String to Date Object PHP Laravel Carbon -

how make date string date object in php using carbon?

$mintime = db::table('order')              ->select('order_creation_date', 'restaurant_id')             ->where('restaurant_id', '=', '70')             ->orderby('order_creation_date', 'asc')             ->first();              $m = $orderday -> month;             $d = $orderday -> day;             $y = $orderday -> year;      $y = (int)$y;     $d = (int)$d;     $m = (int)$m;      $orderday = $mintime -> order_creation_date;     var_dump($orderday); 

error:

trying property of non-object 

normal value of string:

string(19) "2016-02-05 14:51:30" 

any ideas how fix it? think need make string date object. thank you.

using $dates property in order model:

protected $dates = ['order_creation_date'];