50

Flax Seed
(?????????)
A. Varesano interviewing Susie Zosak -2-
8/14/72
Tape 26-1

035 You don't see it no more.

AV Umm! How did you prepare the flax seed, you said you heated it in a pan?

SZ You put a little milk in, a little bit just, you know, and put it in between, and put it on, you didn't have no - or, bread and milk they put on, too.....

AV Helen used that on my hand.

SZ So you didn't have no, it didn't hurt.

AV How did you prepare it?

SZ I just boiled, scalded up a little bit of bread, and put it on. And you could put it on plain, or if you wanted to put in between cloth, but you could put it on plain, too.

AV Did you put the bread and milk...

SZ Well, it's the milk that draws out the bread.

AV Did you heat the bread and the milk together?

SZ Yeah. You could make even that.

AV Until it's very hot?

SZ Well, as warm as you can stand it. The warm the better. Flax seed you put on warm too.

AV And then you leave it on how long?

SZ Well, til it, sometimes you went to bed in the evening, and you left it on til the morning. In the morning it was even dry, but it stopped the pain, it didn't hurt.

AV You left on the flax seed overnight, too?

SZ Yeah.

AV Did you bandage it on with something?

SZ Yeah, you had to put it, like you would put anything on. We didn't have no Band-Aids then.

AV So what did you use?

SZ When the doctor came, he did have this plaster, and he'd bandage it for you, but, at home you used a piece of an old sheet, or piece of old pillowcase, white, and tie it here and then tie another knot here, and tie it there, so you don't lose it! You know, if you'd stick it in water it would come off. So you tied it here, and then you...

AV Around the finger...

SZ ...tied a knot here, you know...

AV ...crossed over the hand under here...

SZ ...then this would hold it on. That was a, you had to go to college to know that!

AV No you didn't! I'd never know that , good heavens! Wow! So, that's how you treated the infection.

SZ And then you could, there's those leaves like I told you, thet were good, too, they drawed.

AV Do you remember what you called the leaves?

SZ Yeah, they're out there. Thet call them, in Slavish you call them ( fad-key??????). That's what Helen called them. And ah, oh, I was gonna say, I had something that I... and I was gonna tell you , but I forgot, Helen would understand what it was...

AV Another remedy?

SZ Oh, no, it wasn't remedy or, well, you call it a remedy or, I don't exactly know.

AV And so, you never called a doctor unless it was an emergency?

SZ Oh, we called, I said I called the doctor when I had a festered finger, and the doctor would tell you himself to put flax seed on. (??????????)they called it (???????). Sure. And then, I rememver one time when I had the sore finger,