The back garden provided Emily with a place to escape from the burdens of 'landladying' and a place to hide from her intrusive tenants.
Emily had the "House of All Sorts" built close to the street, to maximize the size of the back garden.
In 1918, inflation, depression and the Great War created hard times for many apartment owners. To make ends meet,
Emily chose to rent her studio out while she lived in a tent in her garden. Even with the extra rent Emily was still unable to cover her expenses and was forced to create the much needed income through other means.
At the far end of the garden, Emily constructed a kennel to be used for breeding bobtail sheepdogs. Over the course of four years, Emily raised over 350 sheepdogs, selling them as working dogs to sheep and cattle ranchers.
In 1921, to ease her financial strains, Emily sold a portion of her Simcoe St. lot. This substantially decreased the size of the backyard, forcing Emily to give up her sheepdog kennels. Even in the absence of her kennel, the garden always seemed full of life with Emily's various pets and creatures.
In 1923, she re-established a kennel, but this time for the smaller Belgian Griffons.
In 1924, Emily was asked by Kate Mathers, a gift store owner, to create 'Indian' pottery to sell to tourists as souvenirs. Although Emily felt guilty for 'prostituting Indian art' through her own adaptions, selling her pottery would provide a much needed source of income.
In her garden, Emily built a kiln which she used to fire her clay pieces. Her pottery was very popular but due to the long laborious process of creating her pieces, she could not keep up with the demand.
The "House of All Sorts" present owner, Margaret Chantreau and her grandson, Peter Willis, have found various small pieces of pottery while digging in the back garden.
