My DH went to Thompson to visit our son who is working there for the summer. They are fishing, golfing and doing guy stuff. So...I am working in the garden and doing my own thing according to my own schedule this weekend. Yippee!

I had a table at the Farmer's Market this morning with perennials, strawberries, rhubarb, lettuce, spinach and baking. Sold almost $300 worth of perennials. Now...let's see, that pays for the irises I just ordered through Snowpeak group order on CWIS and also the intersectional peony that I got this spring. Now I need to empty the car of the perennials that were not sold, take inventory and start digging again for next week.

Friends are coming over to get their family pictures taken in my yard on Sunday morning. So, today I also need to deadhead irises, peonies and other flowers that are finished for the year and just tidy up the yard of branches and stuff like that. My DH mowed and whippered the lawn before he left.

Hope everyone else has a wonderful long weekend. Is anyone camping this weekend?

Brenda

The month long holiday is over then, Sharon? Did you get all accomplished that you wanted to do? I'm also back to work (Tuesday) after having a week off. We went camping for a few days, came back earlier than planned (rain) and have been busy since. I did not get everything done that I wanted to do.

After a horrible windy morning that started off with thunder and lightning, it is now rather warm and humid (and we're under another thunderstorm watch).

I also attended Farmers Market today, Brenda, and also had an excellent day. Good for you with all those perennial sales! I haven't thought of selling plants, but the semp containers sold very well. My new canopy (Caravan Canopy with windwalls) is awesome, and my new location is better than the one I had last year. Because of the weather the first half hour was a little slow but then the sun appeared and so did the customers. Baking at the FM I attend is a hot commodity - there are at least 5 vendors who come with mountains of stuff - and not cheap by any means - and many pack up early and leave because they sell out. Amazing. Do you find the same at your FM?

The rest of my weekend is gardening - mostly fertilizing to try and get some stem length on my cut flowers. Darn if everything doesn't seem to be blooming on shorter stems this year. I'm thinking it's the cold weather - we certainly haven't had any lack of rain so that can't be the reason.

No specific plans here. Today was spent weeding the vegetable bed - it was badly needed! Things are not going so well in there. We've had so much rain that i'm sure some things washed away or rotted. Will do some re-seeding sometime next week - of course, it's supposed to rain again tomorrow and Monday.

So with the rain, i've decided to do housework this weekend. It's starting to look pretty bad in here and since i'm expecting company in a couple of weeks, i'd better start getting things into some semblance of order. And maybe dust them too. LOL

Pudge,

Our farmer's market...
-we are on the main level of a parkade so we are always in the shade and out of any rain. There are open sides somewhat except where stores attach to the parkade. So, unless there is a storm I can put up my bulletin board and pictures and not worry about anything blowing away or blowing down.

-Vendors are to arrive to set up before 8:30. This is because we are inside a roped and skirted-in area and our vehicles need to be in our stalls with us. They also set up a table for us after our vehicle is in the stall. With the assortment of perennials(61), their pictures and/or real flowers (from the mother plant blooming in my yard that I placed beside the perennial for sale), baking and fresh produce it takes me about an hour to set up completely so this morning I was there about 7:40am. I also spend time arranging the plants in alphabetical order from left to right on the table so that it is easier for me to find a perennial when someone asks for a certain one. Of course, no one looking at the table would know that. They seem to be blown away by all the color of the flowers and pictures on the table. But, real flowers and/or great closeup pictures of the perennial sells it. At the end of the morning, it takes me about 1/2 hour to clean up and I have my little car all packed up and ready to go home. Everyone is amazed at how many things I can 'stuff' into the car.

-The rope drops at 9am and the mad rush is on. The mad rush has let up since we opened the second entrance last year. I am beside one of the entrances and therefore have a triangular spot which is perfect for me. I rented one table (at $20 plus GST per week) and only placed one pot of each perennial on the table along with an assortment of fresh produce and baking. The extra plants are all arranged on the floor behind me beside my car. Extra baking and fresh produce is on the trunk of the car since it has to be kept off the floor according to health regulations.

-We have to stay until 12 because we are roped in. So it is a commitment. I am finding that I have been totally busy with people the whole time. Because I have perennials I now hear about other's problems with their flowerbeds and they want some sort of advice on which of my perennials I have with me would work for their problem area. (Little story...young couple...just bought new home...figuring out flowers in existing flowerbeds...had no idea what this particular flower was...looked like a bleeding heart...but flowers were white...when I told him it was a white bleeding heart...phew, you should have seen the relief on his face that his mystery flower was, of course, a white bleeding heart.)

So, for me with all my plants (sold 95 pots today) and extras to sell, I am quite busy the whole 3 hours. We also fill in a report to hand in to the secretary. This lets the market know how everyone is doing. I fill in how much $ wise I sold in plants or baking or crafts or whatever the topic and give the grand total at the bottom of the sheet. Do you have to do that with yours also?

Pudge, do you go by yourself or do you have someone helping you? Sounds like you are in an open air farmer's market. What is your table/spot rental? What time does it start and end? Do you have part timers? What kinds of things are sold at your market? When you say high prices...can you give an example? How far is the market from your home? Can you get everything into a car that you take or do you have to take a truck...why I am asking...do you have to bring a table...you mentioned you have a canopy you bring to set up for shade over top of you.

Sorry about hijacking the thread...onto Farmer's Market stuff...

Brenda

Yes, I've been back to work since last Monday, it sure went fast. I pretty well got everything planted but still have lots of Irises coming in yet. I did get one order planted today. I wanted to get my pond dug during my vacation but the guy hasn't phoned yet ;(

We sure have been getting the rain too. The skitters are as huge as birds around here!

I knew you would do well with the hen & chicks. Good job Pudge!

Sharon

Hopefully we are off to the lake tomorrow until Thursday. I've been feeling rather rough the last couple days so it'll depend on how I feel. The weather is supposed to be nice, and the kids are looking forward to going so I'm hoping for the best.
My brother is having a birthday party this coming Friday and then Saturday is Aidens baby shower. So I'll get to see a bit of the country this coming week.

Shelley

Every Canada Day weekend, DH's employer holds a big BBQ at his cabin. There's boating, tubing, skiing, and even a piniata and fireworks for the kids. We usually camp there overnight, but after seeing the forecast for rain/thunderstorms we decided to not take the camper and just drove home late last night(we weathered a really nasty storm in the camper last weekend, and it's still fresh in our minds!). It was a very cool, windy day yesterday, but those kids are tough(or maybe a little nuts?lol) and when out on the water anyway.

Tonight we're hoping to go to the fireworks in Brandon. They should be good this year, as it's Brandon's 125th birthday and homecoming as well.

Brenda, you've got mail.

Hope everyone had a great and safe Canada Day. Last night was just the perfect evening to sit and watch fireworks, even though we had to drive home in a pea soup fog.

Here's some of the best shots I got.

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Laurie

Wow Laurie, those fireworks are awesome!

We stepped out on our deck last night to watch the towns fireworks, not the greatest view but at least we could have a couple of beers ;)

Sharon