Manning Conference 2012 - A Real Eye Opener

This past week the Big Guy and I decided to do something WAY "outside the box" for us.  We had received an invitiation to join CARDUS and our friend Ray Pennings for a 3 day event in Ottawa called the Manning Center Conference.  Being that we are in the middle of the MOST stressful time of the year here at the greenhouse, we thought a little weekend away was just the right medicine.  Time away from the chaos of Spring production would give us a chance to take a deep breath, refocus our minds and force us to stop thinking "micro" so we can get back to thinking "macro".....

And what better place is there to do that than in Ottawa at a conference on the state of the conservative movement in Canada?!

Great idea of course, if you are politically inclined.  Unfortunately, the Big Guy and I are so focused on what we have to do at Darvonda to keep things moving in the right direction that we don't actually follow politics much.  Generally, when we watch TV, I prefer to check out "Kitchen Nightmares" over "Question Period on Parliament Hill".  I especially HATE election years because you just can't get AWAY from all the politicians and their rhetoric either on the news, in the paper or on the radio.

Well, this weekend turned out to be a whole lot more fun than I could have imagined.  I mean, imagine that we got to meet THE Preston Manning!  There are a few Canadians our there who are know by just the mention of their first name, like SHANIA......CELINE.......and PRESTON.  How cool is that?

I couldn't help myself but go and give him a Jansen 5 CD and say THANK YOU for all the incredible hard work he has done in his lifetime to help Canada stay on track.  He and his team are currently busy on setting up a learning center for politicians.  It makes a whole lot of sense to me that our politicians should be better prepared for taking office and Preston is in the forefront of this endeavour.

QUOTE FROM PRESTON MANNING'S Keynote speach:

"To work for Starbucks as a barista you need at least 20 hours of training (...) But you can become a lawmaker in the Parliament of Canada or a provincial legislature without one hour of training in law making."

Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia

We also got the opportunity to attend a Premier's Breakfast VERY early on Friday morning.  Now, the host of this breakfast seemed fairly familiar to me.  I was wracking my brains to figure out where I had seen him before.  It was really annoying.......WHO WAS THIS GUY?!  Turns out it was Mike Harris, 22nd Premier of Ontario until 2002.

Then, we got the chance to hear our current Premier of BC, Christy Clark speak about British Columbia, land of freedom and opportunity.  Not having even VOTED in the last provincial election due to severe apathy......I felt really guilty that I had let myself get so cynical as I listened to Christy talk.  It suddenly dawned on me that if we all get APATHETIC about politics, who's gonna keep the whole nation together?!  I need to be much more dialed in....

So, I made the decision to go and shake her hand and THANK her for her efforts on our behalf.....

and then I reminded her that a woman should NEVER wear WHITE after LABOR DAY!

I think she really appreciated my fashion advice!

Now, I just want to let all those people out there who read my blog know that POLITICS and OPERA have one thing in COMMON.......

Ray Pennings on stage

Mathilda on stage

They are much better LIVE!

So, I'm going to change my attitude about politics and I'm gonna try get more dialed in from now on.  I think I may even subscribe to the NATIONAL POST because my good friend Ray Pennings gets quoted in there more often......

Ray Pennings being interviewed by SUN TV

Thanks for the invite Ray!  We really had a TON of FUN!

Can You Believe it's Almost March?!

My peeps!

What would you do if you didn't have your PEEPS to back you up?!

Some MORE of my peeps

I mean, if you didn't have such AMAZING peeps working away in the background, you would never get all the work done.

And, let me tell you, there is NO shortage of work in our new greenhouse.

We have PLUG TRAYS to fill.....

CUTTINGS to stick by the hundreds of thousands......

HANGING BASKETS to plant.......

CARTS to fill.....

and TRANSPORT out into the new greenhouse.....

where they get picked up by FORK LIFT......

and laid out with as little handling as possible.

We're on FIRE here people!  Things have been going GANG BUSTERS all February long at my place.

Now, don't get me wrong.  There are always a few glitches when you are working with new equipment like we are.   Here, for example, is our new robotic planter which can plant up to 6,000 pots per hour.

