BuyGreen.com believes that the products you buy every day can make a real difference for the world. That’s why they’ve created a site that makes it simple for families to purchase earth-friendly products. Here you’ll find some of the most Eco-friendly products anywhere. There’s lots of goodies for the gardener including seed bombs , red wigglers for vermicomposting, composting bins , and even Authentic Haven Brand’s Moo Poo Tea Bags!

In celebration of Earth Day 2013, members of the Homestead Bloggers Network have partnered with BuyGreen.com to make going green even easier! With a generous gift card for $250, BuyGreen.com makes going (or staying) green even easier! Along with that nice, chunky gift card, we’ve got several more goodies that you can win below — including the books, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting and Vertical Vegetable Gardening by yours truly.

So what can I find at BuyGreen.com? Maybe the question should be, “what can’t I find at BuyGreen.com?” From clothing to composting, they’ve got you covered! BuyGreen.com believes that the power to make a change rests with consumers. Take a stand and demand healthier, greener products as a BuyGreen.com customer and let’s make a change together.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Additional prizes are offered by participating blogs:

• Unpaper Towels from Montana Solar Creations
• Gardening Books from Chris McLaughlin
• Two Magazine Subscriptions from Lille Punkin

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post. The Homestead Bloggers Network and participating blogs are not responsible for prize fulfillment.
Giveaway is open to US & Canadian Residents ages 18 and over only. Entries close on April 22 and winners will be drawn by April 26. This giveaway is part of the Homestead Bloggers Network and sponsored by BuyGreen.com.

Participating Blogs

1. Heather Harris – The Homesteading Hippy
2. Mary Hitchings – Raising Dick & Jane
3. Dani Meyer – The Adventure Bite
4. Chris Dalziel – Joybillee Farm
5. Annie Bernauer – Montana Solar Creations
6. Jen Fowler – Frugal Upstate
7. Teri Gelseth – Sustainability is a Journey
8. Chris McLaughlin – A Suburban Farmer
9. Kristi Stone – Let This Mind Be In You
10. Lindsey Knerl – Lille Punkin’
11. Krystyna Thomas – Spring Mountain Living
12. Shanyn Cascia – Fresh From Home
13. Wendy Hammond – The Local Cook
14. Angela England – Untrained Housewife
15. Amanda Jones – Adventures of Mommyhood
16. Colleen Anderson – Five Little Homesteaders

When I was asked to review Greenwoman Magazine: A Literary Garden, the title alone was enough to pique my reader-writer’s curiosity. It wasn’t hard to see why; some of my favorite words were there — garden, literary, green, and woman. Other than that, I honestly had no idea what to expect.

But the feminine and vintage cover begged for a quiet moment and a cup (jug) of hot tea. So I curled up on the sofa and read through it slowly. With knitted eyebrows and my mouth hanging open, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t resemble somebody that was being quietly seduced. But there it was.

Greenwoman runs the gamut from poetry, essays, stories, interviews, vintage photographs, fiction, creative non-fiction, comics — it’s all in there. Strange as this sounds, this magazine actually reads like a woman in that it’s a little romantic, slightly mysterious, passionate…and undoubtedly sexy.

I’m not just talking about the literally sexy stuff like this passage from the article  An Underground Affair:

“Not all bulbs are bulbs. You can’t be fooled by their testi-like appearance. Corms are described as being “swollen, underground” and only have “one growing point.” A gladiola and crocus have this base. The rhizomes lay on their backs, growing horizontal. Lily of the Valley will take over your whole yard, inseminating the air with their heavy scent, but only in the milder climates with enough humidity. Denver would have to exhale, all at once, an exhausted breath after sex, to create that kind of humidity. Tuber mass-propagate the dahlia and begonia, bulbs broad in the middles, pulsating out in bunches under the surface tuft.”

(These are Naked Ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) — just seemed like the right thing to do here)

But I’m also talking about the cerebrally sexy stuff — the literature. It’s playful and serious and delicious all at the same time. The icing on the cake is that it’s garden literature. My fellow dirt-diggers and soil socialites allow their imaginations to soar and it simply feeds my word-freaky soul.

You’re going to want this magazine on your nightstand coffee table.

Wanna peek? Find Greenwoman Magazine in a hurry on Facebook or at the website.

