I never intended for this blog to become a one sided conversation.
This space isn’t just about me, it’s about all of us learning and growing together!
Right?
Right!!!
Let me explain:
The birth of this blog in February of 2011 came about out of a longing to both share and glean information. My Partner and I were newbies to urban farming and found very little information on the Inter-Webs about high desert gardening, let alone the keeping and care of backyard chickens and bees, so I thought it might be fun to explore my love of writing while sharing some information on our journey and immersing myself into a community of like-minded individuals.
So, I entered what I lovingly call Blog Land.
I began following gardening and homesteading and urban farming blogs and began writing a few posts here and there.
Slowly, I got to know a few of the faces behind the posts. I learned about these writer’s lives and found inspiration and comfort in some of our shared stories, trials and victories.
I read more and wrote more and began to feel not as alone on our journey to a more self-sufficient way of living.
You see, most people in our real lives look at us like we’re a bit batty when we talk about growing our own veggies and keeping chickens and bees in the backyard 😉
I greatly enjoyed being a part of a few small blogging communities (like the amazing group that shows up every week for Daphne’s Harvest Monday), have looked forward to everyone’s posts and miss them when they’re too busy with real life to document it all in their individual spaces.
I’ve found incredible inspiration in the folks at Root Simple, the gorgeousness that is Longest Acres, the beautiful simplicity of Ivy Nest, the awesomeness of Crunchy Chicken and the incredible knowledge at Mother of a Hubbard. I am so very proud to call Kris at Attainable Sustainable and Astra at A Journey to a Dream my friends and colleagues, even though we are (truly) worlds apart.
Now, I’ve experienced many ups and downs in my own keeping of this space.
What started as a hobby and a way to share information turned into something a little beyond myself at times and I’m still trying to find a balance.
See, spending time in this space, in Blog Land, is incredibly time consuming. There’s the idea forming and the DIYing and the writing and the editing and photo-taking and photo editing and the formatting and the actual act of hitting the “publish” button.
Then, if I want anyone to see what I’ve so painstakingly pulled together, there’s the sharing on Facebook and Pinterest and Twitter and Linky Parties and anywhere else I can because WHOA, have you seen how many people are in Internet-Land promoting all of their own stuff?
Yeah…
The truth is, it all takes a lot of time if you let it. And I let it.
I let it because I love this space and I love the community that can come together via a shared love of all things urban farm/homesteading/gardening/environmentally friendly related.
However, I never intended for this blog to become a one sided conversation. And more days than not, it feels that way, despite my continued attempts here and through social media to engage.
And to be completely honest, I go through waves or reading and commenting on even my most treasured blogs.
I spend way too much time on Facebook.
I get busy with real life.
But I truly love this space!
And I would truly love to build a community feel here again…full of comments and responses and questions and good old fashioned engagement…so we can learn and grow together!
So, I’m looking for a way to shift this space, this blog of mine back into a place of lively conversation!
And I have a couple of ideas, but I would also love to have your feedback!
So here’s my first attempt at bringing the conversation and the sense of community back to this space…by offering a humble giveaway and by asking a few questions and by hoping against hope that you all will give me a few answers…because this isn’t just about me, it’s about all of us learning and growing together!
Right?
Right!!!
So, a couple of days ago I spent some time at the Urban Farm cleaning up from the season. Upon cutting down the (4th year!) Echinacea and harvesting thousands upon thousands of Echinacea seeds, and remembering how popular the seeds were last year, I posted a picture to Instagram and Facebook and asked if anyone might be interested in an Echinacea seed giveaway.
The answer was a resounding YES!
So, with seeds to spare, an intention to shift this blog from a one-sided conversation back into a community of information and experience sharing like-minded people, and a few new ideas on the horizon for this little blog of mine, I’d like to offer up several chances to win for all of you lovely readers in exchange for a little help in the way of…you guessed it: Shared information!
