“Every year an abundance of jewel weed grows along side our stream. I cut down to about 4 inches of the root, pack as much as I can into a few quart-size jars and pour in as much witch hazel or vodka as the jar will hold. Let it steep at least a month, the longer the better. Eventually I strain it and keep a few jars stored in the basement. It will get used up in a hurry if someone encounters ground hornets, yellow jackets, or poison ivy or oak. It takes the hurt out of the stings and by the end of the day all that is left of the stings is a small welt that is usually gone in a few days.”
—Cheryl
Jewelweed blooms are still going strong around my house. Their bright cheery color really stands out as the green of summer turns to brown. I need to gather some before it’s too late and make some of Cheryl’s remedy.
Last night’s video: Making a Fall Garden in Appalachia
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I’m pretty sure it was here on the Blind Pig that I learned about using jewelweed for mosquito bites. It took me a while to figure out just how to use it, but I’ve been using it all the time for years now and have told other people about it, since it grows all around my neck of the woods. I was just wondering if I there’s a way to “keep” it, and now here is the answer! I will certainly give this simple method a try – thank you Cheryl and Tipper!
I love how much the hummingbirds love jewelweed. It’s fun to see them work a patch of it.
It’s amazing how many “weeds” have healing and helpful qualities. I guess everyone used to know how to use plants for healing but somewhere along people decided going to a doctor and getting a prescription was a better idea and an easier idea. I’m afraid that we have not done ourselves well in depending on the big pharmaseutical manufacturers!
This is too funny – we have so much jewel weed on our place that the other day I said to my wife “I wish that stuff was valuable; we’d be rich.” I never knew you could make a tincture from it.
I swear I learn something new every time I come to this blog so thanks so much for all you share and do!!! Let me add if you wait til sunset you can burn or destroy a wasp or hornet or yellow jacket nest and you WILL NOT get hurt whatsoever and I swear to that! Lots of swearing first thing this morning…. lol
i would love to hear how well it works at poison ivy as my husband breaks out every time our cat comes in and “wallers” on him…i’ve eaten jewelweed when it first comes up in spring but never knew it as a remedy for poison ivy..
I learned that WD-40 does the same thing. I keep a small dish by the stove, where I spray a little WD-40 into it, just to keep a supply handy. Chiggers, Fire Ants, wasps, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, even mosquito bites and noseeums, are all neutralized with just a brisk rub of this magic formula. The rubbing gets the Fish Oil base into the skin faster, and the hurt soon goes away, and only a whelp and a healing swelling will remain for a few days. I swear by it.
Good to know and thanks!
I’ve never made the tincture but that is something I would try. I have used jewelweed for chiggers and it is a wonderful remedy. When you first rub it on you might think you made a horrible mistake for the itching gets way worse for a couple minutes and then it completely stops. RELIEF that lasts for several hours and then you will need another smathering of wild touch me not. By the next day the chigger bites are drying up.
Griff,
Touch-me-not is what we always called the jewelweed. If my memory is correct there was also a flowering plant that grew beside streams that lathered just like soap. In fact, we used to use them as soap while out by the creek if we got our hands dirty, which was often! I have no idea what the name of the plant was-too many years have passed since then.
Thank you for bringing back the memory of those two plants.