Marion MacKenzie Barrett was born in the MacKenzie farmhouse, in Ashfield Township (Huron County). The MacKenzies emigrated from Gaelic-speaking Applecross, Scotland (on the mainland, across the sea from Skye), and settled in Cape Breton. By the mid-1800s the family was homesteading, in Ontario. They attended Ashfield Presbyterian, a strict Calvinist branch of the church. There were no Sunday school picnics, no quilt raffles, no church bazaars and no bake sales, according to Marion. Selling things in the church would involve money. See John 2: 13-22 where in Jesus over turns the tables of the money changers in the Temple in Jerusalem.
“Sunday morning we walked one and three-quarter miles, to the church, for Sunday school. Then we listened to a minister, who never stopped, for one-and-a-half-hours. Went home for lunch and then walked back, in the evening, for a Young People’s meeting.” (For the record: In 1950, Marion’s uncle, F. Scott MacKenzie, was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, in Canada.)
Marion’s mother, Irene, died, when Marion was 12, but not before her daughter learned the art of baking. Her mother was famous in the county for her bread and rolls. As the oldest of three children Marion took over many household duties including meal preparation. At 16, Marion left the local, one-room, schoolhouse and moved to Toronto to attend the Shaw Business School. In the city she also worked in a Forest Hill home in exchange for room and board. Two years later, Marion took a lucrative job in a World War II munitions factory, in Parkdale, where she tested 25 pound shells. “I made so much money, I thought I was a millionaire,” she says.
During her youthful days in Toronto, Marion and her girlfriends often went to Big Band dances. One evening at the Sea Breeze, a dance pavilion at Old Sunnyside, she met Bill Barrett who had been a POW. They married, in the Ashfield church, on Thanksgiving Day, 1949. The couple set up house, in Scarborough, where the only Protestant church was Victoria Park United. This decadent outfit, actually, had church basement socials, sales and bazaars much to Marion`s joy. Marion soon learned her apple pies was popular at church bazaars and she is still baking them today. Also Marion still attends Vic Park United, while her brother, Neil MacKenzie, lives on the family farm and is still a member of Ashfield Presbyterian.
TRADITIONAL APPLE PIE
PREPARATION: Sprinkle the bottom of a glass pie plate LIGHTLY with flour. Pre-heat oven to 450F degrees.
APPLE FILLING: Core, peel and slice six Macintosh or spy apples. Mix in 1 cup of white or brown sugar. Sift together 2 tbsp flour, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp mace, 1 tbsp cinnamon. Mix into the apples.
CRUST: 2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt. I cup Crisco shortening.
1 egg. 2 tbsp cold water. 1 tbsp white vinegar.
METHOD: Combine flour and salt in a bowl. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut room-temperature shortening into the flour, until dough is uniform & shortening resembles large peas.
Beat together, egg, water and vinegar. Pour this liquid, evenly, over the flour mix. Stir with a fork until all the mixture is moist.
Divide into two balls and flattened pastry to four inches. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Roll out two crusts. Do not handle more than necessary. Lift one crust into bottom of the pie plate. Pile in apple mixture. Dot with butter. Cover with the second pastry round and crimp. BAKE for 15 minutes at 450F. Lower heat to 350F and bake for 45 minutes.
