Poltices (found in the treelawn)

OK; maybe not the treelawn, if you live on a heavily-trafficked street...

Though not a life-threatening problem, flesh wounds can be a real "pain." And if infection sets in, they may even threaten your life.

Lately I had an ingrown toenail on the side of my great toe, and a split heel callas. Both on the same foot.

I'd heard about Plantain for years,but never tried it. So a couple weeks back, I walked out in front and picked a bunch, both round and lance leaf Plantain. Smashed in a granite mortar and pestle (try the local Asian grocery, Housewares dept), the smashed Plantain was gooey, but not quite enough to stick securely, so I added some Slippery Elm.

I put a big dab it on the side of the offending toenail and covered with a bandage, went to bed, and woke up with no pain. The red beginning of infection was also gone.

Unfortunately, walking around in a shoe at work makes it difficult for this thing to really get better, but so far I'm winning the fight as the nail slowly grows out.

The split heel called for a larger dab and a larger bandage (one of those big square ones). I took the day off to attend to my foot and I'll probably wear the poltice to work under a sock tomorrow.

This time I got fancy, adding a Comfrey leaf, some Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris), and a squeeze of Aloe Vera gell from a home grown leaf. I can't tell if this new mixtue works better than the plain Plantain, but the cracked heel is no longer painful. I haven't removed the thing to view the wound yet, as the bandage costs $0.50. I'll check it at bath time.

The most interesting thing is: who would believe a mash of nasty, unsterile leaves from the dirty yard wouldn't cause a major infection? But it doesn't!

Oh yeah. Since I was home today, I had the opportunity to put some of the Plantain/Comfrey poltice on a very scratched open and irritated mosquito bite on the arm of a friend's four year old child. He started right in complaining, "it still hurts!" but after a couple minutes he stopped and didn't seem bothered the rest of the day. Tweet