When I was a kid, my grandmother on my father's side was a source of hilarity - her strong German accent and odd habits was fascinating to us kids, and she would do fun things like make us grass skirts out of banana leaves and give us vinegar to douse our mosquito bites, and wash her hair in the rain. I'm sure many of the things she did she did to entertain us kids. Now she's long gone there's so many things I want to learn from her, but I'm glad she taught the value of a few simple herbal remedies, such as nettle infusion, chamomile rinses for eyes and tea for sleep, and calendula lotion, although she'd make it with lard, as that was what was more readily available at the time.

That was what she would have grown up with, and would have learnt from her mother and her mother before that. Then, of course, pharmacies came along, and everyone lost The Knowledge in favour of recommended creams and drugs produced by big companies that churned them out by the millions.

It's so important to me that I teach my grandchild at least a thing or two about plants. I wonder if he'll see me as the crazy grandmother. I don't mind if he does. But if in twenty years time he gets a splinter and thinks: oh, Grandma used to use plantain to draw them out, so I'll give that a go, I'll be happy.

That's what I'm pondering now, as I poultice the puncture wound on my foot. This morning I checked the wound after a few days of it being covered with a suturing bandaid and a gauze. A slight pressure to either side and pus oozed out. No wonder my foot was swollen. I'd been keeping an eye out for more serious signs of infection and consuming a lot of echinacea, vitamin c and zinc for my immune system to fight it, but clearly the wound was struggling a little.

It's Sunday, too, so despite my mother's concern and her begging me to go back to the doctors, I knew there was this one thing I could do before then.

One of them is plantain, and thats the herb I most tell people about, even though they look at me as if I'm as crazy as my Nana. But it works, I insist, listing all the personal anecdotes where it has for us - the sinus operation pain for Jamie, soothed by tea made from roadside plantain on a trip to NSW, the strong plantain tea when I've had a cough, the cut in the garden beginning to close up in half an hour from a plantain leaf chewed and held in place.

So, whilst Jamie's at a car swap meet, I hop into the garden (literally) and collect plantain, hop back inside, wash the area surrounding the wound with plantain tincture, and chew some leaves before poulticing my foot liberally. Whilst the most painful part of this process for me was sitting still, the rest was easy - and free.

After about half an hour, I checked the wound again and plantain was certainly doing what it was meant to be doing -it had drawn out a black thing - perhaps a splinter or a piece of dirt - that the doctor's administrations had clearly missed. Another half an hour, and the wound had healed more than four days with a bandage had done. Plantain has that power to draw out infection. It contains polyphenols and plantamajoside, major compounds for wound healing. It's meant to reduce inflammation, block microbial growth, and relieve pain. It'll also 'stitch' together the wound and keep it moist at the same time.

As much as I'm sure you'd love to see chewed up green stuff on my foot (gross), I'll spare you that visual.

But that's all you do - chew the leaf, pop on your foot, and wait.

So for kids, this is the easiest thing in the world to do for cuts, scrapes and splinters.

I remember teaching a friend's eight year old that very thing. She was utterly fascinated, and the next time I saw her, she told me she'd been teaching her friends about it, and they'd been using it if they got stung by ants or mosquitos. She told me her Dad had drawn out a splinter with it too.

That made me so pleased.

So if you have kids, give it a go. It's an easy one to spot - and hard to mistake for anything else. Do your research, and pass it on to your little ones.

A little less dependency on pharmaceuticals and their associated costs is a valuable thign to pass on.

Thanks, Nana.

And my foot? Unwrapped cautiously in the morning, I find there is nothing to report - there is no weeping, no pus, and no redness. The wound is healing from the inside out. Placing my foot on the floor, I find I can stand on it. It's tender, but I can stand.

A Christmas miracle.

With Love,

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