Photo by caspargirl

Anyone who has met me knows all about my seed-freakiness. I have hundreds and hundreds of seed packets around me, yet it’s already mid-February and I haven’t started a single seed! This weekend I’ll change all of that. I’m making a list and checking it twice (possibly three or four times because I can’t bear to leave a seed behind).

As I wade through what seems like endless seed packets I always end up giving the envelopes of each variety a little shake to get a general feel about how many of my tiniest friends are available this season.  I thought this would be a good time to share a list of some if my seed articles with you guys.

• Armchair Gardening Redux
• Indoor Seed Starting Materials List
• How to Share Open-Pollinated and Heirloom Vegetable Seeds
• Save Recycled Containers for Starting Spring Seeds
• How Much Space Do You Need for a Vegetable Garden?
• Ever Seen A Baker Creek Seed Catalog?
• Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
• Seed Banks and Lending Libraries

I don’t write these articles because I love my own voice, people. I write them to inspire you to plant your first garden this year or to grow more this year, and to try something new. My best piece of advice for the new-to-gardening folk is to find a sunny spot, digs a small hole, toss a handful of compost into it for good measure and plant something. Anything. I won’t rest until everyone is planting at least a wee bit in their own space. Home ag is good for the body, soul, and pocketbook.

And we all have space for a little soil.  Email me if you think that’s not true for you and I’ll fix ya good.

Interested in growing heirlooms this year? Check out: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables

Starting  a garden in less space than you’d like? See Vertical Vegetable Gardening and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Small-Space Gardening

Photo by urban food warrior

Many of you may have heard that my new book Vertical Vegetable Gardening launched on New Year’s Eve. This was one of my favorite books to write and I’m hoping readers find more than they bargained for between the front & back covers. By the way, planting climbing plants such as peas is merely one way to garden vertically.

Another fun (and beautiful) vertical technique is to plant specific trees and shrubs against a wall, fence, or trellis and then prune them into geometric patterns against the support. You may have seen this done with apple or pear trees, but did you know that you can do the same thing with shrubs such as currants? In fact, versatile currant plants grow around 3′ to 5′ tall which makes them perfect for containers. Plus they’re a turn-off for garden-munching deer which is a big deal here in the foothills. *Bonus: currants are garden trendy for 2013, so there’s that (trust me on this).

To espalier currant plants, you’ll want to plant them near a support (like a trellis or a wall). We planted our sleeping beauties in large containers and then placed them next to horse fencing, so we’d have something to guide them along when they wake  in the spring.

A few friends and I want to encourage you to grow up (there’s a pun in there somewhere) by giving away some vertical goodies to ya’ll. We’ve got Vertical Vegetable Gardening by yours truly, as well as The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Small-Space Gardening because they complement each other.

Peaceful Valley/GrowOrganic.com is generously sharing four of their red currant plants (‘Wilder’ and ‘Red Lake’) for your jelly-canning, pie-baking, or ice cream-making pleasure (the Beekman Boys have a recipe for making fabulous currant jelly and A Crafty Lass swears that they’re brilliant in booze).  Both varieties are resistant to White Pine Blister Rust (which can be deadly for white pines).

However, Peaceful Valley/GrowOrganic.com can only ship them to the lower 48 states. White pines are grown in some states specifically for lumber, so currants cannot be shipped to residents of HI, MA, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, PR, RI, WV.

Your plants will arrive looking like a bag of sticks — I assure they are not. They’re dormant currants disguised as a bag of sticks.

By the way, the good folks at Peaceful Valley have all the information you need on growing currants at your place — they even have a video for those of you that prefer faces and voice over printed words.

Corona Tools has a sharp-looking and more importantly, easy-on-the-hands ComfortGEL 3/4″ bypass pruner for pruning and shaping your currant plants.

Of course you’ll want to nourish your plants organically, so Authentic Haven Brand Natural Brew is rounding out the vertical gardening package with their fabulous Soil Conditioning Tea! It’s all the fertilizing your currants will need this season.

Toss your hat into the giveaway by one (or up your chances by doing all three):

1. Leave me a comment below letting me know if you’ve grown, eaten, or used currants before.

2. Like my FB page (oh, for the love of Pete just go like the poor thing — I tend to neglect my own page)

3. Like Peaceful Valley/GrowOrganic FB page.

For each hoop you jump through (with Rafflecopter below), your name is added into the drawing for more chances to win. The giveaway ends Monday, January 21 at midnight.

~ This Giveaway has ended ~
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We interrupt this modern homesteading blog for the opening of National Novel Writing Month which starts at midnight tonight (so, that’s technically tomorrow). I live for growing, raising, and creating; all things that make up my favorite lifestyle. But tonight we write.

And I’m nothing if not a writer.

I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve tackled it several times in years past, but there’s a big gap between then and now. So cover me — I’m going back in. Oh sure people snicker, people guffaw, and there’s plenty of eye-rolling. The fact is that NaNo hasn’t been graced by the -powers-that-be as authentic authorship (per my favorite penmonkey, at Terribleminds).

I also realize that 50,000 words does not a novel make. I understand that when I fly past that virtual finish line on the last day of November that money will not fall from the skies like rainy, green glitter. And the Monday following I won’t be perched (sucking my gut in), on Oprah’s couch chatting like old hens. (I’m actually really okay with this one).

Say what you will, but most people find it a challenge to put 50,000 coherent (basically) words on paper in 30 days. Plus, they gave me permission to tell my brutal inner critic to STFU all month long and just let me tell the story. AND they put me into a virtual room with 300,000 others around the globe…and then said we could drink coffee and shove as many M & Ms into our mouths as possible. We even have dates to get together (for real) once a week to write at the same time like some massive, strung-out, dazed, and insanely happy creating machine.

I’ve come to terms with all of this and the less-than-real-novelist certificate which states that I simply put 50,000 words in a row — and that. is. all. It doesn’t matter if it’s horrendous dog dirt or the next GAN (Great American Novel). I clearly wrote 50,000 words of creative…whatever. The End.

I get all of this and I don’t care. I enjoy using use NaNo to light a writing fire under my ample buttocks.

This time I was pondering the type of words I wanted to work with; novel, non-fiction, or as many articles as I could wring out of my hands in order to get a jump-start on my daily work. I’ve decided to stick with the original spirit of NaNoWriMo and go for the skeleton novel (it’ll need about another 50,000 of flesh added later).

I have a few characters that are begging to be exposed.

(BTW — Have you ever heard of Water for Elephants? NaNo novel. Just sayin’)

Every fall I watch in amazement as many of the gardeners around me tuck their beds in for the cold months. I can’t figure out if they don’t know they could have a cool-weather garden or if they’re just tired of tending one. Either way they’re missing out big time. Fall-winter gardens are seriously under-utilized.

In contrast, I’m over here jumping for joy as the summer garden shrivels and fades, making way for my peas, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, lettuces, kale, onions, and garlic. Oh…the garlic. If my raving has you curious, yet you’ve never planted a fall garden before, I urge you to start with growing garlic.

Allow me to take a moment here and count the many reasons that garlic deserves a little real estate in your fall garden bed.

1. There are an amazing array of flavors; both subtle and not so subtle
2. Your garden bed is put to good use all winter long
3. Garlic is not an attention hog — minimal care here, folks
4. Growing garlic is as easy as falling off a log (seriously)
5. Garlic has very few natural garden enemies
6. It’s one crop that actually rewards your devil-may-care attitude by being simple to store for long-term use

Hardneck and Softneck Garlic

Garlics fall into two general camps: hardneck and softneck types. There are more specific classes within these two camps, but that’s another article.

Softneck garlic may be the one that you’re the most familiar with, as they’re the ones most often seen in the produce aisle. There’s good reason for this; softnecks are extremely productive, adaptable, and ship well. If you grew up Italian, then you may have seen them hanging in braids on your grandmother’s kitchen wall. They’re flexible like that. These are the domesticated versions of the hardnecks as they don’t produce topsets or scapes like their wild and crazy cousins, the hardnecks.

Hardnecks are sometimes referred to as rocambole (although rocambole is tecnically a subset in the hardneck group). Im smitten with the word “rocambole” and think it’s fitting for the hardnecks. I think they’ve earned it with those fancy, 360-degree-twisted (and delicious by the way) flower stalk scapes they send up. After harvesting, this is the group that should be eaten first as the hardnecks don’t keep as long as the softneck types. hardneck varieties may not be flexible enough for braiding but you’ll forgive them immediately once you’ve used them in the kitchen.

What About Elephant Garlic?

I hate to talk about crops behind their backs, but the hard truth is that Elephant garlic isn’t a true garlic at all. It’s actually a type of leek (which happens to form bulbs). I’m not saying that there isn’t room for it in your life. I’m not saying that it isn’t useful with its nice, mild-mannered flavor. I am saying that it’s a garlic imposter.

