Re-invent yourself in garden of rebirth

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/08/2016 (3574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several years ago a number of gals went on a road trip along Highway 10 and a very short distance from the turnoff off to Highway 3, this beautiful stone house surrounded by amazing flowers was on our right.

The sign said Anchorage Gardens and you can guess the direction of the conversation then. The consensus then was that we make it a future destination.

We found out more about this mysterious place through conversations, the Internet, etc., and when the article appeared in the Brandon Sun about 2015 being the last year for tours, the dice had been rolled … it was now or never. This group of gals was going, and once I was at Anchorage Gardens, I was bitten by the bug.

There is no going back to life as it was before experiencing Anchorage Gardens and meeting the owners, Don and Betty Engbrecht. There was ever so much to explore and see.

There were flowers everywhere with works of art made from reclaimed steel hiding around the next bend in the woodland path. You could see where Don had taken some man’s junk and turned it to a veritable treasure — flowers, trees, insects, birds, animals and other installations too numerous to mention.

The live flowers are the work of Betty, who spends countless hours propagating them in her greenhouse and then watering them throughout the yard pulling a small wagon filled with watering cans — sometimes several times a day.

While on the tour, I was literally taken back to the days of my youth growing up on a small farm. I slowly recognized pieces of machinery that had been used in agriculture production at home, turned into these amazing pieces. It was great to see them in their original state — rusting, etc. — repurposed.

The next weekend I came back with my neighbours and saw things that I had missed in the first tour. Yes, there is so much to take in and everything has a story to go with it

This also gave me food for thought as to how this all applied to life. We might become a bit rusted and not as capable as we once were, but that maybe we can do other things in our present condition instead of bemoaning the loss of what we no longer can do.

In other words — re-invent ourselves.

As with all the rebirth or repurposing taking place, it is no wonder that you will be reinvented once you see it at Anchorage Gardens.

There is no way that Don and Betty Engbrecht could just let it go. This spring when they started their greenhouse, being the caring and sharing people that they are, they couldn’t just keep it to themselves.

They are offering one weekend of tours this August, a major slowdown from previous years but a great opportunity for people to see what years of ideas, visions, hard work and love can produce.

I feel truly honoured to have been asked about my views and interpretation of Anchorage Gardens. I was able to go back late this spring and see it at its annual rebirth.

This kind of reminded me of the phoenix rising from the ashes. It reinforces the fact that one should look at things and life with renewed eyes, instead of being the throwaway society that we seem to have become.

The Engbrechts have spent years reusing and repurposing things, such as the stones from the original house into walkways and the golf clubs that seem to have become road runners, while old table knives have become dragon flies.

A tour of the gardens, along with the interpretation of their visions, is bound to have a profound effect on all who venture there. I know there are pieces of so-called junk at my place that are going to have a rebirth of their own.

Thank you, Don and Betty, for allowing me to explore your gardens and to get a new perspective on how the past is a part of the present and a window to the future.

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If you go …

• Anchorage Gardens is located on Highway 3 southwest of Boissevain, about two kilometres west of the junction of Highways 3 and 10.

• The tours run:

— Thursday, Aug. 18, at 6:30 p.m.

— Friday, Aug. 19, at 6:30 p.m.

— Saturday, Aug. 20, at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

• Tours start on time and last approximately two hours.

• Tours are by appointment only.

• A donation of $5 is welcome.

• To book, call 204-534-2567.

• Also visit: www.boissevain.ca/visitor/Anchorage Gardens to view a picture gallery and see more specifics on the tour dates.