Last week in the greenhouse

Have you ever wondered what it was like in a greenhouse during Spring rush?  Do you imagine happy workers smiling and laughing, taking time to enjoy the beauty of the season?  Perhaps you are vaguely cognizant of the fact that it gets a little busy right around Mother's Day.........

This week in the greenhouse

Well, let me tell you, blogger peeps, life in the greenhouse a week before Mother's Day is NOTHING like you could ever imagine!


Once the rush begins, Semi-trucks are being loaded day and night.  Logistical challenges reign supreme from broken down tail gates to trucks in the ditch.  Routing loads from here to Manitoba is no small feat and definitely not to be undertaken by the faint of heart.  Our man in the hot seat, Jimbo, has to keep his wits about him at all times to ensure that the Timbuktu order does not somehow mysteriously make it's way down to Portland, Oregon.

Junior and Jimbo enjoy a moment of calm before the storm

Every morning orders pour in on our iPhones and the days craziness begins.  This year has been EXCEPTIONALLY busy due to a number of different factors.  Personally I think that the increase in demand is directly related to my stellar television interview from a few weeks ago however, not everyone is convinced.  It probably has something more to do with the fact that for the FIRST TIME EVER the weather has been beautiful in every Western Canadian province for the week of Mother's Day, causing sheer pandemonium in the market place.  We are calling this phenomenon "The Perfect Storm".

I sure hope this trend keeps going till the end of May!

This year, Junior is our main man on the ground.  He is fielding all the calls.  He is directing traffic.  He is managing the issues.  Dealing with missed deadlines, rallying the troops, ordering dinner, and loading trucks is a never ending challenge.  The thing that makes me most proud is how he ENCOURAGES the team.  From late night cheese stuffed pizza runs to all night planting sessions, he is the man for the job.  First one in and last one out.


Sometimes, he doesn't even LEAVE!

Now, I don't want to give you the impression that my baby boy is the only man getting things done around here because that would not at all be true.  Nope.  We have a DREAM TEAM here at Darvonda that just can't be beat.

Please let me introduce you to our management crew.

There is Peter, our newest convert to the cult of Darvonda.....


Rob.....


Lynda......


Randell.....


Ben.....

(He may not be management yet but I see good things in his future!)

and Byron......


SLEEP was something you only caught in short bursts last week.

PIZZA, on the other hand, was something we all probably had waaaaay too much of in the past 7 days!


Now, before you go and get the wrong impression that only the MANAGEMENT TEAM worked long hours, let me assure you that they had an even more DEDICATED group of people working for them.....

Dinner time and then back for 8 or 10 more gruelling hours of production!

Working past midnight and starting again at 7:30 was the norm.

What did we do for that many hours of the day?!

We planted up amazing planters like this.....


and THIS....



We picked 100's of carts of hanging baskets......


and annuals.....


packed them into trucks....


shipped them off to a store near you....


and you came in droves to buy, buy, buy!


By the next day, the shelves were wiped clean....


and then we started the whole process over again!

You can imagine that in a single day of business, we go through a lot of plants and serve a lot of people.  It is so much work that it becomes a little overwhelming on every level.  We struggle just to keep the toilets clean. We have so many people working here that the toilet paper runs out after our first coffee break these days.

And the GARBAGE?!!


I don't even want to talk about it.  Let's just hope we don't have any wind storms in Milner for the next couple of weeks or we will be chasing down empty plastic pots as well.

So, now that we got Mother's Day week out of the way, all we have to do is stick it out for the LONG WEEKEND RUSH.  Then we will be golden!

But first.....


we will catch a few ZZZZZ's where ever we can.



We are ALL really bushed!

I have always considered myself a pretty bold person.  As a matter of fact, I admit that I may be a little on the TOO bold side of things occasionally.  You can never miss me in a crowd.  It's part of my nature that I just haven't learned to mellow out yet.  Every January 1st I make a New Year's resolution to somehow curb that overly boisterous side which embarrasses my kids every time I go out in public.  Unfortunately, this year I FORGOT to make that resolution.

Now, WITHOUT that commitment in place to tone things down a few notches, you can imagine that I felt no hesitation to accept a request to do a Gardening segment on the CTV Noon News when they called last week. I mean,  it was only a 4 minute segment.  I figured I should be able to keep myself from causing any trouble.  Surely in such a short time I could not do enough damage so that my kids would wish they were born to another mother, right?!

