With spring in the air and the first signs of grass and dirt showing through the melting snow, Seedy Saturday on March 25 added to the optimism.
Gardeners were on hand at the Creekside Seniors Activity Centre to display their goods and help people start their gardens.
"It's sort of a first thing in the spring," says Rod Hennecker, a member of the Horse Lake Community Farm Co-operative. Seedy Saturday is one of the group's key fundraisers.
"Because we go to the farmers market in the spring and summer it gets us in the mode to start getting ourselves organized and opening up the root cellars."
The well-attended event included many different seed and plant booths, a concession featuring local foods, beekeepers and more. One of the highlights was a family-saved heritage seeds table where people could swap seeds that they had raised or pick up the "legendary" Likely potato to grow in their own gardens.
One visitor, Michelle LaPlace, procured more than a few of the heirloom seeds while laughing at herself.
"It's looking like I might need a bigger garden," she says.
Others visiting the event are just starting to get into gardening, like six-year-old Brodie Dirkson.
"I already bought two things," he says excitedly, holding up a handful of seed packets.
His mom, Ashley Dirkson, came on the suggestion of her mother-in-law but says she was happy to visit the booths.
"I'm really glad I came because I got to spend time with my boys. They really enjoy finding seeds."
The family picked out peas, pumpkin, and tomato seeds, some catnip for the cat, as well as some collard greens for Ashley, who says she misses them from her hometown in Georgia.
People throughout the day took some time to learn from the local gardeners who know the local conditions.
Hennecker says the co-op is just starting to plant in the greenhouses, but that right now is just the beginning of the season. Once the seedlings sprout, they'll transplant them, and then starting in May the group will begin to set them out into the gardens.
"From there, it just carries on watering and weeding and then harvesting," he says.
He encourages others to start planning and buying seeds for their growing season, no matter their growing space.
"I talked to a woman here who is a real avid gardener, but she's only got a porch," he says. "She wants to grow stuff."
For first time gardeners, Hennecker suggests starting with potatoes, which the co-op was selling at the event, because they're fairly forgiving to grow, but says that flowers are also great because they attract bees.
"We think it is important for people to learn how to grow food or flowers and [Seedy Saturday] is a way for people who take it to the next level and actually grow seeds and grow their plants out into seeds to share that with [other] people," he says.