Dahlia

Dahlia at Minter Gardens

 

Life of a Garden Blogger….During Summer

 

I’m not speaking for all the garden bloggers out there… just this busier than stink one.

I recently did a catch up post called Life of a Garden Blogger during Spring to share how crazy that season can be not only as a gardener, but as a manager of a retail garden centre…. in spring!

 

Located in Milner Village

Located in Milner Village

 

But that was THAT season and it didn’t stop there!

Since the beginning of July, my crew and I hosted 3 tours, held a fundraising event called the Carnival for the Cure, ran a weekly farmers market and prepared the store for closing during our summer break.

 

drying garlic

Drying Garlic

 

And that’s just the work part… My mum-in-law was here for two weeks, we went on several sightseeing adventures, there’s plenty of harvesting in the garden to do and then there’s summer projects.

 

Recycled Jeans

Recycled Jeans Projects

 

So, let’s start with the Carnival for the Cure…. oooh boy, this was a biggie!

 

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On Saturday July 20th, I was an event manager and Volunteer Captain at the Carnival for the Cure that we hosted at Milner Village Garden Center  in Langley to raise money for MS.

 

antique store

 

It all started on Friday with a trip to Napiers for some antiques and a stop by Milner Feeds and Pet Supply for hay.

 

watermelon eating competition

 

 Our carnival had it all…. we had watermelon eating contests…

Carnival rides and games…

 

carnival rides

 

Dixieland Jazz with Red Beans and Rice….

 

Red Beans and Rice

 

We had celebrities, popcorn and cotton candy….

Woody and Jesse

 

Pie bake off contests… with Local Celebrity Judges like Mayor Froese, Huey Davies, David Davies, and Jennifer Carr-Zingle, the MS Ambassador

 

Pie contest

 

and Pie Baker winners, like my co-worker Claire ( she’s giddy with joy! )

 

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We had dunk tanks…

 

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and potato sack races.

 

potato sack races

 

We had firemen… ( oh yes we did ladies, wink! )

 

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….pony rides, face-painting and a petting zoo…

 

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and volunteers…like my mum-in-law here….

 

 

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and best of all happy families. We raised over $4000!

 

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On Sunday… Gloria ( mum-in-law ) and I headed out for breakfast to Krauss Berry Farms for one of their famous mixed berry waffles…. when just the night before we ate dinner seaside in White Rock.

 

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On Wednesday, we hosted the Perennial Plant Association Tour at our store… 2 tours in fact… there was the Grower Tour in Darvonda and the Retail Tour in the store.

 

 

PPA Tour 2013

 

Where after sharing a funny moment with Brian Minter of the famous Minter Gardens….

 

Brian Minter

 

My hard working crew and I waved to the leaving bus and immediately began the work of prepping the store for closing for two weeks.

 

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We have a road closure to deal with on our street so we decided to break for the summer, get ready for fall and re-open on Aug. 12th.

 

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On Thursday, I took my mum-in-law out to Minter Gardens since it will be closing in October.….. one last chance to see it before it does.

 

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There was also a baby shower, finally…. for lil’ Avery….

 

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Umm, 1 of these 3 isn’t having as much fun here, lol….

 

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And to celebrate BC Day, me and the mum-in-law visited Old Fort Langley’s Historical park… pretty cool stuff from forged iron by the smithy to spinning of wool….if your into that kinda a thing,

which I totally am!

 

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Through out all the events, tours, adventures, parties, gardening and out of town guests…. I still managed to knock out a lavender 5 part blog post series ( click on the picture below to link to them all! )

 

5waystouselavender

 

and a whole whack of projects that still need to be written up.

Be sure to stay tuned for the next update….. summer isn’t over yet 😉

 

Peace Love Garden