See, in addition to striving for community and engagement here on the blog, I am also in the process of creating and fine tuning an awesome grow-your-own-veggies eCourse and individualized coaching program that will be available early next year! The basis of this eCourse revolves around the notion that anyone can grow their own food, no matter how big or small their space is! (Imagine that!?! 😉 )
I have to tell you, I am so very excited about this eCourse and am so very hopeful that you all will be, too!
Additionally, as a build up to the course launch, I will be sending out weekly tips, tricks, and opportunities only to my newsletter subscribers and want you all to have access to these awesome freebies before you have first access to the eCourse itself!
So, here are the two ways you can help me out and be entered in the giveaway:
1) Subscribe* to receive my newsletters by going HERE or by putting your email address into the little box below and clicking subscribe:
*If you are already subscribed to my newsletters, Thank you! Check your inbox because there’s a newsletter waiting for you there with specific instructions for current subscribers.
2) Leave a comment below answering as many of the questions below as you can. Answering each question in it’s own individual comment here on the blog will give you more entries in the giveaway (AKA you will earn one entry per comment):
- Why do you garden or long to garden?
- Do you consider yourself a “hobby gardener”, an “urban farmer”, a “homesteader”, or a “prepper”? Or if you had to label yourself, is there another name you would give yourself?
- What is the one thing you wish you would have known before you began vegetable gardening?
- What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your garden?
- What has been your biggest accomplishment in the garden?
- Finish this sentence, “I want to grow/I grow my own veggies because…”
- What topics would you like to see more of covered here on the blog?
- Where do you spend most of your online time and why? Reading blogs? On Social Media? Please be specific 🙂
- Tell me something, anything, you want me to know about anything mentioned in this post 😉 Easy peasy, right?
That’s it! Subscribe to my Newsletter and answer at least one of the above questions to be entered in my awesome Echinacea Seed Giveaway to help me begin to shift this little blog of mine into more of a community minded space!
On Monday, October 20, 2014 I will pull 20 winners (via Random.org) and begin contacting each of you to get you your seeds.
Then, I’ll get to work processing all of your wonderful insights and implementing them here on the blog, in my newsletters and in my new eCourse so we can continue to learn from each other!
This Echinacea Seed Giveaway is open to any resident of the United States* who is 18 years of age or older. This giveaway starts on Saturday, October 11, 2014 at 5:00 am (MDT) and ends on Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 11:59 pm (MDT). The winners will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond with your mailing address. If we do not hear back from said winner in the designated time period of 24 hours we will choose another winner and they will have 48 hours to respond from the time the notification email is sent. Please check your SPAM email folders.
Thank you all so much and Good Luck!
xoxo,
M
*I’m sorry, my international friends, there are just so.many.rules with giveaways!!!
Well lets see,I grow my own veggies because I know what goes into them,they are fresh.My yard is not very large,but its big enough to grow a small crop.I would grow the Echinacea in the front yard mostly.
The first time I planted veggies,I planted Sun loving
Norma, Thank you so much for your answer! Please email me at evergrowingfarm (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I’ll happily send you some seeds 🙂
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I garden because it is my therapy. Looking through the seed catalogs in the winter months, digging in the dirt in the spring, watching the plants grow slowly, carefully crafting a meal out of fresh produce – it all slows me down and brings me back to the slower pace of life.
I am told that my great grandfather used to put a chair out in his garden so he could sit with the plants and watch them grow. I am finding that I am also quite fond of this practice over 100 years after he started doing it. Even if I only have 5 minutes to sit, it can be the best 5 minutes of my day.
