October 2010, Issue 9
Featured Dollhouses
Page 62
Continue Magick Street dollhouses of Deb Roberts
"Sarah Ann had hopes of buying farmland on a northern ridge but was reluctant to pursue that dream because it would mean being separated from her son while she worked as a housekeeper to save the money.
"All her doubts were removed when she had a vision one night of a blackbird sitting on a fence post. The blackbird spoke to her and then rose from the fence post and flew north. Sarah Ann never looked back and my grandfather lived with relatives from the time he was four until he was 14.
"They both lived there till their deaths; Sarah Ann helped my grandfather and his wife raise 10 children and guided the planting, butchering and harvesting by when the sign was right like the Farmer's Almanac used today and the little farm did well."
Known as 'Aunt Sary' to everyone in the hills, Deb's formidable and wise great-grandmother was the only doctor most of the local people ever knew.
"She had the only Balm of Gilead tree in that area, a fact that puzzled many people since that species of tree is not indigenous to that region. The buds of the Bammy Gilly tree made a salve used then for almost any external injury, burn or rash. She had a tea, syrup, poultice or salve for every known ailment. Many neighbors swore that they would have died if not for Aunt Sary."
This amazing tree exists in a miniaturized version at the side of Wise Ways Emporium as part of the landscaping. Inside the store is stocked with many books of wise ways and bottles and bags of ingredients necessary for the health and welfare of shoppers.
All things Aunt Sary would have used to create her remedies and then some.
"The lore that they lived by was very much like what is in the Farmer's Almanac today, but I doubt they would have even realized that it might be written down at some point in the future. It was intrinsic knowledge to them, not something they would have considered necessary of writing down.
Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM