Santa Claus Photo
How could such a great, happy photograph come from a morgue? It can when it’s part of a collection of eighty boxes of archival material donated to Minnetrista in 2004 from Ball Memorial Hospital—now IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital. Hundreds of photographs, brochures, annual reports, and other papers documenting the hospital from its beginnings in the 1920s had been squirreled away in the unused morgue in the older building.
The British are Coppicing, and You Can Too
Coppicing, pollarding, pleach, fedge, and cordon. All of these are strange and intriguing botanical terms that I’ve encountered on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website. What do they mean? Well, I’ll leave it to you to look up the last four. I’m just going to tell you about the first—coppicing.
Oakhurst Becomes Winter Wonderland
In nineteen years, it has grown from a small, but magical, holiday event held in the gardens at Oakhurst to a much-anticipated event spread throughout Minnetrista’s campus. Planning for the first Enchanted Gardens: A Luminaria Walk at Oakhurst Gardens began right after the George A. Ball home and Oakhurst Gardens opened to the public in May 1995. In a brainstorming session, the idea of lining the garden paths with luminarias was mentioned, and the ideas snowballed from there. Speaking of snow, that first event had it—not too much, just a light dusting.
Meeks Furniture “Comes Home” Part Two
Last month I shared the story of my trip to Columbia, Missouri, to meet Louesa Danks and see her collection of Meeks furniture. Several years after this visit, Louesa’s friend, Jeanne, called to tell me that it was time to pick up the furniture. Louesa was selling her house and moving to a retirement home. I found a professional furniture mover from St. Louis with experience in moving antiques, recruited two Minnetrista men—Jon Gray and Dick Cole—to accompany me and headed for Columbia.
If a tree fails, is there a reason?
One thing I’ve often heard from people in the past when talking about tree failure is, “that tree or branch just up and fell.” I wouldn’t go as far as saying it is a pet peeve, but this thinking does bother me a bit as it shows a lack of understanding of trees and how they should be thought about in the landscape. Trees do have inherent risk. They are dynamic, sometimes very large living plants that have to deal with all of nature’s forces, but this doesn’t mean that they die and fall one day out of the blue. There is always more to it.
Give The Gift of Yummy Canned Goods This Holiday Season!
“Happy Holidays! Happy Holidays! While the merry bells keep ringing May your every wish come true!”
Yes, that’s right. It’s time to start thinking about the holidays. I’m sure many of you have begun to be bombarded by all of the Christmas gifts, decorations, and music in the stores already. For some of you, this time of the year is so exciting and wonderful. Others are less than enthused by all of the hype.
Was He or Was He Not a Kentucky Colonel?
The headline in the newspaper article said that he was set to “take part in all-male review,” but did he? According to the preview article, George A. Ball was to be one of eighty Muncie businessmen to play a Kentucky Colonel in “The Dream of a Clown” at the Masonic Temple auditorium on October 20 and 21, 1943. The revue was sponsored by the Professional Women’s Club of Muncie, and all proceeds were used by the club to purchase furnishings for Army Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, Indiana.
Meeks Furniture “Comes Home”
In 1998, I got a telephone call from Louesa Danks, granddaughter of James Meeks of The Meeks Mortuary family. When I heard that she was interested in donating a large collection of Meeks furniture, then registrar Heather Davis and I immediately booked our flight to Columbia, Missouri. Within a few days of the telephone call, Heather and I drove to Indianapolis and boarded a flight to St. Louis.
Attract Monarchs with Milkweed
Flowers aren’t the only beautiful things you can find in a garden. There are lots of beautiful insects too. Many of which are attracted by flowering plants.
This summer, Minnetrista gardeners and staff had the pleasure of seeing the life cycle of the monarch butterfly unfold before us in The Orchard Shop Courtyard. We got an in-depth view—from larva, to pupa, to adult.
Don’t throw in the kitchen towel. There’s still time for great canning this fall!
It’s time to get geared up for canning! The season is about to begin, and I’m super excited to get started with preserving another year’s worth of fresh garden deliciousness. Wait. What’s the date? Is it October already? I’m sure many of you are finding yourself in the same situation. The summer has flown by and perhaps, like me, you haven’t found the time to preserve all of the foods you wanted. Maybe you’ve recently looked at your shelf, noticed that winter is coming, and realized that you still have a lot of empty Ball jars. Fear not, as there are still quite a few things that can be deliciously preserved!
A Murder at Ball Brothers Company
Recently, some early twentieth century Muncie-related correspondence and Muncie newspapers were donated to the Minnetrista Heritage Collection. As I quickly skimmed through the newspapers, the headline “Workman Slain in Cold Blood” from The Muncie Evening Press of Thursday, December 23, 1920, screamed at me. Next, I read, “George Kling, 45, is Victim of H. M’Hargue” then “Murderer, Holding Grudge Against Fellow Worker Ball Bros.’ Plant Fires Four Times After Man Drops.”
Photo History: Glass Workers, Hartford City, ca. 1900
Look at the children in the front row of this group of glass workers. How old do you think they are? Eight or nine years old, maybe? While we would be horrified now to think of young children working in a glass factory—or any place, for that matter—it was common fewer than one hundred years ago. These children worked in the same blistering hot conditions as adults and held numerous jobs in the making of various kinds of glass; including carrying the products from the glass blower to the finisher to the cooling oven. All of this was done for very low pay.
What the heck is in my tree?
Have you noticed any webs that seem to be swallowing leaves and branches in trees lately? Well, I have, and so have many of my friends. What we are all seeing are fall web worms.
Afraid of Pressure Canning? Don’t Be!
When I talk about pressure canning, some people look at me as if I’m crazy for even thinking about using this method to preserve food. This reaction is just proof that pressure canning, or more specifically pressure canners, have a bad reputation. Yes, in order for a pressure canner to work it requires building up a lot of pressure inside the canner. However, as long as you keep your canner in good condition and follow the directions, it is a perfectly safe canning method. It allows you to broaden the scope of what you can can!
There Wasn’t a Chief Munsee. Really, There Wasn’t.
Let’s bust a few myths. The guy on the horse at the point of Granville and Walnut Avenues isn’t the non-existent Chief Munsee, the Indian depicted in the statue didn’t live in these parts, and the city of Muncie isn’t named for that same non-existent chief. So who is he, what is that statue doing here, and why was Muncie named “Muncie?”
What is this thing?
Every now and then an object of mysterious function comes into the Minnetrista Heritage Collection. Often, the donor doesn’t know what it is, but just that they “found it when I cleaned out grandma’s basement.” We look through our reference books and search on-line. It is hard, however, to Google something when you have no idea at all what it is.
Six Lessons from the Culinary Herb Garden
I’ve noticed that mint really likes being repotted in a larger container. We repotted our peppermint in The Herb Garden this spring. The result was a lush and gorgeous plant! I didn’t repot my mint at home, and it stayed small and scrawny.
Not enough time or kitchen space? Not a problem.
Garden season is now coming into full bloom. We’re seeing a lot of zucchini, cucumbers, and peaches at Farmers Market at Minnetrista—which is so exciting! This also means that canning season is in full swing. For many seasoned canners, this is a highly anticipated time, but it also means that there’s a lot of work ahead.
Muncie’s ‘Meaty’ Past
It was located on Broadway Avenue in Muncie—now Martin Luther King Boulevard—and it smelled bad. At times, it smelled really bad. It was the meat packing company that started as Kuhner and closed many years later as Marhoefer.
Although I can’t imagine wanting to see meat packing in action, some of the local schools used to tour the plant. My mother once told me that after going through the plant as a child, she swore off meat, especially hot dogs, until her memory of the tour faded sufficiently.