Review and Giveaway

Does picking a paint color put you in a panic? Do you stand in the paint section debating over a few paint chips for hours?  Do you have all white walls, and wish that you could find, the perfect shade of green, yellow, or red? Or maybe you are like me, you have no problem picking a color,  but once you do and have a room painted, you sometimes find that it is a shade or two off of what you were hoping for.

If you fit in one of those categories, I will suggest Paint Color Cheat Sheets.

It is a quick read, and a great resource.  It lists the very best colors from Sherwin Williams color wheel (which I love). The cost of the Cheat Sheets is about the same cost as a can of paint. So, if you struggle with colors, in the long run it will save you money by eliminating the need to re-buy and re-paint.

The brains and talent behind the Cheat Sheets is giving away a digital copy to one lucky backyard farming reader.

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment!!! 

(It isn't mandatory, but I would love to hear what you would like to paint as well. )

Giveaway will close this Friday at midnight.

Book Review and Giveaway!

The publishers of the book 'Your Farm in the City'  contacted us to do a review on their new book. Since I'm IN LOVE with gardening books, I gladly accepted, as long as they would send us an extra copy so I could spread the love to you guys as well.  I just love doing giveaways!

(taken from their website)
Lisa Taylor and the Gardeners of Seattle Tilth, bring locavores "Your Farm in the City : An Urban Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals," the all-in-one compendium of everything you need to know to start growing your own food and raising city-friendly livestock.
Written for city and suburban dwellers who may have little experience and/or space, the book covers all topics relevant to urban agriculture throughout the United States and beyond. Learn:

• The best, easiest-to-grow, high-yield fruits and vegetables
  
• Breeds of chickens, goats, and rabbits that thrive in small spaces
  
• The thrill of creating compost from food scraps and dozens of hungry Red Wigglers 
  
• Organic gardening techniques (including outwitting urban pests without poisons)
  
• Preparing and preserving fresh food from your garden
  
• Innovative organization profiles from across America that have changed the face of urban farming 
  
  
  
  
  
  I really enjoyed the layout of the book. I am a visual learner, so I enjoy lots of images, graphs, and different texts and fonts - which this book has. This is more of a beginners guide than a book that a veteran gardener would need, though it would make a great reference guide for someone with more experience.  If you have been dabbling in starting an 'urban backyard farm', this could be the book for you. You can purchase it here for under $13.
  
  

Now, for the giveaway: 
Just leave a comment for a chance to win! Please just one entry per person.

Good luck!
Giveaway will end Monday April 11, 2011 at midnight (my time). 

Giveaway!

 CSN is sponsoring another giveaway, they are so good to us!

If I were to win this giveaway, I know I would be checking out their LCD TV stands, because our armoire  that is supposed to go in the basement just won't fit down the stairs. But, CSN has some great looking ones for some great looking prices. 

CSN is giving away a $50 gift certificate to any one of their many stores. 

For your first entry:

All you have to do is leave a comment.

For a second entry:

Become a follower of Backyard Farming (just click on the "follow" button on the right side of the blog)

Then leave a second comment. (If you are already a follower, leave a second comment)

Just because I hate to leave a post without a picture, here is a picture Uncle Dale took of his chickens way back in 1964 when he was just a wee little lad.

Hurray!!!!

I can't believe it!

We made it to 500 followers! It sounds so cheesy, but I really mean it when I say that I am so grateful for each of you. You keep us going, give us hope that we are doing something worthwhile, and that maybe just maybe we are helping someone get started with their own backyard farm. 

CSN is helping us celebrate by giving away a $60 gift card to any one of their 200+ online stores!

If I won, I would get a laptop messenger bag.

And because they are so cute, I may not even put a laptop in it, I may carry it around like a purse. Look at me already pretending like I  have one. I forgot, this is a giveaway for our lovely followers/readers, not for me. 

Check out these cute bags: 

 

There are so many other cute ones too, oh and cool masculine ones for the guys too.

This giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canadian readers only. Giveaway closes Sunday January 16th at midnight Mountain Time.

To enter, just leave a comment, easy shmeasy!

Oh, and if you aren't a follower, don't hesitate to become one! 

