Slow Gardening Give Away!

Felder Rushing's Slow Gardening is a broadly informative book that echoes my personal philosophy of gardening: don't worry about perfection, just get out there and do it. The book is chock full of pictures and explains the basics in a thorough, enjoyable way.

Beyond that, the book takes a conversational approach. Rushing doesn't lay out rules, he takes a gentle, encouraging approach, telling the us to get into the dirt and explore the life around us. He guides you through the seasons with an emphasis on enjoying each and every moment rather than getting bogged down with spring preparations. Don't get caught up in trying to make sure every last detail is right, just enjoy the details for what they are! There are creative ideas for recycling and reuse in the garden, plants to grow, and plants you can usually find for free. (Just make friends with other gardeners!) 

If you need step-by-step guidance, this book isn't for you. If you want a diving board into the pool of gardening joys, this is the go-to guide you've been looking for.

I have my review copy of the book to do a quick, one-day giveaway open to residents of North America, only. (Unless you want to pay shipping, 'cause that gets too expensive for me.) How do you enter to win? Comment below--do you take a slow approach to gardening? Are you a new gardener and need a little guidance? Just tell me a little about your gardening self. I'll draw a winner tomorrow at noon!

PS Don't forget to include an email address or link in your comment so I can get in touch with you if you win!

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Pardon the disappearance,we made it to the beach and had a lovely vacation. In fact, we came back so well rested we spent the past couple days doing some intense cleaning including, but not limited to: the refrigerator and steam cleaning all the rugs in the house.

Cleaning is not a normal pre-vacation activity, but I knew I'd be much happier coming home to a clean house than a messy one. Then spending a week in a house without stacks of papers and clutter made it hard to come home to a clean yet cluttered space.

With clean spaces all around and a well rested body and spirit, I'm finally ready to really tackle a few personal goals: really digging into Beautiful You, a book introduced to me by Amber Karnes. I meant to do the book club but didn't get my book until too late and excuses and more excuses.

Now I feel ready. What about you? Do you feel as beautiful as you actually are?

Under Rocks and Over Joyed

OK, I've been under a rock. I actually knew very little about a certain media-frenzied court case that ended yesterday. Turns out, I'm pretty glad about that.

But this morning I clicked a link to a recipe for jam popsicles and was taken to a blog where I saw another link for an interesting book all about canning. I'm always up for creative and tasty canning recipes.

I clicked the link to the book's site and realized said book {We Sure Can!} was written by Sarah B. Hood, one of my You Grow Girl friends who was also a witness for our Toronto nuptials. {FYI: Sarah is an excellent tour guide!}

When friends do awesome things and other friends don't know it, well, that's a bad rock to be under. Watch out, I'm climbing out. 

Out of utter excitement and love for Sarah, I ordered 2 copies of the book: one for my stash and one to give away! In about 2 weeks I'll have the books in my grubby little paws, which means you have 2 weeks to come up with an entry to win: blog your favorite preserves recipe and post a link in the comments here. If you don't blog, email it to me (link in sidebar). Include a picture of your homemade concoction and you'll be entered 3 times! The winner will be chosen at random, and the winning recipe will be tested and tasted and reposted here.

Contest closes July 20, 2011, 11:59 PM, and limited to North American readers {to keep postage down}.

Hop to it, my little canning kitties!