The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Garden Gate: Episode 205 – McIntosh mugs (Dec. 18th, 2020)

We’ve carried this line of tea cups and coffee mugs for many years. They are very popular gifts that are beautifully packaged. Tall grande mugs are available singly, other tea cups in sets of two and also sets of four. Many designs include our Canadian artists from The Group of Seven. Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 204 – Christmas gift ideas (Dec. 4, 2020)

We have so many beautiful gifts in the shop it’s hard to narrow it down to 2 minutes! Beautiful hand made ornaments, tea cups and mugs. Aprons, oven mitts. Pewter from Nova Scotia. We carry a lot of Canadian made items and also support many Canadian and local artists. Always worth a trip to the … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 203-Puzzles, Puzzles and more Puzzles! (Nov. 20, 2020)

This crazy year had brought us all back to the basics. Including puzzles!  We’ve been challenged to find unique beautiful quality puzzles. And we think we have some very nice ones! Currently we have 4 lines of puzzles. Pomegranate, Galison, Algonquin and the most recent addition from Indigenous collection. Get through those long winter nights … Read more

Why aren’t the birds using my new feeder?

New feeders, pole systems, and baffles to keep squirrels away? Check! New, fresh, high-quality bird seed? Check! Binoculars, identification guide, and excited anticipation about all the birds you’re going to see? Check! Birds? … insert cricket sounds here … So what’s up with that? There are plenty of reasons why there aren’t any birds coming … Read more

Ever heard of a Pine Grosbeak or a Bohemian Waxwing?

Last month’s blog post talked about the arrival this winter of Evening Grosbeaks. Another grosbeak, the Pine Grosbeak, is also showing up, which is exciting, because these large, beautiful finches rarely come this far south. If I recall, the only time I’ve ever seen Pine Grosbeaks was in the Hudson Bay Lowlands during the breeding … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 202 – Compare the quality (Nov. 6th, 2020)

Customers often talk about the price of bird food when they should be considering the QUALITY! On this episode I dissect a bag of box store bird food. Even I was shocked at how poor the quality was. Birds don’t eat wheat or milo which is in high quantities in box store mixes. Even the … Read more

Seen any Evening Grosbeaks yet?

Not all bird species fly south for the winter, and not all of those that do come as far as Peterborough. Last year was what was called an “irruption year” for birds. Many bird species, such as Pine Siskins, the 2 redpoll species, and Bohemian Waxwings came here in greater numbers than in a typical … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 200 – Salt Box Shoppe rustic bird houses (Oct. 9th, 2020)

Every couple of years we head to the Lake Huron area to camp or visit and attempt to see some of our artists who live and work in the area.  This year we were able to visit two after camping for a few days at Pinery Provincial Park. First stop was to see April Gregory … Read more

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