Welcome!

Yes, winter is coming. 

It’s not all bad. It means we have this time to plan out our next season of plants, builds, events, and critters. This is the time I try to give the website the overhaul it needs in order to be up-to-date and tidy for next season. If there is a native plant species you are interested in please let me know so I can do my best to have them in stock for next season (just be aware some species require 3 years to grow out!).

I will finally resume working on our next Celtic Zodiac and Plants blog. This next one will feature Hazel, Crane and Amethyst among other things so patiently follow us on FB and here on our website so you can catch it when it does come out.

I am writing about our journey of building our chickens their insulated winter coop including how, why, what worked, and what we would change on our next one. I have had to revamp it already due to our flock increasing so I will add our addition into my accounts for you as well. 

We are chewing through Step Five in the Firecircle program (it’s probably a larger module than all of the others combined!), so the progress is slower, but we are making progress. It’s been a great program to get our business on track for our new location and engage with the tourism sector. I’ve already met some other great business owners whom we’ll be collaborating with on some workshops, tours, products, and special events. 

The “Dragon Wagon”, our mobile vardo or “gypsy wagon” will be open only for special events until May 1st, 2025 when we open on Beltane for our regular season. This will be our onsite market stand or anreg (gift in Welsh) shop, before moving out for next season’s pop-up markets, so that we may bring Medieval Manor Gardens to those who might not be able to make it out to our location. Our actual onsite shop, Hiraeth (pronounced Hee-rye-th) will take a bit longer to get ready, but will gradually replace the Dragon Wagon. Hiraeth is a deep inborn sense of yearning for a place beyond this plane of existence. It is more of a deeper feeling. It is in the wind, the rocks, and the waves. It is nowhere and it is everywhere. It is perfect for our little place of connection and to enable guests to bring a piece home with them to maintain that connection.  Our greenhouse and gardens will take time to get in order, but piece by piece we will have more things growing and available to peruse.

Then there is the livestock. Our rare and heritage flock of poultry has been increasing in order to meet the needs of our clients (thank you so much for your ongoing support through purchasing our Rainbow Protein Pearls, AKA Farm Fresh Eggs!). We now have Black Copper Marans, Isbars, Cream Legbars, a few Bresse, and some guinea watch dogs. Opal Legbars, Iowa Blues, Vorwerk, Buff Chanteclers, and Dark Cornish are on the wishlist for next season. Saphira and Proof, our 2

Curly horse mares, look forward to receiving visitors, and will provide some luscious hypo-allergenic wool. Juno, the  Mammoth donkey will watch over our sheep flock which arrived at the beginning of October. She loves attention, so is a great ambassador for the farm.

We look forward to breeding and increasing the numbers of Wiltshire Horn Sheep here in Canada, and hope to offer breeding stock, lamb, wool mulch, and horns in the near future.

All of these projects will require a lot of infrastructure, and elbow grease! MM Gardens is therefore looking for some great volunteers who wish to learn and share their skills to join our Crewyrs (Creators) tribe. We are currently looking for people experienced in building sheds/animal shelters, and livestock fencing. More information will be coming, but in the meantime, anyone interested can contact me at dawnw@mmgardens.ca.

If you have a group interested in having us run a workshop or hike for you at your location or ours, or are looking for some consultation regarding a planting project, by all means, contact us to arrange something. We do not take any deposits until we know it’s a go and can always change dates if required.

We currently do not generally ship live plants out of province as they are overwintered outdoors to ensure hardiness, and may therefore contain organisms not native to other places. Some areas near us can receive free shipping so please inquire if you are unsure or our website is not cooperating. 

Teachers, groups, and corporate team builders, a great idea for this winter or next spring, is to arrange for one of our in-person workshops or tours. Whether you wish to create a mini ecosystem (woodland, prairie, or puddle garden), go on a nature walk, or engage with and learn from our unique livestock and regenerative farming practices, MM Gardens can create an experience just for you! Contact us at info@mmgardens for details.

Gift certificates are a great way to gift something in advance or if you are unsure of what someone may like. Delivery is also available to a number of areas.

Our aim is to provide completely immersive nature and agricultural experiences and products to educate

and connect people back to the land, thus instilling a desire to take action regarding the health of Mother Earth and her children.    

Stay safe and thank you for supporting local business, and going back to your roots to grow your future,

Dawn Watts,

Owner and creator of Medieval Manor Gardens