Gardening - Herb Garden Rejuvination Long Overdue

I had a couple of planters containing some sages, oregano and thymes on the deck all summer. Now that fall is here, I had to replant them in a more permanent place in the herb garden behind the garage. The only problem was that the herb garden had been neglected and was severely overgrown. There was a wild grape vine growing out of the middle of it and the oregano was spreading over the chives and they were not getting enough sunlight.

Before

There was catnip growing here and there and a wild grape vine was growing over the lattice and covering the rhubarb. I had to prune back some mulberry suckers that were growing from stumps beside the fence. There is a row of stumps from cedars that were cut down before we were here that make it impossible to dig up the mulberry, so, I just keep pruining the suckers.

The hoses you can now see beside the fence were once a garden hose which the dog chewed up last year. I decided to keep them to lay out in the garden if earwigs got to be a problem. There were no problems with earwigs this year, but the garden snails have really been bad this year. I told my husband, who likes Escargots, that I was going to start a snail ranch, so he could have all he can eat!With all of the grape vines, mulberry suckers and various weeds gone, I can actually see my rhubarb and chives, which the snails have been having a feast on. Now, to tackle the oregano!
I was digging up and pulling out oregano for a couple of hours, then I had to get the roots out so that they didn't grow new plants all over the place. I decided to keep only a small clump of it and pulled up the rest. There was enough of the herb to fill two garbage cans!


After I got all of the oregano dug out, and cut back, I was finished for the day.

Day 2

I dug up a couple of clumps of chives and replanted them closer to the rest of the chives. I then started to replant the sages and thymes.
The last of the plants was a new variety of oregano, which has a purple coloured leaf. I hope this one doesn't grow out of control.

Back to Business - Earlybird Vintage & Collectibles

I have been working on opening an online store "Earlybird Vintage & Collectibles"



and I hope to have the "Grand Opening" sometime this month. I have boxes and boxes of inventory and I am getting more every week, going to yard sales, flea markets and auctions and getting some great bargains.

My entrepreneurial endeavours began a couple of years ago when I decided to open an eBay store. I had a Paypal eBay seller's account already, but I had to open a business account, which is free and takes care of a lot of paperwork, i.e. invoices, receipts, sales records etc. It also allows me to make Paypal buttons for any website.

The eBay store lasted for a month and a half, I had to have eBay listings in the regular auction to direct traffic to my store. I only had two store sales in 6 weeks and the sales from the regular auction and store sales just paid for the cost of the store.

I hope that this time the store does better. I am using Viviti website builder to create and host the store. I am able to add Paypal buttons to the pages easily wherever I want, as many as I want.

I have discovered a fairly new auction site, SeeAuctions.com, which is an alternative to eBay, for buying and selling antique, vintage and collectible items. I have registered as a seller on the site and have just received the confirmation email so I'll start some listings this week. What I like about the site is that they do a check of the sellers to ensure that they are legitimate, something that eBay should do also. And besides that, the first year is FREE! Whether you have one item listed or a hundred, the price is the same. SeeAuctions.com uses Google shopping cart and Paypal so there is security and Paypal Buyer's Protection on your purchases. SeeAuctions doesn't charge commissions either, all the money you make is yours! You can read all about SeeAuctions.

My Gardens - My Front Backyard Gardens

I think my ribbon grass is taking over the pond, I'm going to have to divide it already, I just planted two 6" pots that I bought at the Leamington Horticultural Society's spring plant sale last year. They seem to thrive in the arid conditions, maybe I'll plant the divisions in the back corner of the yard.

This spiderwort is getting overgrown as well. I have chives, 3 strawberries, leaf lettuce and a strawberry spinach growing in the wire basket that my husband rescued when the town was cleaning up in the fall.

My gooseneck loostrife was growing into my clematis so I had to dig up the offshoots near the roots of the vine. I repotted them into two pots. This was another find at the plant sale.

The cosmos self-seeded so I just thinned the seedlings out where they were. The gooseberry bush, behind them, was a seedling about 8" tall when I bought it last spring at the plant sale. I'm hoping that it will be productive this year. My neighbour gave me some raspberry canes, front left that are starting to take off. She was told they were an everbearing variety and should produce fruit this year. We'll see.

I had to prune my trumpet vines back to the fence. They are invasive, and I'm constantly finding new shoots coming up in the garden and lawn. My sweet pea vines are getting too heavy for the netting that they are growing on.

My water lilies are doing great this year, the first week of blooming there were 11 blooms out at once!

