01 July 2010

artifacts

it's amazing the things you can find while digging around in your garden. i wonder how old this bottle is. i wonder what swamp root is. i wonder who had to take it. and why. and when. living in this very old house and suddenly finding evidence of its other inhabitants and their lives always leaves me a bit awestruck, wondering for days afterward what life must have been like at this place one hundred, even two hundred years ago.

15 comments:

chris said...

oh, this is too funny: look! they still make it!!

Nancy Grossi ~ Churned In Cali ~ The Wife of a Dairyman said...

You've reminded me of my time growing up when my sisters and I used to dig at home and find these tiny bottles and beautiful rocks. I think the bottles were some sort of medicine bottles for chickens...we had 5 chicken houses on our property. Fun times and a good memory :)

Carmen and Rachelle said...

I love things like that. There was a old house in the woods behind my house growing up and I would always go back there and look for things and dream about who used to live there. I even found an old love letter once. Wish I would have kept it!

middle child said...

I know what you mean. Our house was built in the late 1800's. We let our grandkids go on archiological digs and they find all kinds of things. Too fun!

Truth Ferret said...

Dr Kilmer made SWAMP ROOT as a natural herbal diuretic extracted from 15 organic roots in a 10 1/2% alcohol base that promotes the flow of urine which aids the kidneys in eliminating waste matter and thereby purify the blood. Contains extracts of buchu leaves, cape aloes and peppermint herb, oil of juniper, venice turpentine and sucrose.

No wonder people took it, check out the alcohol content.

myletterstoemily said...

the reason you are such a great
blogger is that your are such a
great 'wonderer' and 'wanderer.'

myletterstoemily said...

just visited your swamp root site.
my dad is a urologist and would
love this!!!

Lynn said...

Better than finding, when you go to make a garden plot, that the ground is literally chock full of pottery clay because the a former resident was a potter and used the back yard as a dumping ground for the clay they didn't need/want. I don't know how many barrows of the stuff I hauled out of there. Half the garden, it felt like. And it was HEAVY.

Bottles and antiquey things are way more fun!

Lynn said...

And our house was built at the turn of the century, so I always hope that maybe we'll come up with something else. But no--just clay. And now I'll stop rambling. I'm obviously still bitter over it.

Clay. AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

Kristy @Loveandblasphemy said...

What a fun find!

Anonymous said...

I Googled Dr Kilmer's Swamproot out of curiosity. It is still being produced using the original formula and is FDA approved!

Truth Ferret said...

Just had a thought, can you imagine if you had taken the dosage of the swamp root and you got pulled over and had to take a breath-alyzer test? "Lucy, you've got sum splainin to do." I am sure that a few swigs would put you over the legal limit.

So you find yourself in the drunk tank with all the others who couldn't pass the field sobriety tests and you compare your drinks. Make for some interesting conversations.

Cherie Blessing said...

Ah, it says the well informed know the virtues of swamp root! There are always so many things left in the world to become well informed about, and it makes every day an adventure!

Sarah said...

How cool...I love finding old things that I can wonder about. Going through my late grandfather's basement the other day, I found 12 antique bottles...the coolest one was a really old Listerine bottle.

Barry said...

Hi Christine, Finally checked your blog again. You do super stuff. I could use some swamp oil ,been getting in the wood.
As for the silk strand(I couldn't stop reading your blog) I think it is a parachuting spider,only not much wind to give him a long ride.
You have inspired me to finally do more on my blog... Thanks.... Barry