When you feel an ear infection coming on, gargling with warm salt water will help - it help keep the Eustacian tubes from blocking up. When the ear is aching, you can lessen the hurt with a blowdryer - honest. Just aim the warm air into your ear for a few minutes, and it really helps the hurt go away for quite a while.

Bee sting - make a paste of baking soda and water, apply. It draws the stinger out and is soothing.

When you are congested and miserable with a cold, break up some eucalyptus leaves, and sprinkle them over a bowl of hot water. Then lean over it and breathe the steam. If you can take a towel and drape it over your head so you make a kind of "tent" to capture more of the steam.

When Dad was an asthmatic kid, the home asthma remedy was boiling skunk cabbage for tea - I'm not usre whther he was supposed to drink it or what - I just know that I was always grateful for modern asthma meds so I didn't have to have any part of that. Goodness knows asthma meds taste nasty as it is!