Let me tell you, this whole going on TV thing requires quite a bit of preparation and team work.  It never occurred to me until this week how many people it actually takes to get just a few minutes of television viewing time together.  My own Milner Village Garden peeps were busy getting things together for me to take as props for the set.  Painting and planting, sawing and nailing, fabulous planters were created behind the scenes.

And where was Tamara?

Why, shopping for a new dress of course!


Unfortunately for me, I do not have a stylist so I had to have the shop keeper take photos to send to my kids to make sure they approved of my choices.

I will admit, I went a little BOLD on my shoe selection.


I hope my children will forgive me.  I just couldn't resist.  These were just so FLORAL that I had to buy them!

On the morning of the segment my peeps at the greenhouse packed up the big old red van for me.  It recently had been in a slight fender bender in our parking lot and the passenger side door will no longer open properly.  So, that meant we all had to crawl in via the drivers side door.  Not an easy feat for a regular person but......


my Little Angel is 8 months preggo and not nearly as flexible as she usually is.  However, she is as determined as her mother and managed to get settled in no problem.

Now, it should be said that I had not given my guys complete instructions on who was all going to Vancouver with me so when they loaded the van, they removed all the seats except the two front club seats.  That meant I would either have to sit on the floor or....


squeeze in the back on a chair from the coffee room.


Do you think Martha Stewart started out like this?!

Once we finally made it down town, we had to lug all of our stuff upstairs to the studio.  At one point, the guest coordinator refused to accept any more plants in the elevator.  I had SO MANY nice planters that I wanted show off!

Up Cycled Watering Can and Teapot

It's amazing what you can do with some old bed posts and a couple of rusty tins!

My friend Shelley from Sow and Dipity planted up this FABULOUS retro lunch box with some herbs........



and this rusty old tool box.....


not to mention this muffin tin filled with succulents!


THANKS for getting that all done for me, girlfriend!  You made me look good on TV.

Once we got there I had to do a wardrobe change because Google told me that when appearing on Television, a TV presenter must appear wrinkle free.


I even got my make up done in the same make up chair as Mi-Jung Lee!

By the way, Mi-Jung.  I was so nervous when you asked me where I got my beautiful SHOES that I didn't even answer your question.  I have been losing sleep over that ever since!  FYI, I bought them in Langley.  Stop on by Milner Village Gardens and I can take you to all my favourite shops in town!

Did I mention that I love to shop?!

Once everything was all in place we just had to wait.

 And wait.


And WAIT.


Good thing the Big Guy and I had our iPhones with us or we may not have lasted.

And then it was time.


This young man in the jersey is busy telling me "We are going to do a 10 second clip of you before the commercial break so do something like move a plant or wave to the camera.  Anything will do"

Sad to say, I chose to WAVE AT THE CAMERA.

"Hi kids!  It's your mom on television!  You're not embarrassed of me, are you!?"

Once the actual segment got under way, things went FAST.


  The cameras were moving, pictures were flashing, Mi-Jung was talking.  It was all a blur!  When it was over I had absolutely no idea what I had actually said.  I had done so much preparation on what I wanted to say and it all went by in a haze.

I hope I didn't say anything too crazy that would make my kids wish they were born in Tasmania or Timbuktu, or anywhere but Langley.


In the end, a good time was had by all.  I was very thankful to my Wing Men, the hubster and my daughter, for coming along on the adventure.  I couldn't have done it without them.


They kept me calm and grounded.  They lugged all the plants upstairs.  They waited in the wings while I blabbed and blabbed.


It's not easy having Tamara for a wife or a mother, that's for sure.  I'm kinda high maintenance :)

So, if after ALL that, you would like to see the actual segment, click here.

Have a great week y'all.  Make sure you don't forget to plant your garden soon.  It's about time.

It may be raining here in British Columbia, but there is no shortage of work this week in the store.  That is because we decided to do an Up Cycle war together with a bunch of local businesses here in Milner. We figured that it would be a great way to mark Earth Day this year and since flowers are what we do, we wanted an Up Cycle challenge that involved PLANTS!