~marisa

Christmas Giveaway Winner

Using the random number generator on my IPOD touch we came up with a winner for the recent book giveaway. David is the winner. He posted:

I have traveled through many eras of gardening. I started with my mothers's way of row crop planting with lots of weed pulling, hoeing, and watering. I progressed through that to row crop with mulching, then on to double dug beds with mulching and composting. Some time about two decades ago I stumbled across a young lady who was had just ended life a few years before named Ruth Stout. She claimed you didn't have to work hard at gardening but just pile up the mulch very deep and plant. Lasagna gardening and layer gardening all stems from Ruth's methods. Some would say that her garden looked like piles of weeds in the backyard but the produce she grew in those mulch piles would rival any modern day method. My style is a little modified and has a little more work involved but I never lost the pile it high mulch method. The two books that influenced me the most are called "How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back and Gardening Without Work." Have a great garden planning day.

Congratulations to David. Thanks to everyone else for posting. I have a lot of books that I want to read now. We will add a book list to our site soon based on all of your recommendations.

David,in order to get your book, please email us your address at backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com and we will mail you your new cookbook.

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!!!

I just love doing giveaways! Our good friends at CSN are sponsoring our giveaway this month, and it is a great one! If you win, you will receive a $60 gift card to any one of their stores. Yes, I said SIXTY DOLLARS. Now, all you have to do for a chance to win is to leave a comment, easy as that! For a second entry, become a follower of backyard farming, then leave a second comment. There is just one rule if you win, I want to hear back about what you bought with it. If I were you, I would use it toward one of these dutch ovens, but that is just me.

Isn't this one cute?

This contest will close Friday September 17th at midnight (MST)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The winner of the $25 gift card to Bubble and Bee Organic is.....Drum Roll Please....

lisawith4 said...
I've been trying to be more aware of what is in our health/beauty products. I'd love to try these items. Thanks for sharing.

Lisa with 4, just shoot me an email so I can get your email address and Stephanie from Bubble and Bee will send you the gift certificate!

Thank you Stephanie from Bubble and Bee for hosting this great giveaway!




~marisa

Don't forget the giveaway!!!

If you haven't yet, make sure you leave a comment here, to win a $25 gift certificate to Bubble and Bee Organic.

Giveaway-Bubble and Bee Organic

As a gift, my friend Veronica (aka Easy V) gave me some products from Bubble and Bee Organic. I really liked the products so I started looking into the company. Stephanie, the founder started out just making products for herself, family, and friends. She was committed to making products free of "bad stuff".  With a background in chemistry she knew there were many hidden chemicals in the products she was using each day and that they were the root of some of her health issues.  Through a lot of trial and error, she has come up with an amazing line of natural/organic products.  To top it all off, they are actually affordable.

Bubble and Bee Organic have many great products, but I wanted to feature just a few. First, the ever popular topic of deodorant. They sell natural deodorant!!! It is free of synthetic fragrances, preservatives, and fillers. Get this,  they never use toxic chemicals in their facility, and the facility will soon be certified organic. Did you even know that was possible? Now you do.

They are so committed to helping their customers make the switch to natural deodorant that if the type of deodorant you ordered doesn't work for you, they will send you a different type to try. If that one doesn't work, they will see if another type does. Now that is what I call customer service!

I have what they call a lotion stick. The great thing about it is that it doesn't contain water so it doesn't evaporate. Since it is a solid, it doesn't need preservatives or emulsifiers. Don't worry, it is still very creamy and absorbs into the skin just great.

Lastly, I will tell you about their lip balm. It is 100% organic, even the beeswax is organic. Organic beeswax must come from a hive with a four mile radius of organic crops, the wax is darker in color and has more nutrients. This lip balm also features the ever growing in popularity Stevia.

Alright, I will quit blabbing and get to the really exciting part. Bubble and Bee Organic is giving away a $25 gift certificate to one lucky Backyard Farming Reader. All you have to do is leave a comment on this article. Simple as that. We will randomly choose a winner Monday July 19th at midnight. The winner will be announced Tuesday July 20th.

Good luck!

Homegrown Giveaway

by Mike

We appreciate all of the responses for last weeks giveaway of the book Homegrown by Marta Teegen. Using the random number generator on my IPOD I came up with the winner. Drum roll please.....and that winner is Penny of Black Sheep Cottage fame. Penny, please email us your address at backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com and we will ship you the book. You will love it. Thanks go out to Marta Teegen the author for providing this book for our giveaway.

