The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Buy local

GARDEN GATE: Episode 316 – New DIY Craft Kits! (April 11, 2025)

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The new DIY craft kits from Genius Premium Craft Company have finally arrived! We received a variety of sewing kits, felting kits, fibre art kits and even ones that come with a greeting card. You’ll find a quirky racoon, a seagull with a pouch of fries, a dog in a coat, and the cats inspired … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 315 – Canadian Cards and Seeds! (March 28, 2025)

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Nature’s Garden Seed Company is located in Mill Bay, British Columbia, Canada. They’ve been making high quality products for nature lovers for over 30 years. Their greeting cards each contain a strip of post-consumer waste fibre paper, embedded with flower or herb seeds. These make great gifts for anyone wanting to experience the rewards of … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 314 – Susan Robertson’s Pottery! (March 14, 2025)

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We just received an order of pottery from Susan Robertson! Susan is an internationally recognized ceramic artist from Saskatchewan Canada, that we’ve been featuring in the shop for many years. She’s always coming up with new designs that reflect her sense of humour and love of nature. Each unique piece is made of stoneware clay … Read more

From Sea to Sea, Canadian gift ideas

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If you’re looking for gift ideas for the year ahead and want to choose Canadian, here are a few examples of items by Canadian artisans and entrepreneurs.  We have plenty of new stock on order due to arrive in coming weeks and months ~ keep watching our social feeds and newsletters for updates. We appreciate … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 313 – Customize Your Bird Feeding Station (February 28, 2025)

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We’ve got everything you need to set up and customize a great quality bird feeding station that also keeps the squirrels off of your feeders! If you want to use a pole we start at the ground, and find the right spike for your soil type. Next you add the pole, making it whatever height … Read more

GARDEN GATE: Episode 312 – New and Coming Soon! (February 14, 2025)

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  Just recently we were at the gift show in Toronto, and were able to find some new artists to feature in the shop! Here are some of the new and wonderful finds we’ve ordered. They’re not in the shop yet, so consider this a tease!  Amanda Brown of Scarlett Dahlia Artistry in Saskatoon, hand dyes, … Read more

Made in Canada – What’s New and Coming Soon!

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We’ve been shopping!! It’s that time of year to see what our artists are adding to their repetoire and we’re pretty excited to have our orders in! At Avant-Garden Shop, we’ve spent the last 22 years stocking our shelves to reflect our landscape. Anytime we can replace an internationally-made item with a Canadian-made one, we … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 26 – Buy Canadian

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CHEX TV airdate: Friday Nov. 29th, 2014

Click here to view this episode of The Garden Gate.?

Why is it important to buy gifts that are Made in Canada?

You hear about the 100 mile diet – how far did that item you just purchased have to travel to get to you?

Are the people making the item getting a fair wage for what they are creating? Do they have health care? Education???

Coasters ML (8)It’s sometimes impossible to know the answer to these questions, when the item has come from a container that was shipped half way around the world! ?When you buy Canadian and from someone who knows about the product, you can usually get the answer to your questions and feel good about your purchase. ?And once you know that information, you can decide where best to spend your hard earned dollars.

During this episode of The Garden Gate, you’ll learn a few facts about the many Canadian made items available at The Avant-Garden Shop, and answers to some of these questions. I hope you’ll tune in or drop by and ask some questions!

 

 

Garden Gate: Episode 12 – Buy Canadian and Buy Local

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CHEX TV air date: Fri. May 17th, 2013

Click here to watch this episode of?The Garden Gate.

There has been a great deal of interest lately in Buying Local and Buying Canadian, so I invited another local entrepreneur in to talk further about the importance of buying local and buying Canadian.

Donald Fraser and I worked together for many years at Peterborough Green-Up. Donald is now a writer and also runs a local?culinary tour in downtown Peterborough. This popular event takes you into the “backrooms” of restaurants, cafes and local brew pubs for a first hand taste of many great things. Talk to the chefs and owners to find out about new temptations!

Visit?http://www.ptbolocalfoods.ca/ for more information.

Garden Gate: Episode 8 – Buy Local Campaign

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buylocalCHEX TV air date: Fri. Mar. 22nd 2013

Click here to watch this episode of ?The Garden Gate.

Vince Bierworth from the KRUZ and WOLF radio stations is spearheading a Buy Local Campaign in the Peterborough area.? As my guest this week he told about the campaign and why he feels it’s important to support local businesses.

At The Avant-Garden Shop the majority of our gifts and outdoor decor are Canadian made. Vince and I discussed the benefits of this and how successful local businesses in turn support local charities and other businesses.

 

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