I don’t know exactly what I got into in my garden this week, but I started itching as soon as I came inside. Turns out my backyard weeding session left me with a vicious case of hives! If the same thing happens to you, here’s a handful of hints that’ll help you ditch the itch:

• Reduce your scratching by soaking for 10 to 15 minutes in a bathtub full of warm water with finely ground colloidal oatmeal added to it. This over-the-counter bath powder stays suspended in water and won’t clog your drain.
• Dab the hives with cool mint tea. Just stir 1 teaspoon of fresh or dried mint leaves into 1 cup of boiling water, simmer for 10 minutes, then strain. Soak a soft cloth in the cooled tea, and dab it gently on your skin.
• Soothe the burn with chickweed salve: Steep a handful of fresh chickweed (which you can buy at a health food store or online) in 2 cups of hot water for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a handheld sprayer bottle, chill, and spritz it on your hives. Keep the leftover salve in the fridge, ready for your next close encounter of the itchy kind.

For more tried and true treatments, check out my Grandma Putt’s Home Health Remedies book—FREE for 21 days. It’s jam-packed with hundreds of safe, natural, and effective cures to keep you (and yours) healthy.