Let Me Send You Some Garlic

You didn’t think I was going to talk up the-greatness-that-is-garlic without offering YOU some, right? This year, you’re planting garlic. How does some ‘Purple Glazer’ (a spicy hardneck) strike you? You can find all of the garlic giveaway talk here at Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply.  In this handy video, they even offer proof of just how easy it is to plant your own garlic bed this fall.Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (one of my favorite garden supply companies on the face of this Earth) is having an Online Garlic Planting Party! They’ve asked me and seven other crazy-for-the-garlic bloggers to draw a name and they’ll send the winner:

1 pound of ‘Purple Glazer’ organic seed garlic (hardneck)
1 quart of our Liquid Kelp (for soaking the cloves overnight before planting)
10 gallon Smart Pot (in case you’d like to plant some in a container)
1 Garlic Twist (clever kitchen gadget that minces the cloves when you twist it; easy to use and clean)
1 5×7 photo print of the ‘Purple Glazer’ garlic

…aaaand just like that; you’re a garlic grower.

Leave a comment here letting me know which garlic types you’ve grown or why you’d like to try your hand at growing garlic for the first time. Feel free to comment until midnight (PT) on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. Winners will be announced on that day!

Want to stack the odds of snagging a prize? Toss your hat into seven other drawings! Pop on over to:

Peaceful Valley’s Organic Gardening Blog for ‘Bogatyr’

Chiot’s Run for a garlic combo pack

North Coast Gardening for some ‘Russian Red’

Western Gardeners for ‘Purple Italian’

Living Homegrown for ‘German Red’

Gardenerd for ‘California Early White’

Even the the Dirt Du Jour divas are giving away French red shallots over at their place!

Garlic scapes photo by grongar

Congratulations, Cyndi! Peaceful Valley Farm Supply will be contacting you soon!

Proven Winners once again sent me some brand-new 2012 varieties to check out a couple of months ago. But I tend to wait until review plants are established a bit before writing about them as I truly want to see how they deal with my climate. Okay, truth-be-told I’m behind on everything and I’m just now getting around to telling you about these gorgeous plants. I was already pretty about certain how they would do because last year I was thrilled with their performance.

We’re pretty dang hot here in the Northern California Gold Country (foothills); not to mention that we’re situated at the top of a hill and are incredibly sun-soaked. So, I placed the entire group on my back deck so that they receive direct sun only in the mornings.

And they’re simply thriving.

Not that I’m surprised. After all,  I’ve been purchasing plants by Proven Winners for years before they had ever sent me any for review.

Among this little group is Supertunia ‘Indigo Charm’, Buddleia ‘Lo & Behold Ice Chip’, and last year’s Echinacea ‘Little Annie’ (with ‘Elfin’ thyme).

I planted this Coleus  ‘CB Marooned’   with an ivy that needed some dressing up (it filled the bill nicely).

I love this little group outside of our sliding bedroom door: front and center is Supertunia ‘Indigo Charm’ and to the right is Cleome ‘Seniorita Blanca’. And on the left…check this out….

Remember Spirea ‘Double Play Artist’ that I planted with Calibrachoa Superbells ‘Cherry Star’ last year? Well, they’re baaaaack….even more beautiful than last year (these are the plants that I planted last summer in the same today).

Here’s Coleus ‘ CB Marooned’ was tucked into a container with a once lonely Spirea.

My ceramic frog looks right at home nestled between them…

While I was watering today, this real little frog-dude jumped onto the hose!

Okay, I did put Calibrachoa Superbells ‘Lemon Slice’ in a cute urn out front under our maple tree. It’s getting a little leggy as it reaches for more sun. But what Lemon Slice doesn’t know is that the sun here is unforgiving and it’s better off chillin’ where it is.

Last is the Hosta ‘Autumn Frost’ which I tucked in with some Moneywort or Creeping Jenny (lysimachia) last year. He came back like gangbusters!

Here’s a close up of Supertunia ‘Watermelon Charm’. By the way the Super Bells and Supertunias are voracious bloomers and produce bloom after bloom all season long.

Having had the pleasure of growing and enjoying plants by Proven Winners through every season, I can honestly stand behind them as quality varieties that are not only beautiful, but are also hardy and carefree.

Try to get past the incredibly catchy names, okay? These are two vertical gardening ideas that I created for my new vertical vegetable book (Title-To-Be-Determined, released in January 2013). Husband-Extraordinaire and I found the spice rack for the Spice Rack Kitchen Garden at a garage sale for $3, which had us jumping up and down before we’d even planted it. Easily entertained, I know.

It was easy-peasy to set up, too.

1. First, I cut 2 burlap strips 91/2″ x 24″ for each container (for double lining), then lined the baskets with the burlap.

2. Added some potting soil.

3. Added the plants.

4. Folded and tucked the corners into the baskets, which makes nice little pockets (instead of straight edges) so the soil wouldn’t fall out.

5. Then I watered.

As far as the concept of the unit:

I fully expect that this is going to be a seasonal planter; the baskets aren’t deep enough for perennial plants nor plants that are deep-rooted. Someone asked me if this was going to be enough room for even the herbs. My answer is yes — for my family. We have a large one and go through a lot of herbs in the kitchen…and chives…and strawberries.

The lettuce here is ‘Red Sails’ and we’ll have to harvest the leaves while they’re young, which isn’t a bad thing. As far as the ‘Quinault’ strawberries go,  they adore our Northern California climate, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if those tenacious little dudes came back next year.

Anyway, I could see alyssum and baby tears spilling over the edges of these baskets, too.  It was a fun little unit to plant and perfect for someone with extremely limited gardening space like an apartment or condo. Home ag can work for anyone, anywhere.

My Table Stand Raised Garden couldn’t be any easier to plant. The stand originally held a glass table top (which broke) and the base was sitting on someone’s side yard.

In the rain. Unloved.

We found a Rubbermaid container; drilled holes in the bottom; slid it inside the stand; added soil and plants. The only thing that could have been done better (IMO) is if the container was clear instead of a light blue. Also, there’s no way that this much soil is necessary. So if I could have found a clear and shallower container, I would have chosen it.

The moral of the story is to stop throwing  your crap out and loiter about other people’s garages so you can get some of their crap, too. (That sounded very different in my head.)

Here’s a book that I’ve been meaning to tell you about for months ~ Homegrown & Handmade by Deborah Niemann. This is a smart book for today’s modern homesteader. Deborah Niemann more than delivers on practical guidance for a more sustainable and inspirational lifestyle. From growing and using your own food crops, to starting and managing the home dairy, raising backyard poultry, to harvesting fiber from your own animals, Homegrown & Handmade is a book after my own heart!

Here’s what she says about purchasing chicks for the backyard flock:

“Buying chicks is as easy as turning on your computer. There are hatcheries across the country, and they ship chicks through the mail. The buyer’s phone number is on the shipping label, and postal officials are supposed to call the buyer when the chicks arrive. Unfortunately, it does not always work like this. It is a good idea to talk to your mail carrier and call the post office to let them know you will be receiving an order of chicks. This is especially important in cities where the post offices don’t see a lot of live animals coming through. Give them your phone number and tell them to call you so that you can pick them up immediately and get them home and into the brooder.

Depending upon the weather where you live, there are definitely better and worse times to order chicks. When my daughters decided to start showing chickens in 4-H, they had to order them in January or February so that the chickens would be fully grown in time for the fair in July, and unfortunately many chicks cannot stay warm enough to survive the trip into Illinois during that time of year. I prefer to order birds between April and September, but if you live in a milder climate, you might be able to safely order them year round.

The minimum order can be a challenge with mail-order chicks for people who only want five or six in their backyard flock. Most hatcheries require a minimum order of fifteen to twenty-five chicks because they are shipped in a box and have only each other to stay warm. If you only want a few layers, there are options. First, you can find another chicken keeper or two and split an order with them so that you reach the minimum order. However, you have to make sure that the other people either want the same breeds you do or want breeds where the chicks are easy to tell apart.

There are chick pictures of most breeds on some hatcheries’ websites, so you can get an idea of what they will look like. Keep in mind that young chicks look nothing like their adult counterparts. Color is one of the few distinguishing features on young chicks other than feathered feet and muffs, and there are only five basic colors for young chicks, although a few also have markings. Bantams are easy to distinguish from standard chicks at hatching because they are considerably smaller, but some hatcheries hatch and ship them on different days than standard chickens.

