Patent Medicines Still Around Today

Dennis Dalton speaks at May's Lunch & Learn program..

Local author, historian and collector Dennis Dalton spoke to a packed house on the history of patent medicine in Ohio and the world.  Mr. Dalton was the featured speaker at the May edition of our monthly Lunch & Learn program.

Patent, or proprietary medicines were common in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were unregulated by any local, state or other government and were marketed as miracle cures for every kind of medical complaint from acne to syphilis.  These patent medicines were marketed as containing the goodness of herbs, berries and various barks but their primary ingredient was whisky or other consumable alcohols, and often cocaine or morphine. Coco Cola originally was a patent medicine containing cocaine. Many of these "medicines" were home remedies made by housewives in their kitchens and distributed to friends and neighbors. Some enterprising women bottled their concoctions and sold them through local stores.

You can buy this modern day version through Amazon.com

One of the most famous was Lydia Pinkham and her Vegetable Tonic  which is still available today, although without the original high dose of alcohol.  Lydia's was the cure all for all female complaints. It was commonly said that their was a "baby in every bottle".

Hugging My Aga

This large tea kettle came with the AGA. Sitting on the boiling plate it boils water in 90 seconds.

On a chilly May morning, I cozy up to the Aga and brew a hot cup of tea. I understand in the milder parts of England and Ireland where it never gets really cold, small cottages are heated just with the radiating heat from an Aga cooker.

My Aga cooker is my cooking stove and a gentle source of heat.

Pileated Woodpecker Excavation

I am always startled to walk out of the house and hear  raucous, completely mad sounding laughter from the woods around the house.  It always takes me a few seconds of wonder to remember that its the call of the pileated woodpeckers who live there. We are getting quite a colony of them and they are great fun.  I was looking up some information on them and saw a similar picture to this one of the tree taken in Adams county. It was tagged as a pileated woodpecker excavation. It's fairly low to the ground, but so was the one in Adams county. 

I suspect this is a pileated woodpecker excavation of a dead wild cheery tree.

Pileated Woodpecker by Photograph by Bates Littlehales

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New Favorite Perennials

Varigated Jacob's Ladder and blue Ajuga

My two new favorite perennials, varigated Jacob's Ladder and blue Ajuga also known as Bugleweed. The very green plant in the background on the left is an Astilbe.  Below, on the east side of the house with plenty of morning sun and afternoon shade, hosta, astilbe, ajuga, coral bells and fox glove. 

Hosta and Ajuga