In addition to the myriad of interesting vendors who will get you revved up for Spring and out into the garden, there are other highlights throughout the weekend. The ongoing Silent Auction will wow you – take in the creative flair of the unique benches and chairs that you will want to have in your home oasis.
Special events throughout the weekend
Saturday morning 11 AM
Pie Auction
You’ll be the favourite in your family when you bring home an aroma-filled freshly baked pie for your family. Imagine the flavours; strawberry-rhubarb, mixed berries, apple cinnamon… come get one here!
Sunday morning 10 – 12
Pancakes and Blues
Come enjoy a great pancake breakfast hosted by the Rotary Club of Picton with amazing blues folk guitarist Brian Blain
Originally from the hills of rural Quebec, now based in Toronto, Brian “Colorblind” Blain has been performing his unique brand of slow-cooked, solid-groove folk blues for more than 40 years – soulful, thoughtful, always entertaining. His current release on NorthernBlues includes four tracks with Michael Jerome Browne and guest appearances by Harry Manx, Paul Reddick, members of Downchild and other Canadian blues luminaries.
Brian is the quintessential 21st century northern bluesman – a study in contradiction, starting with the title of his new album, “Overqualified For The Blues”. His guitar style is as authentic and soulful as you will find in any blues – south, east, west or north – but his lyrics reveal a unique, contemporary point of view. His vocals do not sound like some old blues guy, yet he is an old blues guy, with 60 years of life experiences and 40 years writing and singing about them (on the same guitar). His lyrics are thoughtful but he’s an entertainer at heart.
“…excellent guitar playing and (a) funny, wry, intelligent take on life.”
- Bruce Erskine, Halifax Chronicle Herald
Sunday 12 noon
Come to the tea room brought to you by Waring House Gourmet
Sunday 12:30
Come meet author Merilyn Simonds
Photo credit: Ginny Simonds
Merilyn Simonds present and read from her latest book.
“Welcome to A New Leaf, a gardening book grounded in a year of growing seasons at The Leaf, our two–hundred–year–old acreage in eastern Ontario.
At the turn of the millennium, my Beloved and I bought an old stone house situated in what was left of a sprawling apple orchard. We opened the soil for vegetable beds, fruit beds, perennial beds, a woodland garden, a garden of ephemerals, and a Hortus familia where I grow species that remind me of our mothers and fathers and where we bury our pets. In all, twenty–six beds. An alphabet of plants.
I’ve been gardening all my life, since my grandmother put a watering can in my hand when I was three. In the tradition of writer–gardeners such as Colette, Vita Sackville–West, Elizabeth Smart, and Jamaica Kincaid, my gardens have crept into my work, especially into my novel The Holding, which tells the story of two gardeners working the same soil a century apart.
In 2009, I began to write directly about the seduction of soil, posting a weekly essay on my website, Frugalista Gardener. This book took root there and evolves through the course of a gardening year, moving from the making of these gardens to every garden I’ve ever worked and to the people who have bent with me to the plants and shared the pleasures and frustrations that lead every gardener, in the end, to take stock not only of their gardens, but of themselves.“
The reviews are great!
Through the natural cycle of a calendar year, Merilyn shows us how she, and all who put their hands in the soil, grow with our gardens. I love it!
quote by Ed Lawrence, gardening expert on CBC Radio’s Ontario Today
I certify Merilyn Simonds the Saint of Frugal Gardening, for her amazing and helpful skills with plants, other edibles, and people too.
awarded by Margaret Atwood from a Year of the Flood God’s Gardener Scroll
Like stories passed friend to friend, these wise, funny, colourful pieces enrich our understanding of plants, landscapes and life. A book to grow by, and share.
quote by singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer
