This will be the last of our giveaways for awhile. I will hopefully start up again with more wonderful items in the Spring.
This cold weather has me reminiscing of old Family moments. This Giveaway is in thanks to those memories of a loved one who would make Biscuits for dinner and drizzle honey over the halves....
This last one will have 3 winners. 1 grand prize and 2 runner ups.
The Grand prize winner will receive:
This beautiful Honey Pot from Honey Acres:
The Grand prize winner will receive:
This beautiful Honey Pot from Honey Acres:
Which can also be purchased direct from their site http://beekeepersbestinc.com/Home/tabid/37/Default.aspx
"NOW IN OUR 5TH GENERATION!
Today, Honey Acres is located on a 40-acre
property in rural Ashippun, Wisconsin;
midway between Milwaukee and Madison.
The History of Beekeeping and Honey in America As told by a family honey company that is over 150-years old. Christian Diehnelt moved his family from Germany to Wisconsin in 1852. He brought with him the talent and love of beekeeping that would become the foundation for a honey company that has survived to this day."
These exceptionally well made Stainless steel Endurance® Biscuit Cutters
Which can also be purchased through http://www.cheftools.com/
" Our biscuit cutters feature stainless steel construction with comfortable arched handles and thin blades that cut through thick or thin dough. The set of 4 cutters nest together for easy storing and are dishwasher safe. Choose from rippled edges for decorative biscuit, cookie or canapé shapes, or the traditional plain edge style.
#RBC-4 Round, Rippled, 1-3/8" dia. to 2-3/4" dia. "
"NOW IN OUR 5TH GENERATION!
Today, Honey Acres is located on a 40-acre
property in rural Ashippun, Wisconsin;
midway between Milwaukee and Madison.
The History of Beekeeping and Honey in America As told by a family honey company that is over 150-years old. Christian Diehnelt moved his family from Germany to Wisconsin in 1852. He brought with him the talent and love of beekeeping that would become the foundation for a honey company that has survived to this day."
These exceptionally well made Stainless steel Endurance® Biscuit Cutters
Which can also be purchased through http://www.cheftools.com/
" Our biscuit cutters feature stainless steel construction with comfortable arched handles and thin blades that cut through thick or thin dough. The set of 4 cutters nest together for easy storing and are dishwasher safe. Choose from rippled edges for decorative biscuit, cookie or canapé shapes, or the traditional plain edge style.
#RBC-4 Round, Rippled, 1-3/8" dia. to 2-3/4" dia. "
These would also make for beautiful cookie cutters. Scalloped edge cookie sandwiches filled with homemade preserves. The smallest cutter in the set would make for the perfect doughnut hole window for showcasing the gem filling!
There will be a surprise in the lot for our Grand prize winner to go with the above.
As for our 2 Runner ups, you will receive 1 of the Elegant Honey Pots from Honey Acres and your choice of 1 loose tea blend from my Etsy store.
As to how you can win, leave a comment to this post telling 5 of you goals/resolutions for 2010. Which must pertain to Homesteading and or Self sufficiency.
Are beginning a garden or enlarging the one you have? Are you adding chickens or rabbits? Do you plan to learn a "new to you" skill or improve on one? Maybe you will start that compost pile or bin you keep thinking of.Or introduce Medicinal Herbs into your family health and care. How about learning to save seed or starting your garden this year with Heirloom/Open Pollinated varieties?What ever it may be, no matter how small or large. We would love to know what you have in mind.
I wish all of you the best of luck and hope we are able to fill Frog's Bean pot with many more names this time around.
I will begin a new series of posts pertaining to Suburban Self sufficiency/Homesteading after the New year. There are many who only have a small lot which they can adventure with. I would rather have a yard full of edibles then grass to mow. One should never be ignorant of potential disaster or hard times. There are so many examples in this economy of families going broke like the Trucking company out West which called all their drivers on Christmas eve to drop off their trucks at certain locations due to the company closing. (Thank you Chris for that tidbit. It is a perfect example to share here.)Just like that. No other notice.
So think hard on what you will do to improve your Self Sufficiency for 2010 and be sure to leave you comment here before January 15th, 2010. Plenty of time to get those lists going.
Wishing all a prosperous, healthy & Happy New Year! Salute!
Sweetest Dreams,
~Tammie
There will be a surprise in the lot for our Grand prize winner to go with the above.
As for our 2 Runner ups, you will receive 1 of the Elegant Honey Pots from Honey Acres and your choice of 1 loose tea blend from my Etsy store.
As to how you can win, leave a comment to this post telling 5 of you goals/resolutions for 2010. Which must pertain to Homesteading and or Self sufficiency.
Are beginning a garden or enlarging the one you have? Are you adding chickens or rabbits? Do you plan to learn a "new to you" skill or improve on one? Maybe you will start that compost pile or bin you keep thinking of.Or introduce Medicinal Herbs into your family health and care. How about learning to save seed or starting your garden this year with Heirloom/Open Pollinated varieties?What ever it may be, no matter how small or large. We would love to know what you have in mind.
I wish all of you the best of luck and hope we are able to fill Frog's Bean pot with many more names this time around.
I will begin a new series of posts pertaining to Suburban Self sufficiency/Homesteading after the New year. There are many who only have a small lot which they can adventure with. I would rather have a yard full of edibles then grass to mow. One should never be ignorant of potential disaster or hard times. There are so many examples in this economy of families going broke like the Trucking company out West which called all their drivers on Christmas eve to drop off their trucks at certain locations due to the company closing. (Thank you Chris for that tidbit. It is a perfect example to share here.)Just like that. No other notice.
So think hard on what you will do to improve your Self Sufficiency for 2010 and be sure to leave you comment here before January 15th, 2010. Plenty of time to get those lists going.
Wishing all a prosperous, healthy & Happy New Year! Salute!
Sweetest Dreams,
~Tammie
31 comments:
I don't normally do New Year's resolutions, but I'll just share some of my never ending To Do list.
-Build raised beds for vegetables, complete with drip lines.
-Instead of buying fill dirt for the beds, I plan to slowly (one foot at a time) fill them up with sheet composting.
-Run a drip line to my outdoor composting bed (in Colorado, if the compost doesn't get watered, it doesn't break down)
-Design a passive solar chicken coop.
-Work to change the laws in Colorado about owning chickens.
-Secretly, set up a rain water collection system (as this is currently illegal in Colorado).
You'd think such a wild west state would be more friendly toward homesteaders.
We are planning on moving this summer, right in the middle of when I wanted to start a new garden this year, so that isn't going to happen. Instead I'm going to start some container gardens that we can take with us and then prepare the landscaping and yard at the new house for gardening next year with some raised beds that I can compost well for the next year. I have a book on my wish list that is "Landscaping with Fruit and Vegetables" that I hope to incorporate into our yard when we move.
Oh, I always have so many goals going into the year!
- Start my tomato plants early enough. I always get a late start, and have late tomatoes and a small harvest. I'm determined to drag the grow light out early enough this year.
- Persevere in canning. I often get burnt out too early, and just start giving stuff away, when it's actually food I could use.
- Bake more bread.
- Keep track of what's in the freezer. What's the sense of preserving if I never get around to using it up?
- Learn to sew. I was just given a hand-me-down machine, and this is a skill I really ought to have.
These are on our list...
- Stop buying paper towels and kleenex. Use washable instead.
- We are moving and compacting the garden. Last year we got too excited and went bigger than we could handle. Our focus this year will be on proper maintenence and eating fresh, storage of any excess.
- My compost is finally ready to use! Use it.
- Add medicinal herbs to the garden.
- Grow AND process Stevia. Last year I successfully grew it from seed, but didn't get it processed.
- Make my own potting soil. (from article in Mother Earth News magazine)
- Add a few chickens to our poultry...we already have ducks and gunieas.
- Sell some duck eggs. I am bad about giving them away, which is nice, but doesn't help with the feed bill.
- Start seeds again indoors.
- Use the cold frame that hubby built last spring.
I am looking forward to your new post series! :) I have a zillion things I'd like to do. It is challenging to mesh a 'regular' life with a homesteading life. I find I get myself in way over my head. Finding balance and being realistic is on my list for 2010 too! "Progress, not perfection" needs to be my new motto. :)
Cool prizes! We eat a lot of honey around here, and I love to make biscuits/scones and have broken my biscuit cutter!
So, 5 self sufficiency/homestead-ish goals for 2010:
1. Learn to spin. I actually have started on this one already with a home made drop-spindle and fiber on loan from my friends. I would love to make my own yarn.
2. Eat more wild foods--especially weeds. I've been learning about wild foods for a while but I really want to make them a significant part of my diet.