For some reason we just couldn't get it to go FAST ENOUGH!  Much puzzling and tweaking has happened around this fancy little gadget over the last few weeks and......

 I think we finally have some of our problems sorted out!

Geraniums being carted out to the new greenhouse

We also struggled with our first week of propagation in the new facility which was really rather nerve wracking. 

Grower Girl has been struggling with our automatic misting booms.  The rotten things just didn't want to cooperate........and the greenhouse was FULL of cuttings at the time.

You wanna know what STRESS is?!  Just talk to Grower Girl.  I think she may be in need of a drinking partner right about now. 

And then of course, there is the added pressure this month of trying to put together a good corporate video for Darvonda with just a dash of Tamara finesse.

Filming a spoof as part of our corporate video



There is a whole TON of work that goes into making these sorts of "sell your product" type video's and my girls always do me proud!

My view of the action

Of course, no good presentation is complete without some down home, foot stompin', hand clappin' line dancing.......

which ended up being THE MOST FUN I've had in a long time!

My Little Angel got all the steps organized and handled the rehearsals upstairs in the boardroom a few days prior to filming.  Her biggest worry was her MOTHER.

Apparently I have no sense of RYTHM.

Following a few hours of filming we were all very tired and hungry so we hit the town, dressed in our colorful sari's and dined on VEGETARIAN PIZZA and COCA COLA.  It's funny how much PIZZA we end up eating in a year with our Darvonda crew.  I think we should consider opening up a pizza shop some day soon and cash in on the growing demand here in Milner.

Now, this post does not cover ALL the things going on here at 6690 - 216 street.  As a matter of fact, there have been a lot of fun things going on over at 6710 - 216 street as well. 

Things like.....

impormptu concerts......

for some well known celebrities.....

grand baby cuddling sessions.....

homework sessions......

and a never ending quest for artistic expression, both in PENCIL......

and in FASHION.

"Graammaaaa!  Come look at my HAT!"

We even managed to squeeze in a little R & R activity between everything else that's been going on.  A short trip to Arizona was accomplished that allowed us catch a few rays poolside......

and whip past the Grand Canyon for a drive by photo shoot.  Who KNEW it was so COLD there in the winter?! 

Not me.

Thus the lack of photos at this magnificent location.  Without a toque and some gloves, I could only manage 5 minutes on the edge.  The rest was viewed from inside our warm rental car.

So, there you have my February in a NUTSHELL.  Does it look like we've been having a ton of fun?!

Life on the FARM is never dull, that's for sure.  I wonder what sort of adventures await us in March?

The Busiest January in Recent Memory

I don't know what is going on lately but my life is getting busier with every week that passes, regardless of the fact that 3 of my children have gotten married in the last few years, leaving me home with only 2 of the original 5.  I'm almost an empty nester and things are just getting outrageously busy.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?!  I thought it was supposed to get easier as the kids moved out!

This week there is a big Agriculture Show going on in Abbotsford so our account manager at Scotia Bank asked me to make a small display for them to use in their booth.  Of course, even though I just returned from a big sales trip to Ontario, I said YES!

I love getting CREATIVE!

Then I spent all last week trying to help my Little Angel with all the details I could for our Spring Catalogue which needed to be finalized for this week.  She works for weeks and weeks to get a beautiful display of all the great items we offer our customers this coming season into a gorgeous glossy magazine format that is very time consuming to produce.

Gramma gets to babysit when my Little Angel is working.  Gramma LOVES to babysit!

Not only am I a designer and a saleswoman, I'm also  a PROFESSIONAL POTTY TRAINER.

Bet you didn't know that.

I'm also inspired to INVENT new things when the grandkids are around.  Anything to help make the work a little easier on me while they are over.  Check out this clever IDEA I came up with........

A dual purpose pot that can be used as a baby bath chair in Winter and a container garden in Summer!

One size fits 5 months to 2 years.

Now all I have to do is print up some good advertising materials for this new product and off it goes to market.

Then of course, I am also support staff for my ever talented brood of artists.  When Anderson Cooper finished THIS school project......



I helped out by disposing of all the props in an economical and humane manner.

They gave up their lives......

to feed the hungry!

Such a generous sacrifice was appreciated by all!

