I am working on my garden and the soil is hitting the ground but I haven't left the kitchen. It's a Sunday morning in January and I am planting micro-greens. I am also wear my fuzzy slippers.

Sold at many markets, so called "baby" lettuce is also called microgreens and I am growing my own. From seed, they take a few weeks to mature and size up for eating. It doesn't really matter when you get started and I wouldn't plan a dinner party around it, but micro-greens grown indoors under lights germinate overnight and keep growing until cut.

In keeping with the Ronald McDonald House's focus on helping others, the organization will soon be shining a light on those who've helped them achieve their goals over the last year.

Taking place March 8, the 2nd Annual Illuminate Gala will spotlight the importance of community by highlighting two inspirational philanthropists to the Calgary and Ronald McDonald House communities.

Calgary's luxury homes market narrowly missed claiming top spot nationwide in 2013, with year-overyear sales growth in the sector outpacing nearly all other Canadian centres.

According to Re/Max's Upper-End Report, sales of homes priced at $1 million or more in Calgary increased by 34 per cent in 2013. In Vancouver, where the luxury market is defined by Re/Max as homes priced at $2 million or more, luxury sales increased by 36 per cent.

Having become synonymous with home renovations in Canada, Bryan Baeumler doesn't believe he's put in a hard day's work unless he gets his hands dirty. The award winning host of HGTV's Leave It To Bryan recently finished a cottage for his family as part of House of Bryan 2: On The Rocks, Baeumler's busy schedule will bring him to town as part of the Calgary Home + Garden Show, which takes place Feb. 27 through March 2 at the BMO Centre. CREB®Now spoke with Baeumler about being one of Canada's top renovation experts.

While plenty of household items are available for free these days, the house itself isn't normally one of them. However, thanks to one Calgary couple, a free home is exactly what is up for grabs.

Opting to give away their former home prior to building a new one on the same site, Jason Hastie and his wife Gina placed an ad on Kijiji advertising "Donating our house! Free to a person or family in need" in mid-January.

With housing prices on the rise in most Canadian cities, nearly a quarter of Canadians plan to use their homes as their primary source of income after they leave the workforce, according to the 2014 Sun Life Canadian Unretirement Index. This survey also revealed 17 per cent do not know if their investment in their home will serve as their primary source of income during retirement.

At the same time, 28 per cent of Canadians expect to be retired at 66. Twice that many (56 per cent) are expecting to work past the traditional retirement age, with 65 per cent citing that they will need to.

Month after month the reports come in and month after month Calgary is still holding at a bleak one per cent rental vacancy.

In a report released by CIBC World Markets Inc., Calgary was shown to have the lowest rental vacancy rate out of the major city markets in Canada.

When buying a new home, warranty may not be on the fore front of decisions, but the Alberta government introduced new warranty standards for new home buyers on Feb. 1.

Builders will now have to provide mandatory home warranty coverage for all new homes built in Alberta under the New Home Buyer Protection Act.