The dogs knocked the flagstones from the edge of the pond. The feverfew self-seeded also, and there are tons of them now. They are good medicinal herbs if you are a migraine sufferer. The tea, made from five or six fresh or dried leaves steeped, sweetened to taste, and sipped slowly relieves the migraine and accompanying nausea. A daily tea is said to be a preventative. The tea has a floral flavour, similar to chamomile tea.


I had to take a close-up to show this golden sedum, bought at the plant sale, it is a ground-hugging plant. Next time I'll post pictures of my back backyard, the dog's playground.

My Auction Acquisitions

I went to my first auction, but only stayed for a couple of hours. I didn't stay long enough to bid on the cupboards. The lower cupboards I was going to bid on were a bit too rustic, more like for a garage than a kitchen. I did get a good deal on a few small items, a stoneware mixing bowl,

and some cast iron bake-ware.

First Auction of the Year

There is an auction this Saturday  that I will be going to. My husband is going to be checking out the sports cards, he`s a collector and has thousands of them. I am going to see if I can get any good deals on Depression Glass

 

or collectible tins

 

maybe a jug or a crock,

 

or a piece of local history

and see what treasures are hiding in the box lots. There is also some primitive cupboards I would like to look at. I want to get  new (well, different) cupboards and the one there looks like it might fit in my galley kitchen.

 

I hope it goes for a reasonable price and I`m the winning bidder! I`ll let you know how it goes. 

My Own Creation - Banana Walnut Upside Down Cake

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago, for the first time. I wanted a cake with a broiled topping, without the fuss. The results were very good, my husband loved it and none went to waste. I think that it would go well with an apple-cinnamon cake batter as well, just substitute chopped apples for the bananas, and add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
• 1/2 cup butter

Mix first three ingredients and spread into the bottom of a 10" parchment-lined cake pan. (The first time I made this, I didn't line the pan and some of the nuts stayed in the pan. I used a silicon baking pan also, but not necessary.)

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas ( about 3 large)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream together sugar and butter until light, add eggs and beat 1 min.

Add mashed bananas and vanilla and mix well.

Sift dry ingredients together and add to batter, combining well.

Spread over nut mixture (batter is quite thick) and bake in pre-heated 375 F. oven for 40-45 min.

Loosen from edge of pan and turn out onto cake plate immediately.

Remove parchment and cool for a few minutes.

Cut into squares and serve warm, with ice cream if desired.

The Mallorytown Glassworks 1825-1839/40?

The Mallorytown Glassworks was a small factory, established by United Empire Loyalists and their descendants.

from the Colonel Edward Jessup Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada:

The Mallorys of Mallorytown

In 1790, Nathaniel Mallory left Vermont and settled with his family along the St. Lawrence River at Mallorytown Landing. Shortly afterwards they moved inland to the area of the village that bears his name. Nathaniel and his wife had 13 children, the youngest Catherine being the only one who was born in Canada.

At the end of the American Revolution, Nathaniel's son Daniel had already come to Yonge Township along with his brother Lemuel and cousins Jeremiah and Elisha, settling in the Broken Front and First Concession.

The Mallory sons were an enterprising group with David running a store and a brick yard where more than one million bricks were made and Andrew operating a glass factory. A plaque erected east of the village by the Ontario Archaeological & Historic Board reads in part - "A short distance from this site stood the first glass-works known to have been established in Upper Canada., in operation from 1839 to 1849. Its owner during these years was Andrew W. Mallory, a descendant of the family that founded this community. The articles produced included bottles, flasks, glasses and other household wares." Other Mallorys were farmers, operated a lumber yard, had mills and in later years the cheese factory which produced a cheese that won a major prize at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Some of the family fished commercially, including eel fishing for the New York City market.

Daughters and granddaughters of Nathaniel married into local families leaving Mallory descendants with names such as Guild, Seaman, Ducolon, Truedell, Armstrong, Kelly, Judd, Shipman, Trickey, Andress and Eyres. Many people will remember Dr. Mallory, who practiced in Brockville for many years. There are still a number Mallorys living in the area as well as many descendants with these and other surnames.

The Mallory family donated land for part of the National Park System. There are a couple of books in the Brockville Library telling the story of branches of the family. Many records are in the Archives and in land books that tell more about this large and interesting family.

They manufactured free-blown glass vessels and containers with the use of only basic tools. The materials were what was locally available, white Potsdam sandstone, which was abundant. Because of the chemical make-up of the sandstone, the glass was an aquamarine colour. The glassware is very rare and valuable today, and most pieces are found only in museums.

The pieces above are from the Royal Ontario Museum

This piece is from the Glenbow Museum in Alberta.

Here are two pieces from the Canadian Civilization Museum