As a side note, it is currently snowing here in Utah and many of the fruit trees have lost their blooms which is not good. Hopefully the damage does not end up being as bad as it currently looks.

In other news, I watched the LOST finale last night and I still don't get what that show was about but I feel like I was entertained.

We at backyard farming appreciate everyone who participates on our blog, whether it is reading, commenting, or just passing through. If none of you came to participate, we would not be doing it so thanks to all of you and we wish we could give you all a book.

Book Review and Giveaway

Don't judge a book by its cover...unless it is the book Homegrown by Marta Teegen because not only is the cover beautiful, but the content is beautifully written.

Teegan goes over many of the aspects of gardening in raised beds, containers, and in small spaces. I really like her approach to planting the garden, not in neat and tidy rows, but simulating nature. I wrote plenty of notes in the margins so I can refer back to the book when I'm ready to start my garden in our next house.

One thing I thought was really interesting was the combination she uses to make up the soil. She uses composted horse manure, wood shavings, and straw with a touch of bone meal and green sand. I still have to research what green sand is!  I like this idea because it seems like it would be a heck of a lot cheaper than Mel's Mix used in square foot gardening.

There is a gallery of plants and produce where she goes over many of the different plants you may be interested in planting. For each plant she lists the best climate and site to plant, growing season, how much to plant, how to grow it, good companion plants, problems you may have, how to harvest it, and even how to eat it. 

To top it all off, Teegen is a chef and has included many recipes to use all the good grub you grow in your garden. We tried out the Shaved Fennel Salad with arugula, avocado, and almonds. It was delish!!! The combination of textures and flavors was just perfect.

This book covers a lot of the basics, so it would be great for a beginner as well as the seasoned gardener. Some days I feel like I'm a beginner even though I've been gardening for about 8 years and I still learned many new things. I'm so glad to have this book in my library, and we want one of you lucky readers to be able to add it to your library as well.

To win a copy of this book, simply leave a comment. Be sure to check back to see if you won.

Giveaway will close Friday May 21st at midnight. 

Thanks for subscribing!

And the winner is......

Day in the life of A Parmentier

Who said: I love reading about gardening!

Please email us your address to backyardfarmingblog(at)gmail.com

so you can claim your prize! 

 

Giveaway!

I'm so excited about this super fabulous giveaway sponsored by CSN Stores. They have everything from lighting to cookware to fitness equipment.  They are giving away this beautiful red apple peeler to one of you lucky readers!

This baby peels, slices, and cores apples. Just think how much apple sauce you can make if you have this peeler, think of how many dehydrated apples you can make. But, best of all, with this baby, you can enlist the help of your kids.  And when apple season is over,  it can also peel your potatoes!!! I'm starting to feel like an infomercial!

Tip: Each comment equals 1 entry. So leave a separate comment for each!

For your first entry: Leave us a comment about what your favorite theme here on backyard farming is. Example: recipes, gardening, chickens, current events, organic foods, raw milk etc.

For another entry: Blog about this giveaway on your blog, come back and leave a comment with your blog address. (This will also help promote your blog!)

For another entry: Become a fan of backyard farming on facebook, come back and leave us a comment that says "facebook". If you are already a fan on facebook, you already qualify for this entry.


For another entry: become a follower of backyard farming. You do this by clicking on the "follow" button on the right hand side of this blog. Come back and leave a comment that says "follower". If you are already a follower, you already qualify for this entry.

This giveaway closes Sunday April 19th 12:00 MST. 

Apron Giveaway!

Isn't this apron by Jedidiah's Novelties ADORABLE??? I know, I know, you ladies are asking yourselves how you can win the cutest apron ever! And you gentlemen know that if you win this for your lady, she will be madly in love with you forever.

Here is how you can enter to win:

For 1 entry: leave a comment
For a 2nd entry: Become a follower Backyard Farming, then leave a comment that says "follower". If you are already a follower, you already qualify for the second entry.
For a 3rd entry: Become a Facebook fan of Backyard Farming, then leave a comment that says "Fan". If you are already a fan, then you already qualify for the third entry.

Good luck, the winner will be chosen Sunday February 28th at midnight MST. Winner will be announced Monday. Good luck!

If you would like one of your products to be featured in a giveaway here on Backyard Farming, please email us at backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com