Amanda recently posted…Fall Fishing
Amanda, Thank you so much for your answers! Please email me at evergrowingfarm (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I’ll happily send you some seeds 🙂
We’re rural homesteaders, but we also identify as “farmers.” That label isn’t listed among your choices (although “urban farmers” is) but I suspect you have plenty of readers in that category too. 🙂
Bill, Thank you so much for your answer! Please email me at evergrowingfarm (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I’ll happily send you some seeds 🙂
I want to grow a .medicinal herb garden. It was in the plans for this year but I had a baby in march so that kind of put a dent in that plan. Lol. I already have my spot picked out for it though 🙂
Haha!!! Biggest mistake gardening!!??? My first year I tried to garden without really doing anything to my dirt…just to see how things would work out…well BIG mistake. I live in Mississippi and we have awful awful red sand/dirt/concrete type mess
I consider myself a “mini” homesteader as I really am just starting out. I have chickens, an lgd, 3 children, a garden, and I have started canning this year. I eventually plan to add goats, donkeys, raise a pig to slaughter. I am just trying to become as self sufficient as possible. My husband works second shift to supply for our family and this is also my way of providing. I’ve also started our 3 boys out learning everything too. They are young so hopefully they will grow up very self sufficient.
I am a stay at home mom and I garden to try and give my family the best. This way I know what goes into our food.
Alesha, Thank you so much for your answers! Please email me at evergrowingfarm (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I’ll happily send you some seeds 🙂
I garden because I love being outside, feeling connected to natural processes. I think popping the most morsel of freshly grown veggie, herb or fruit in my mouth is about the best gift there is. And I whole-heartedly believe that food should be grown locally to the greatest extent possible.
I’d say we’re urban farmers. We have ~1/4 acre, currently with about 250s.f. of slightly raised beds which we have grown amazing produce in for over a decade. We have a plan drawn to replace this with a 150s.f. greenhouse, plus ~350s.f. of raised beds, adding a chicken coop/run under our deck that can house ~12 egg heritage egg layers, and would love to add a beehive. Our plan is on hold while we wait for the local ordinance to be re-drafted, as currently, chickens are not permitted on our property, but we have great hope they will be soon. One day, we hope to own ~2 acres and a smaller home, where we can expand our growing potential, perhaps add goats to the mix for milk and cheese, and if the climate allows, maybe include some fruit trees. This dream is probably 5-10 years off based on the cost of land where we live.
When we first started gardening, I wish I had been more aware of the concept of serial planting. We used to put everything in the ground at once (some seeds, some seedlings), and harvest as they matured, then put the garden to bed for the winter. We’re only just learning how we can plant serially for a longer season of some of our favorite things (like kale and other tender new greens). Also wish I was more knowledgable about how our short growing season should impact the choices of what to plant (e.g., short-season varieties of some of our favorite veggies).
Mistakes in the garden? No such thing! Everything that turned out differently than we intended was a learning experience. Growing tomatoes that didn’t ripen before end of season taught us to yank them from their roots and hang upside down in the garage to ripen, and had us learning great things to do with green tomatoes. Not harvesting amaranth seeds in time has given us periodic re-sprouting throughout our garden beds, so we can add a few leaves of brilliant magenta to our early summer salads. Playing with a potato box taught us that the simple method we used before was not only low effort, but just as productive. Our garden is the best science classroom I could ask for.
Online time: Facebook (on too much, then go on FB breaks for months at a time), a couple blogs (TinyHouseFamily.com is one of my favorites–loving their ecourse right now). Working on a shift to get away from the computer more. Gardening is a great way to do that, and a career change will help too.
Thanks for sharing your journey!
Wynne, Thank you so much for your answers! Please email me at evergrowingfarm (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and I’ll happily send you some seeds 🙂
Well, friend. Thanks for including me. I think social media has somewhat interfered with the conversations that used to happen on blogs. I hope this effort you’re making will help people to re-engage with you here.
Hard to give myself a specific title. Gardening is a hobby for me, sure, but it’s so much more than that. Assuming that I’m *successful at it, it’s a way to feed my family without depending on barges to bring my food. It’s a way to know exactly what we’re eating (no pesticides). And it’s a way for me to share abundance — and a little inspiration for food growing, I hope — with my community.
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