This year I thought I would try something new. I really love the community that I’ve built with my readers through Shifting Roots and I wanted to meet some of them in person. So I opened up my backyard, weeds and all, to anyone within driving distance of Saskatoon who wanted to come. I made the Facebook event, reminded people on social, and prayed that at least one person would show up.

And they did!

Thank you to everyone who came and saw my backyard and visited with me. It was a very fun day and I’ll be doing it again next August. If you couldn’t make it, here’s some of the highlights.

When you’re the first visitor ever to the Open Yard, you get a selfie. And, you get a bouquet of flowers.

Soon after more people came, bringing their littles in tow.

The morning session was quickly over, and it was time to get ready for the evening visitors.

Evening visitors were treated to sour cherry tarts dressed up with edible flowers. (The kids got Timbits, sour cherry was a little too out there for most of them.)

The little girls in the crowd were enthralled with the cut flower garden portion of the yard, convinced it was magic. And to be fair, it kind of is 🙂 My cut flower garden was the clear favourite among everyone who came that day.

But really, the best part about the evening was sharing all my hard work and what I learned in my garden this year with people who love gardening just as much as I do.

It was also great to see some new faces, and meet the real people behind those of you who message me, comment on my stuff, or even just lurk. I love the lurkers too. 🙂

So that’s it for my little recap of the Open Yard. I’ll hope you’ll join me next year, and I look forward to meeting you!