweet memories of loved ones. You are a very rich woman!
The painting is beautiful too! ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 8:20 PM: thank you, Nanny. She was a real character, and I wish I had a photographic memory so that I could remember everything she ever told me. (Except the asphidity bag!) ...
Subject: Wonderful article!!
Posted by threegardeners (from North Augusta, ON) on March 25, 2008 at 8:15 AM:I love reading your Aunt Bett stories!!
I still get croupy myself, except I don't sound like a barking seal, more like an old Dodge with no muffler. Maybe I should see if Mousesears grow up here in Canada 'cause nothing else seems to help much :)) ... Posted by AYankeeCat (from Bridgeport, CT) on March 25, 2008 at 8:56 AM: I really enjoyed the article. Thank you for sharing your "magic" with us. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:43 AM: Thank you, I am so glad you enjoy them. The more I write about Aunt Bett, the more I remember. It helps too that my mother had saved so many of Aunt Bett's recipes and instructions.
There are more stories on the schedule.
Sharon ... Posted by Dutchlady1 (from Naples, FL) on March 25, 2008 at 4:29 PM: How charming. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 9:01 PM: Thanks, Dutchlady. ...
Subject: Well done, Sharon
Posted by doccat5 (from Fredericksburg, VA) on March 25, 2008 at 7:09 AM:Wonderful story, Sharon. The words were alive. Thanks for sharing ;) ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:44 AM: Thanks, Cathy, I am glad you enjoyed. ... Posted by melody (from Benton, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 5:57 PM: Aunt Bett's story is being told to people from all walks of life, and from all over the world. I'm sure that she would be astounded at the numbers of readers following her up the mountain each time.
The great thing is, her legacy will be here for as long as there is an internet. She will still be handing down wisdom long after we are gone. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 6:18 PM: Melody, that brought tears to my eyes. Thank you . ...
Subject: Another great article, Sharon
Posted by Zuzu (from Sebastopol, CA) on March 25, 2008 at 3:45 AM:You've done it again, Sharon. I just love your articles and I'm always so happy to see your name posted among the by-lines for the day. ... Posted by podster (from Deep East Texas, TX) on March 25, 2008 at 7:00 AM: What a delight your memories are.... I am glad you are willing to share and fascinated to see that what is new, really was old. Seems that most plants were put on this earth for a purpose. It is a long lost skill. More Aunt Bett please! pod ... Posted by roadrunner (from Hereford, AZ) on March 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM: I enjoy your articles very much...as I was born near Beckley, WV...some of these same remedys were known to my Mom too. Jo ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 11:40 AM: Thank you Zuzu, it is always a surprise to me that someone who lives away from KY and the mountains can enjoy the Aunt Bett stories, but I am so glad you do. Maybe it has to do with loving plants, of course, as we all do.
And Podster, thank you also. There are more Aunt Bett stories scheduled.
Jo, as the crow flies Beckley was not very far away from where I grew up, so I am sure you have heard of many of the same things that Aunt Bett taught me. Glad you enjoy them.
Thank you all.
Sharon ... Posted by carrielamont (from Milton, MA) on March 25, 2008 at 12:46 PM: I agree with whoever said "more, please!" Very nice. . . . xx, Carrie ... Posted by gloria125 (from Greensboro, AL) on March 25, 2008 at 1:04 PM: Sharran. The Kentucky mountains are so much a part of our American heritage whether we've ever been in Kentucky or not. This is a heritage we've almost forgot with the hustle and bustle of modern life, so thanks for the reminder.
gloria ... Posted by roadrunner (from Hereford, AZ) on March 25, 2008 at 1:53 PM: There is a thread years ago on here that was about "people famous in our family tree""..When my cousin, Ginlyn, posted that we were from the sister to Daniel Boone...I got dmail from Garedclay...now known as "cousin Jim"...he sprang from that same limb!! Jo ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 2:33 PM: Thank you, Carrie.
Gloria, you will always have my sincerest thanks for encouraging me to write about Aunt Bett. Without you, I might never have even thought about it.
Jo, funny you should say that....I have something similar in my ancestry too. I will look it up and share with you what I find. Maybe we're kin, too. ... Posted by victorgardener (from Lower Hudson Valley, NY) on March 25, 2008 at 4:26 PM: Another wonderful story, Sharon. You are so blessed to have had Aunt Bett in your life and we are blessed with these priceless stories inspired by your treasured memories. It's a part of our heritage that is being lost at an alarming rate. Thanks for the privilege of sharing your special childhood.
This message was edited Mar 25, 2008 4:41 PM ... Posted by girlgroupgirl (from Atlanta, GA) on March 25, 2008 at 4:37 PM: Sharon, I had heard that hawkweed was used as an herb but had no idea how. This was a fantastic story and good lessons learned!
GGG ... Posted by pirl (from Southold, NY) on March 25, 2008 at 7:43 PM: Another fabulous article, Sharon. You truly are the best writer on the DG team. Though we may not all have had an Aunt Bett or an Aunt Edna it's great fun to read your memories. I truly enjoyed your watercolor and the other photos as well. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 9:04 PM: Thank you Victor, GGG and Pirl. I am glad you enjoyed the article.
She knew a lot more than I will ever know, though, and I can only hope I do her knowledge justice. ... Posted by Rene10 (from Wauchula, FL) on March 25, 2008 at 9:49 PM: Great story & believe it or not I remember the asphidity bag from my grandparents here in Fl. Also remember the tallow & camphor chest poultices. ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 25, 2008 at 9:54 PM: Thanks Rene, isn't it funny that we all have similar memories from that period of time, no matter where we lived? ... Posted by JasperDale (from Long Beach, CA) on March 26, 2008 at 12:15 AM: Your childhood tales are a delight to read, Sharon. Thanks for sharing another fond memory.
Isn't it amazing how folk remedies worked better than some of todays medicines? ... Posted by Sharran (from Calvert City, KY) on March 26, 2008 at 12:26 AM: So true, JD. I just wish I could remember more, or wish I had more of her records. She had a use for everything it seemed.
Thanks for reading the article, glad you enjoyed it. ...
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