Now, I have already shared my two other Up Cycle projects, the Garden Gate Chandelier and the Recycle Tire Planter but I still had one other project up my sleeve that I wanted to tackle.  I had seen some big old kerosene drums out in the back field when I went treasure hunting last week with Wee Two.


My Little Angel, Lydia told me that a TRUE Up Cycle is one where you don't PURCHASE anything but find ACTUAL junk that you have lying around the house.  She was implying that my previous two submissions did not actually QUALIFY since they did not come out of my own personal stash of junk.

But the KEROSENE DRUMS were a true and bonafide eyesore in my back yard.  They qualified.


So, I had someone on the team haul them over to the shop door where I could get to work on preparing them for plants.

Now, I have had to deal with some teasing from my sister ROSA in regards to the fact that my method of carrying out an Up Cycle does not require me to get my hands dirty.


EXCUSE ME but I would have you KNOW that I am an INTEGRAL part of this creative process!


Yes, indeed!   I mean, would you just LOOK at what the humidity does to my hair while I meticulously supervise every aspect of the process.

I went and chose the PAINT.......


I painted the base coat.....


I added all the fine details.....

Shhhh!  Don't tell anyone but Mini Me is the ACTUAL artist on this particular project.

OOOPS!  WRONG PICTURE......


As a matter of fact, I DID get my hands dirty planting these babies up this morning.


This is clearly NOT a STAGED photograph.


Genius, I tell you.  Just GENIUS!


However, I had not counted on the wind factor and lost one of the umbrellas within 30 minutes.  These lovelies have now been moved indoors where they are quietly waiting for you to visit and admire.

And yet.......that is not all.  No, I also spear headed a Pallet Garden DIY project that I thought would be really fun to do.

Can you tell I have been on Pinterest lately?

There is no END to the madness.


Here is my version of the incredibly popular project as seen in every Garden Inspiration Pin Board ever pinned.

First of all, I had to save these pallets from the burn pile which was raging all last week.  Anything combustible was being tossed willy nilly on the fire in an effort to clean up behind the greenhouses.  I had my eye on these not-so-heavy pallets as a perfect lady project.


I also found a filthy dirty, previously-used roll of landscape cloth behind one of the sheds which was perfect for my purpose.


Throw in a couple of staples along the sides.....


fold the corners in a neat little upholstery type fashion.....


secure the bottom.....


and add a little extra bracing at the back.  Easy Peasy!

My first attempt at using an electric tool in my entire life.  I feel so empowered!

Next you add in a little bit of soil.....


and of course, some plants.....


and then you're done.  It's just that easy, people.  Go ahead and try this at home.  If Tamara can do it, YOU can do it.

Then, for a REALLY fun time, invite all your friends over to do one WITH you!

and you will most likely make a new friend at the same time.


This particular project is definitely better done in teams of two or three.


One person can wield the heavy tools.....


and the other can stretch the landscape cloth.

As a matter of fact, this project is so simple, even 8 month pregnant women can do it!

"No, I am NOT just about due.  I have 6 LONG WEEKS to go.  Please stop asking, thank you"

Oh, my poor daughter is so pregnant and yet so dedicated to helping us get all these wonderful events off the ground at Milner Village Garden Centre that I sometimes feel a little guilty for taking so much of her time.  Nobody ever said farming was easy.

The good thing about being a farmer in the spring, though, is all the beautiful colour we get to enjoy.


And of course, we get to meet a lot of REALLY nice people ever day too!  I am told that coming here is addictive.  I wonder why?

Now, let me end this Up Cycle blog post with a quick run down of all the entries we have received from local Milner businesses this week.


First we have a few entries from Napier Antiques, across the street from my place.



Then we have the entry from Milner Valley Cheese who make fresh goat cheese that is to DIE FOR!


As well, we have an entry from the Christ Covenant Church who is just busy pouring the foundations of their church which will soon be my back yard neighbour.


Last but not least are the Milner Village Garden Centre entries.




So, make sure you stop by Milner Village Garden Centre's Facebook page and vote for your favourite. We would love to hear from you this week!

Now, I am off to go soak my sore bones in the hot tub with my grand kids this afternoon.  It is Saturday after all.  A little down time is in order, I do believe.