Dr. Susan Reed Bottenfield
Dispensary
& Apothecary
Established Before Anyone
Thought It Was Proper.
The medical journals sit beside the botanicals.
There is a rocking chair, if you need a moment.
And yes, the chickens are out back.A neighborhood story. A place to pause.
“I’m a doctor.”
And then she quietly hands someone a cup of chamomile.
Dr Susan is deeply observant. Her shelves hold anatomy texts and handwritten notebooks, dried herbs and old medical instruments. A microscope belongs here just as naturally as a botanical print.
She is interested in how someone lives as well as what hurts. There is a proper examination table in one corner, and a rocking chair where anxious visitors can sit with tea.
“When did you last laugh?”
It belongs in the conversation alongside “Where does it hurt?”
On the shelves
Every bottle has two labels.
A plant on the front. A story on the back.
01Lemon balmTurn the label ↗
Someone asks Dr Susan, “What herb cures grief?”
“None of them. But lemon balm makes the tea taste better while you carry it.”
02The notebooksOpen a page ↗
Handwritten observations sit beside the medical journals. Dr Susan keeps looking, asking, and paying attention.
The plants belong to the story. So does the person sitting in the chair.
Through the back door
The garden.
And the chickens.
Dr Susan has always kept chickens.
She swears the eggs are better.
when harvested with respect.
Ol’ Bea comes for eggs.
A little of the garden makes its way to the diner every week.
Basil brings scraps.
Professor Lyman insists one of the chickens is smarter than most politicians. Nobody knows if he’s joking.
A familiar visitor at the gate.
When calico Cait Sìth wanders into the garden, the chickens don’t panic. They stop and stare at one another. Dr Susan looks up from weeding and greets her like an old colleague.
A notice from the garden
FairyTale Yoga has moved.
The chickens objected.
They expressed their objections on rather too many yoga mats. Accordingly, Mrs. S’s FairyTale Yoga has moved to The Tangled Teacup until further notice.
The welcome is the same. The mats are considerably cleaner.
FairyTale Yoga at The Tangled Teacup →Care travels between neighbors
Some questions need another chair.
At the Professors’ Table
Over at Ol’ Bea’s Southern Diner, Professor Lyman and Professor Basil are still playing chess. The board is never put away. There is always an empty chair.
Lyman offers a question no one else considered. Basil slides over another coffee cup. Neither hurries you toward an answer.
Hospitality. Wisdom. Care.
Ol’ Bea feeds people. The professors help people think. Dr Susan reminds them to care for themselves. They send neighbors to one another.
Sometimes the next thing you need is supper. Sometimes it is a conversation.
The woman behind the neighborhood story
Inspired by
Dr. Susan Reed Bottenfield
April 28, 1855 – March 19, 1952
Birth: family newspaper clipping ↗
Death: Georgia index · certificate 5675 ↗
A real physician. A life worth remembering.
View the photograph ↗
By Rebecca Franklin · A newspaper profile of Susan at 91.
Read the full-size clipping ↗
View the class photograph ↗
Photographs and newspaper clipping from KimberlyMae’s family collection. Dr Susan’s fictional dispensary honors her memory; the historical clipping is presented as a family keepsake, not health guidance.
Urban Lemonade 