As well, the big greenhouse EXPANSION continues on.  They've been pouring cement floors for a full month now.

The new propogation house is already filling up and we are working over time to get all our cuttings started for Spring 2012.

So this morning, I was chatting with my sister ROSA and explaining that my blogging has been rather sporadic lately because I've been so busy and she sweetly reminded me that I had not yet announced the WINNER of the GREAT POINSETTIA DECORATING CHALLENGE!

How did I forget that?!  I mean, I even HIRED (a glass of wine and a bit of cheese was all she required)  a professional florist to do the judging for me and I STILL haven't announced the WINNER?!

"AND THE WINNER IS......"

Donna from Funky Junk Interiors!

I think I'm gonna hand deliver her prize.  Maybe she'll take me along for dinner?!  So, if you're out there Donna, there's a gift certificate just waiting for you here.  Even though it's crazy busy at Darvonda these days, I promise to get it to you BEFORE the spring rush.

Now, I'm off to the Agriculture Show to check out that cool booth from Scotia Bank.  They sure do have some great customers!

2011 in Review

2011 was a GOOD YEAR!

I know, I'm late.  It's already January 4th and this post should have been a week ago.

What can I say, I'm a procrastinator.

I mean,  believe it or not, we didn't open Christmas presents until January 2nd, as per usual!

I make no excuses except that Christmas shopping AFTER December 24th is the BEST way to SAVE!

Well, you can save on everything except ALCHOHOL!  But there is a good excuse for this gift.

Honestly.

You see, Cinderella was just getting psyched  for her trip to an all-inclusive resort in CUBA......

and all her gifts were geared to making her journey pleasant and trouble free!

Now, it's a dutch tradition to make poems with all your gifts.  In that tradition, all gifts are actually from Sinterklaas (or Santa Claus in English) and HE is the one who spends all year writing prose for the big night.

Take this following little rhyme and see if you can GUESS what the Sint brought for my newest son-in-law:

St. Nick thought, dear Evan an amiable fellow!
He's always coherent and consistently mellow!
The cumulative effect of this lads growing knowledge
Makes finding him gifts more laborious then when in college.
Upon pondering, speculating and examining with care
St. Nick thought to teach Evan about Solar Flare!
Not only will Evan be intellectually stimulated....
Entertainment and amusement are a bonus, Nick stated.

Can you guess?!

It's a......

Oooops!  Sinterklaas forgot to remove the price tags.

DVD of the first season of The Big Bang Theory!

Ha ha ha ha.  Ho ho ho.  Oh that Sinterklaas sure has a way with poetry!

NOTE:  Watching a sitcom called "the Big Bang Theory" does not mean that the author of this blog believes in the Theory of Evolution.  Just wanted to clarify that for my faithful readers who know what a faux pax that would be for a conservative Reformed lady like myself.  If this side note is causing you nothing but confusion, please skip over the italicized type and continue on reading, you are probably not from around these parts.  It's not that important.  Pretend I never said anything.


And just so you know.....my procrastination does force me to be as efficient at Christmas shopping as any one woman can be.  I chose ONE store in the Mall in which to purchase ALL my gifts for this year.  When you only have 2 hours to shop, wrap and write prose, you do what you gotta do.

Thus, all my gifts were somewhat themeatic this year.....

The wrapped gift is just MORE OF THE SAME

but I managed to get it all done and only be 30 minutes late for the party!

I should probably make a NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION to start my Christmas shopping earlier this year but it's highly unlikely that I will be able to fulfill it so.......I'm not even gonna bother.

Now, that brings me back to my original topic, THE YEAR IN REVIEW.

I won't bore you with all the details since all you need to do is go back and read my older posts.  Suffice it to say, IT WAS A GOOD YEAR!

There is ONE thing I forgot to share with my blogger peeps that I really need to rectify.  Do you recall our trip to Holland this summer?  Do you also recall that we were taped for the Hour of Power program in the Netherlands?  Well, I am finally remembering to post the link to the actual program which aired November 6th in Holland.   

To view the whole Jansen 5 interview, click on the program highlights you want to watch.  First part of the interview is in dutch with Gramma and then Junior finishes off in english!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH


ENJOY!