I'm sorta starting on a journey with natural remedies. Come to find out there are a bunch more plants around here that I didn't have a clue about. Here I thought I had a decent bank of knowing. A gal here showed me a bunch more very useful flora growing right in my yard and usually being treated as a nuisance.
One that really piqued me is one that is mixed up on the edges of ironweed patches. Ironweed IS a nuisance.
But all around the edges she showed me "wild lettuce.. A prickly tough stalked plant that bleeds like milkweed. Which I would have took as a no go but it's not. The stuff makes a wicked painkiller. It doesn't impart a "high" like opiates but damn it is effective. I tried some of my friends and it did work great.
I've got some going of my own now. Experimenting with method for making. She showed me hers and I've watched a few vids on it. It's not hard to make but I'm still learning about cook times temps all the techie stuff. There's a bazillion ways to process the stuff. I can whip up a years supply of medicine that's way more effective than OTC pain meds in a day. That would cost me for OTCs over a year. I have serious pain issues.
I'll admit I never had a lot of confidence in the whole "natural remedy" thing (some of it can be pretty out there) but I'm coming around. Learning a lot. My first batch of wild lettuce extract is on it's final leg. I should know how I did by tomorrow.