If you see your neighbor drop his or her pants and then sit on a patch of ground sometime in the coming weeks there’s really no need to call police.
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He or she, as the case may be, isn’t mooning you or doing anything else untoward.
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Chances are your neighbor is a gardener, a wild and wacky one perhaps, but a gardener nonetheless. He, or she, is doing what Frank Ferragine, aka Frankie Flowers, calls the bum test.
“If the ground is warm enough for your bare bum, it’s warm enough to sow seeds,” Ferragine said of the practice.
A best selling author and multiple winner of Landscape Ontario’s Garden Communicator of the year, Ferragine, a popular television personality, was the guest speaker on the final day of the Norfolk Home an Lifestyle Show held by the Simcoe and District Chamber of Commerce at the Aud in Simcoe.
“I know the community really well,” Ferragine said. “I’ve been through Simcoe, Port Dover and Delhi many times in my life.
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“I’ve visited a lot of the local greenhouses so it’s great to be here and be among friends.”
Ferragine said there are a lot of people in Norfolk who are passionate about gardening and realize its many benefits.
“There is real science behind gardening,” Ferragine said. “Things that are living make us feel happier and healthier.
“It’s really neat to see that tiny tomato seed grow into a plant, into a flower and then watch the green tomato turn red and become edible.”
Gardening is beneficial to a person’s physical and mental health, Ferragine said.
The home and lifestyle show began Friday afternoon and continued through to Sunday at the CIBC AUDitorium. It attracted an estimated 2,500 people over the three days and featured more than 80 vendors including World of Plumbing – Kitchen and Bath, of Simcoe.
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“This has been a really good weekend for us,” Jason Doyle of World of Plumbing said. “We’ve always enjoyed this show and I think this year’s event is especially important for local businesses like ours because it gets our name out in the community.
“People get a chance to meet those of us who operate family businesses, learn about our products and what we have to offer.”
Doyle hopes the show will encourage people to come back to the bricks and mortar stores, a practice that was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rob and Marie Mitchell of Cheers were first-time participants in the home and lifestyle show. They started their online business in November 2020 and it was perfect timing
They deliver locally produced wine, beer, cider, coffee, tea and spirits to customers across Norfolk County, Haldimand County as well as Brant County. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the couple was well positioned to serve the community.
“Norfolk is home to some many great wineries and breweries but it’s also a large geographic area,” Marie said. “When you add in what’s available in Haldimand, it’s even bigger.
“A lot of people want to enjoy all of these local products but are often reluctant to travel from one end of the county to the other to buy them.”
The Mitchells take the travel out of the equation and create custom crates featuring local beer, wine, cider, seltzer, coffee, tea, spirits that can be delivered as gifts to friends, family or business clients.
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