You can also check different hatcheries because policies vary, and some reduce the minimum order during the summer, realizing that environmental temperatures are more chick friendly. There are a couple of hatcheries that have started shipping small orders with the inclusion of a heat pack to keep chicks warm, but shipping is usually much more expensive than if you ordered enough chicks so that a heat pack was not necessary for warmth. A few hatcheries also sell four-month-old pullets, but again, this is a more expensive option than buying day-old chicks. Also, since the chicks were started in a large group, they are not as friendly as they would be if you had raised them from the beginning. These birds are also more likely to be debeaked and vaccinated.

You will have to decide whether to have the hatchery debeak and vaccinate your chicks before shipping. Not all hatcheries offer these services, but if they offer it, they may imply that both procedures are necessary. Unfortunately, the procedures became necessary when poultry were moved indoors to live in crowded, filthy conditions. I have heard it claimed that people should not force their ideals on chickens, that there is nothing wrong with putting chickens in small cages because, as flock animals, they like to be close to each other. But in nine years of chicken keeping, I have never seen two chickens walking around wing-to-wing, much less a whole flock. And I have never seen two hens get into a fight. Like all animals, a chicken likes to have its space, although they roost next to each other to sleep at night. When given the choice, chickens run around with at least a few feet separating themselves from each other.

By-the-By ~ Leave a comment below about why you love your backyard chickens or why you’d like to raise some & we’ll draw a name and pop this book in the mail to ya!

Like most agricultural vaccines, poultry vaccines were made to solve problems that are caused by confinement. When chickens are not crowded, they tend to be the healthiest animals on a homestead. A free-range situation is ideal, but if you live in a subdivision, it is not difficult to give your chickens enough space in a chicken tractor or an urban backyard, if you realize your space limitation and don’t get more chickens than your yard or chicken coop can comfortably hold.”

Deborah Niemann is a homesteader, writer, and self-sufficiency expert. In 2002, she relocated her family from the suburbs of Chicago to a 32 acre parcel on a creek “in the middle of nowhere”. Together, they built their own home and began growing the majority of their own food. Sheep, pigs, cattle, goats, chickens, and turkeys supply meat, eggs and dairy products, while an organic garden and orchard provides fruit and vegetables. A highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader, Deborah presents extensively on topics including soapmaking, breadbaking, cheesemaking, composting and homeschooling. You can visit her online at www.homegrownandhandmadethebook.com.

Like it or not, my birthday is rolling around in twelve days and I can’t think of a better time to give some stuff away. But how? What’s new? What’s fun? When my brilliant friend, Pamela Price (Red, White, & Grew), suggested that I might use Pinterest, I thought that sounded like a perfectly plausible reason to hang around the social media crack that is my latest addiction.

So here’s the deal. Ya’ll create an “I’m a Suburban Farmer in (your state, your country)” on your Pinterest page and then post your new pinboard link to my FB page,  or just tweet it out and copy me so that I see it (@Suburban_Farmer). Then start pinning your best small-space gardening pictures and ideas! If you want to message me on Pinterest I’m Chris McLaughlin there.

I’m talking about anything and everything that you grow in your little corner of the world: flowers, succulents, veggies, herbs, shrubs, trees, grasses, water gardens, whatever you’ve got — I wanna see it. Hint: I’m especially enthusiastic about creative vertical gardening ideas. The pics don’t have to be of your own gardens, but hopefully, you’ll find some that are surprising, fun, and fabulous anyway. So, if you don’t have pics of your own — go find them! They’re all over the place.

Here’s an example: “I’m a Suburban Farmer in…” demo board

The winner will receive “Get Growing Instant Garden Basket” that holds three of my gardening books The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heirloom Vegetables, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Small-Space Gardening…

…an awesome little pop-up raised garden bed,  The Little Acre, for that new garden you wanted instantly…

PLUS, Authentic Haven Brand Natural Soil Conditioning Tea Bag gift set so you can feed your plants naturally and organically…

and some delicious heirloom vegetable seeds from the wonderful people at BBB Seed Heirloom Vegetables and Wildflower Seeds.

This basket holds just about everything you need to get growing this season!

On my 29th (*snicker*) birthday, March 3rd 2012, I’ll have someone who doesn’t know ya’ll choose the winner with the most badass pinboard.

Thank you, my friends, for playing along!

***The Winner of the Get Growing Instant Garden Basket is Evelyn Vincent — I’m a Suburban Farmer in Murphy, NC!*** Email me, Evelyn! We’ll get your basket mailed out right away!