Beauty Farming Life

It's the holiday season and time for giving, so we're going to have a giveaway! A couple of weeks back, I blogged HERE about starting our composting adventure for the farm.  I found this book the other day at lunch and since it's geared toward beginners, I bought two so that we could give one away. This is the GREEN GUIDES edition of COMPOST by Rachel Strauss.   It covers 'how to use', 'how to make', 'everyday tips', 'why we should compost', 'what you can and can't put on your heap', 'different types of bins', and more. It's 256 pages long and full of information. So who wants to join us on a composting adventure? As always, and for those new to the blog, the rules are as follows : You need to be a "friend of the farm" (follower) and then leave a comment here on this thread letting me know that you want to be entered, because after all, it might be a book you already have. T...

And the winner is... Congratulations to Chickie Mama Linda from  Practical Parsimony ! Your name is the one we pulled from the basket.  I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to this, as you all know, it was a crazy month or so for us. But now we're starting fresh for the new year. Please email me directly with your address (you can use the 'email me' button), and I'll get your book packaged up and mailed out Monday. And stay tuned for another giveaway coming soon! Thanks to everyone, we appreciate you!

And the winner is... Congratulations to Chickie Mama Linda from  Practical Parsimony ! Your name is the one we pulled from the basket.  I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to this, as you all know, it was a crazy month or so for us. But now we're starting fresh for the new year. Please email me directly with your address (you can use the 'email me' button), and I'll get your book packaged up and mailed out Monday. And stay tuned for another giveaway coming soon! Thanks to everyone, we appreciate you!

In appreciation of our recent  2,000,000 page views milestone , we are having a giveaway. And since it's TWO million, it won't be just one!  Instead of one, we will give away TWO of these! It will be two six month subscriptions to Mike the Gardener's "seeds of the month" program. For those who aren't familiar with it, Mike provides seeds each month: 100% Non-GMO 8 packages the first month 4 packages every month after that for six months. The prizes will be two six month subscriptions for two  different entries. Click HERE to visit their website As always, and for those new to the blog, the rules are as follows : You need to be a "friend of the farm" (a follower) and then leave a comment here on this thread letting us know that you want to be entered. The contest will run until midnight at the the end of the month, May 31st, next Saturday night, at midnight.  The following day, we'll randomly pick TWO winners...

Sorry for the drawing delay but we had some technical issues (the software, not the person, LOL) but all is back to normal now. So thank you to all of you who entered, you really did leave the nicest comments celebrating our 2 million page views and those warmed our hearts. We wish everyone could win but alas, we had to draw only two... And those two are: KYMBER - Click HERE to visit her blog (she's an international winner!) and TEXAN - Click HERE to visit her blog Y'all click on my email me link and let me know where to send everything and I'll get with Mike the Gardener and get it all planned out.  It might take a few days to get the ball rolling, have to rely on them to get things started. And everyone else, we'll be doing some more giveaways soon!

Yay, it's time for another giveaway! I was recently contacted by Jarden Home Brands to host a giveaway of a new set of their Ball brand jars and in exchange for hosting it, we were given a set as well.  There certainly isn't much I can say about Ball brand jars that hasn't already been said (and always good!).  They have been made in the USA for over 100 years and the name is virtually synonymous with home canning. Last year, they introduced something new to their ubiquitous line of canning jars and supplies.  A new limited edition heritage collection of jars in different colors. For 2013, they were "Heritage Blue" Ball brand jars, as seen in the photo below. They were only available for 2013. For this year, 2014, they have introduced a new color, "Spring Green". These will of course only be available this year.  They would be so great for canning and of course, as all Ball brand jars, for decorative or storage pur...

Ball brand jars was kind enough to allow us TWO sets of jars to give away.  Of course, we had 38 entries...I wish we could have given away almost 38 sets. So, without further ado, the winners are: Texas Rose , one of our newer 'friends' who unfortunately doesn't have a blog, but has left some awesome comments on our posts, not to mention she has a very kind soul... AND Jaz from October Farm , an amazing food creator, garden guru and also a very kind and generous soul.  Check out her blog by clicking HERE ... I need both of you to email me the mailing address you want to use and I will get that to the people at Ball Brand Jars who will ship out your jar sets. Thank you again to everyone who entered, we truly are sad when we get so many entries but only have one (or two) winners.  We'll have some more stuff coming soon, so keep trying!  Thanks again to everyone and of course to  Ball Jars  for allowing us to host a...

It's time for a giveaway! UPDATE:  We're going to give away THREE of these, so be sure and enter below by commenting and letting us know to enter your name. Ball Infuser I recently stumbled across this new item (new to me anyway) from Ball Brands.  It's a Mason Jar Infuser.  It lets you turn a canning jar into one of those infusers that puts the essence of fruits and other items into drinking water. I bought one for our own use and so I picked up a second one to give away. Mason Jar Infuser You simply fill the infuser section with the fruits/veggie combination of your choice (the back of the package, photo below, has some suggestions) and then screw the infuser piece into the lid.  Lastly, the whole unit is screwed onto a widemouth jar filled with water.  Pop it into the fridge and let the flavors infuse the water.  You can even drink directly out of it, like a sippy cup.   If you don't win one and still wan...

