From ‘the war to end all wars’ in 1914 to the post 9/11 mission in Afghanistan a century later, Glengarrians have served with distinction in Canada’s military forces. This Sunday, Kenyon Presbyterian Church in Dunvegan will hold its annual Remembrance Day service to honour the men and women who gave their lives defending our country and values in both global wars and the ‘peace-keeping’ missions that followed. In light of the storm clouds of conflict over Ukraine and the ever-present danger of escalation, this year’s service is even more poignant. I’m told that it will feature special music in honour of members of the congregation who made the ultimate sacrifice. Everyone is welcome to join in remembering them. Worship time is at 11 am.
Music & Mayhem tickets?
Having attended last week’s rehearsal, I’m pleased to report that the 2022 edition of Rosemary Chatterson’s Music & Mayhem revue is coming along very nicely. While the skits and musical numbers are new, the cast is not. All of your favourite performers – Flip Flockton, Allan MacDonald, Jim McRae, Audrey Nixon, Gerry Schmidt and Shashtin and Jim Winchester – have returned. As have Elizabeth Caddell on keyboard and co-stage managers, Alyson Graham and Wendy MacLeod. And they’re all working their butts off to get ready for opening night.
There will be a total of five performances: three in the evening (November 25th, November 30th and December 2nd) and two matinees (November 27th and December 4th). Unlike in previous years though, there will be no paper tickets. All ‘ticket’ sales will handled electronically through the Beyond 21 website. As I mentioned in an earlier column, this year’s production is a fundraiser for the Beyond 21 Foundation, a dynamic organization that offers a wide range of programs to help enrich the lives of adults with developmental disabilities.
I don’t have the URL address for the ticket page yet. However, if you go to the organization’s home page – beyond21.org – and click on the ‘Events” tab, the M&M ticket page should be posted there very soon. Not comfortable with buying your ticket online? Worry not. Just give Rosemary a call at 613-525-1336 and she’ll process your order manually.
Alexandria’s Caisse Populaire Desjardins is generously sponsoring the production once again. And to get things off on the right foot, it has purchased the first two tickets for $500 apiece. However, don’t panic, the regular ticket price is only $20 per person.
Crocks of gold
Back in May of last year (when I had the luxury of more than 900 words and could explore topics in greater depth), I peeked at the underground egg economy that was alive and well in rural Ontario from the 19th century to the mid 20th. Like so many isolated and largely self-sufficient communities, actual ‘cash’ was in relatively short supply. So Dunvegan, and countless other country villages and hamlets, used analogues… just like many aboriginal societies used cowrie shells, and prisoners-of-war in WWII used cigarettes. As author Yuval Noah Harari explains in his book Sapiens, “Money is not coins and banknotes. Money is anything that people are willing to use in order to represent systematically the value of other things for the purpose of exchanging goods and services.”
In Dunvegan, one such substitute for cash was hens’ eggs. Farm wives and village folk with a few backyard layers would bring their dozens of fresh-laid ‘coins’ to Martin Ferguson’s store and trade them for sugar, coffee and the like. Or deposit their value to a credit account to be used for future purchases.
The rub is that the egg market, just like any other one, was subject to fluctuations. Free-range chickens tend to lay more eggs during the spring. And with expanded supply came lower prices. The corollary, of course, was that, in the winter, eggs fetched a higher price. Which, in part, explains why so many stoneware crocks ended up in antique shops and flea markets.
What do crocks have to do with the price of eggs, back in the day? They allowed poultry pushers to store their stash in times of plenty, when the market was flush, and then take then them to market when their trade-in value was in its ascendancy. The secret is that, properly preserved in bottles or stoneware jars, eggs will keep fresh as the day they were laid for up to 12 months. An ad from the Stoneware Manufacturers Association in the April 1920 issue of Good Housekeeping explained the process in detail.
The trick was to never wash the eggs. The recommendation was to wipe them clean with a vinegar-dampened cloth and pack them in a five-gallon crock (which had been thoroughly cleaned and rinsed with scalding hot water). A crock of this size would hold about 15 dozen eggs. To this, was added the preserving solution known as ‘waterglass’. This was made by combining one quart of sodium silicate with nine quarts of water and bringing it to a boil. Once cool, the mixture was poured over the eggs until they were completely immersed, with two inches on top. The crocks were then well covered to prevent evaporation, and placed in a cool, dry place for storage.
A word of caution though. Do not try this method with modern, store-boughten eggs. That’s a recipe for disaster. Here’s why. Just before the egg is laid, the hen adds a protective layer called ‘bloom’ to the outside of the egg. This seals the pores of the shell and prevents bacteria from penetrating. When commercial eggs are washed prior to packaging, this protective layer is lost, which would give the waterglass mixture free access to the inside of the egg.
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