Enter to Win Gardening Books!

Perhaps you've spent a good number of years perfecting your garden, and are now able to bask in the glory. Perfect soil, perfect amount of sunlight, perfect watering techniques, varieties perfectly suited to your locale, and a bountiful harvest are all yours.

Well, if you're like me, that's just not the case. I'm still working on my little deck garden, still tossing aside fails, and still searching for the perfect... anything. Yet, I still love it, and I still get to have fresh produce on hand, even when the Mississippi River rises to high levels, making it difficult to get to the store. So, I will keep working on it.

Hence, today's sweepstakes come to save the day! Here, you can enter to win some of the valuable advice offered by these authors, so you, too, can know the tips and tricks of that abundant harvest you so desire!

What luck!


Win a Copy of Homegrown Herb Garden

* Grand prize is a copy of Homegrown Herb Garden: A Guide to Growing and Culinary Uses by Lisa Baker Morgan & Ann McCormick. ARV $24.99.

One entry per email address per day. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, D.C., and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older. Ends June 18, 2015.


GRIT Gardening Books Giveaway

* Grand prize includes the following books:

Straw Bale Gardens Complete by Joel Karsten
Grow a Living Wall by Shawna Coronado
Indoor Kitchen Gardening by Elizabeth Millard
Homegrown Herb Garden by Lisa Baker Morgan and Ann McCormick
Plant This Instead! by Troy Marden
Nonstop Color Garden by Nellie Neal
Foodscaping and Building Soil by Charlie Nardozzi
Good Garden Bugs by Mary M. Gardiner, Ph.D.

Total ARV $200.

One entry per person. Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older. Ends July 28, 2015.


Mother Earth News Chelsea Green Book Giveaway

* Grand prize includes the following books:

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher
Will Bonsall's Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening by Will Bonsall
The New Livestock Farmer by Rebecca Thistlethwaite, Jim Dunlop
The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer by Melanie Carpenter, Jeff Carpenter
The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center Cookbook by The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Olivia Rathbone
The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm by Josh Trought
Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts by Philip Rutter, Susan Wiegrefe, Brandon Rutter-Daywater
The Tao of Vegetable Gardening by Carol Deppe
The Nourishing Homestead by Ben Hewitt
Farming the Woods by Ken Mudge, Steve Gabriel
Keeping a Family Cow by Joann S. Grohman
The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips
The New Cider Maker's Handbook by Claude Jolicoeur
The Small-Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery
Cooking Close to Home by Diane Imrie, Richard Jarmusz

Total ARV $524.35.

One entry per email address. Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada (excluding Quebec), 18 or older. Ends July 22, 2015.


Unwinning News


Alas, I am sorry to say that I will not be able to enjoy the prize I won from Underground Cellar, as reported in this post, nor will I be able to build my cloud cellar (I was really looking forward to building that collection!).

I received an email from them the other day, that said that the state of Illinois (where I live) has decided to stop allowing businesses to ship wine to residents. That stinks. Shrunk my world.





Good Luck!

Farm, or Hunt? Either Way, You Could Win!

Today's sweeps offer something for those who enjoy a bit more of a self-sufficient and healthier scene. Raising animals for food, or hunting for the same, both rise from age-old practices. However, in these modern times, both have been readily adapting to new circumstances. These things are no longer reserved for country dwellers.

Cities and urban areas across the U.S. are creating new laws to accommodate both areas. Urban farming is becoming more and more popular, so new laws and regulations have been adopted in many areas. Along with this, hunting laws are now being utilized to control rapidly rising populations of certain species (in the state where I live, these are primarily deer and coyote), in areas where it was formerly considered taboo to hunt at all. Within city limits, some will now find both to be available.

Here, you will find prizes, and a bit of information, to help on this journey!


Grit has another great chicken coop giveaway! For some time now, I have been quite interested in the "backyard chicken" movement, which basically allows folks in city and urban areas to keep a limited amount of chickens on their property. Generally, people enjoy this for the simple joy of having chickens, and, of course, for the freshest eggs available. These coops are perfect for this, and the accompanying books in this prize will leave any guesswork out! Certain laws do apply, so if you have an interest in doing this, check the laws in your locale.
GRIT Chicken Coop Giveaway

* Grand prize includes the following:

Egg Cart'n Mini chicken tractor

Package of books from Storey Publishing, including the following titles:

The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals
Chick Days
Chicken Coops
The Chicken Encyclopedia
Chicken Games & Puzzles
The Chicken Health Handbook
Electric Fencing
Farm Anatomy
Finding Good Farmland
Fresh Egg Cookbook, The
Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks
Keep Chickens!
The Mobile Poultry Slaughterhouse
Pocketful of Poultry
Reinventing the Chicken Coop
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds

Total ARV $1,300.

One entry per email address. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, 18 or older. Ends February 26, 2015.

For further info on raising chickens...




This sweeps is for those who'd rather hunt for their food than raise it themselves. Unfortunately, the link to the rules for this sweeps was not functioning at the time of this writing. Although the sweeps offers some fabulous prizes, and does tell us that it ends December 31, 2014, without the rules there is no way to tell how many entries are allowed, nor who it is open to (though I think it is a safe bet that entrants need be 21 or older). The URL to the rules tells me that they would likely need to be uploaded from someone's desktop, though they likely wouldn't appreciate us sweepstakers doing that. The current link is: file:///C:/Users/clines/Desktop/Sweepstakes/Old%20Milwaukee/Old_Mil_Hunting_Rules_2014.pdf. Hopefully they will update it soon!
Old Milwaukee Hunting Sweepstakes



Today's Bonus


This says it is one of their monthly contests. These last through hunting season. Though no end date is officially stated, I assume it will be the last day of any month. Daily entry.
LaCrosee ArrowHead Boots Giveaway


Good Luck!