Thanks for everyone for entering...  The three winners of the Ball jar infuser giveaway are: CONGRATULATIONS! JOANI  -   My Southwest Ramblings blog COLLEEN - I don't believe you have a blog but if you do, please let us know! AMANDA POPE -  Misty Pines Blog We just need each of you to email us (use the "email me" button on the sidebar) and let us know the address to send it to. Trust me when I say, we love doing giveaways but we hate when not everyone can win.  Thanks for always leaving such kind comments and there will be another one coming soon!

It's time for a giveaway! Enter once in comments below, giveaway ends  ended Sunday, February 8, at 11:59pm. Gardener's Weather Bible by Sally Roth Found this book at a used book store recently and picked up two copies, one for our library at the farm and a copy to give away.   Here is the Amazon link if you'd like to more information on the book: The Gardener's Weather Bible: How to Predict and Prepare for Garden Success in Any Kind of Weather The book is by author Sally Roth.  It includes great tips on how to use the weather to your advantage in the garden year round and learn how weather affects everything.  For example, when to protect from frost and when not to worry about it...learn how to listen to bird songs for upcoming weather...even how plants can help predict the weather. As always (and for those new to the blog) the rules are as follows: We'd like you to be a friend of the farm" (we love having follower...

Thanks to everyone for entering...  The winner of the book giveaway is: CONGRATULATIONS! Leigh -  From her awesome blog  5 Acres and a Dream We just need you to email us (use the "email me" button on the sidebar) and let us know the address to send it to. We love doing these but we hate when not everyone can win.  Thanks for always leaving such kind comments.  There will be another one coming soon!

It's time for a giveaway!   Times two! We found these at the store the other day and they were just too cute to pass up.  They are canning themed aprons.  I even picked up one for myself.  Be sure and read the note below in red, there are special instructions for entering.  This is the first one...showing some canning jars with tomatoes in them and the phrase: "I can...because I can" This is the second one...showing a canning jar with a crown and the phrase: "Canning Queen" (no this is NOT the one I picked up for myself, LOL)  They are 100% cotton, made in China, measure 26"x33" and say "one size fits all".  Nothing fancy or high end but they sure are fun. As always (and for those new to the blog) the rules are as follows: We'd like you to be a friend of the farm" (we love having followers) but that's not required.  Please leave a comment here on  this  thread letting us kno...

UPDATE:  Going to leave this up for a bit this morning to give anyone else a chance, she still has some left. Last Spring, one of our Friends of the Farm, Colleen, sent us these pictures of her beautiful Iris beds.  She has quite the collection!  The pictures were so pretty, I asked her if I could use them for an inspiration Thursday post and I did.  I'm reposting them again today... Iris beds ...because she has an offer!   She wrote to let us know that she is thinning and dividing the beds, moving things around and has an offer of free iris rhizomes (divisions) for those who want them! She will perform the manual/heavy labor and dig them up for free She will provide the divisions themselves for free All you will pay is the postage to ship the full  boxes Serious inquiries only (it's a lot of work on her end) Cash or money order only Send me an email by clicking the button over on the side bar or just use "houstonray@gma...

It's time for a giveaway! Enter once in the comments below.   The giveaway ends Sunday, February 14, at 11:59pm. Found this book recently as we were unpacking and realized that we can't have a tabletop garden at the apartment because the cats would think of it as an all you can eat buffet and we can't do it at the farm and not water it for a week so we decided to give it away.   Here is the Amazon link if you'd like more information on the book: Beautiful Tabletop Gardens by Kilby, Janice Eaton (2005) Hardcover The book is by author Janice Eaton.  Create a little garden paradise in every corner of your home and enjoy it year round.  Tips, illustrations and photos showing every step of how to create and assemble small gardens everywhere in your house using cuttings, seeds, rootings, etc.   As always (and for those new to the blog) the rules are as follows: We'd like you to be a friend of the farm" (we love having...

Thanks to everyone for entering...  The winner of the book giveaway is: CONGRATULATIONS! CLICK HERE for her Google+ CLICK HERE for her blog    We just need you to email us (use the "email me" button on the sidebar) and let us know the address to send it to. We love doing these but we hate when not everyone can win.   Thanks to everyone for always leaving such kind comments.  There will be another one coming soon, we have some more books to share!

A couple of days ago CLICK HERE , I posted a review of the Plant Nanny watering system.   Well, the wonderful folks at  Plant Nanny  sent us an extra set for us to host a giveaway!  Yep, it's time for a giveaway!  Woo hoo! Plant Nanny Recycle a Wine Bottle Their website is  HERE .   As we aren't at the farm during the week, we do have the need for something to water in our absence and they are working wonderfully for us so far. Recycling wine bottles to water your plants is easy with the Recycle a Wine Bottle Stake. It’s a great way to water plants day-to-day, and the perfect solution to keep plants watered while on vacation. As the soil dries, our terracotta stake slowly releases water from the reservoir deep into the soil and directly to the root system.  Plants grow healthier by getting consistent moisture where it’s most needed. And indeed, it's been working for us, for the plants we have on the porch... ...