3. Can more produce. I want to make even more sauces and pickled things than I did last year!
4. Use more of the herbs I grow. While I love to grow them just to have them near me, I'd like to make more herbal teas and vinegars and spice blends and incorporate them even more in to my every day life.
5. Learn more about botany--so that I can be better at identifying wild plants that are unfamiliar to me. This is an important step in learning about the native plants of my region.
I'm so excited about 2010!
I am new to your blog...ok, blogging in general... but have really enjoyed reading. I'm pretty new to all of this so my goals are pretty rudimentary, but I'm feeling quite progressive just the same lol
1) Landscape my small backyard to include 5 Raised beds that can be rotated to maintain the soil integrity
2)Plant my garden in heirloom seeds which I can in turn harvest and keep seeds for next year. I want to try unusual types of the veggies I already love. I also want to designate a seperate area for fruits to include a strawberry bed, blackberry bushes, and a few dwarf apple trees. Will also be building a pretty pergola for a few grape fines to grow up and over for a lovely and productive shady place.
3)I'm looking into seeing if I can maintain one beehive in my back yard. The call has been placed to the powers that bee... (couldnt help myself), but they havent called back yet. I want the bees to help pollinate my garden, and to collect honey and wax. (This may be a bit much for me this year
4)I have never canned before but want to learn this year, and set myself up with plenty of canned tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes, and fruit.
5) I will also get my herb garden started and learn how to dry/preserve my fresh herbs when the end of the season. Some will be used for cooking. Some for soap making, some for medicinal purposes.
Think I've got my plate full, but I'm so looking forward to it.
rainwater collection is a top priority for me this year, as well as a cold frame. We just moved to the southwest, from northern WI. I need to totally revamp my way of gardening...
No new years resolution. But would love to win your prizes.
June Watkins
Our goals for 2010:
1. move to our 56 acre future homestead site! shopping for that RV as we speak :) Adobe plans for the house in the works...
2. get the property fenced in so we can determine what grows when the free-range cattle don't eat everything in sight!
3. get the first hoop house up for planting summer vegetables. because we have short summers, this is a necessity. And think of the winter crops we can harvest!
4. Start up on our future customer/mailing list for our crops, meats, cheeses, honey etc that we plan to make and grow! CSA in the making maybe.....first gotta get those animals producing.
5. Help our three kids learn that life is not about video games! Wide open spaces, animals, family, and community involvement are whats important! Culture Culture Culture!
While some of these may happen in 2010, they will also continue to carry over year after year....who knows what will happen the next time the wind blows! Happy Holidays from Nyn Acres :)
My hope is to...
1) Grow all of our produce this year, which is not easy in the mountains but I think it can be done.
2) Learn how to can and freeze those yummy veggies!
3) Create a water storage area for the gardens. We get all of our moisture in the form of snow in winter, no rain in summer, so this could make a big diff.
4) Connect with local farmers down in the valley and try to eliminate as much in the way of grocery store purchases as possible.
5) Find a closer egg producer so that we can buy all of our eggs from her vs. the supermarket.
Happy New Year!
We're moving within the next month or two. I'll be able to plant more because my son and DIL have already said I can plant anything that I want on their little corner of green.
I. I plan to build a solar dryer so I can preserve some of the veggies we raise by drying.
II. I plan to can a lot of goodies this coming summer. There's an Amish farmer's market just a few miles up the road from where we're moving to and they have awesome stuff!
III. I plan to plant a greater variety of herbs that I've planted in the past. A dear friend gave me bunches of seeds when she came to visit during the holidays.
IV. I plan to get well acquainted with two books that I've had for years: Stocking Up by Rodale Press and Back to Basics by Reader's Digest. These two books tell how to do just about anything 'back to the land' and returning to the skills of those who lived off the land.
V. I plan to share of my bounty, both food and medicinal herbs, with family and friends.
VI. Last but certainly not least, I plan to give thanks for the opportunity and the ability to be able to do the above things.
Hugs,
Katy Ravensong
I love your post not just for the giveaways but to see what everyone's got on their minds! Mine:
* Expand from existing 50 gal rain barrel to 500 gal cistern for rainwater collection. Barrels are too small!!
* Thanks to recently cleared-of-invasives backyard, I will be expanding my garden to concrete block raised beds (photos on blog) and gigantor tomato haven :)
* Quadruple my canning efforts - i.e., enough to get me past January as this year I underestimated!
* Build front deck made of sustainably harvested and/or reclaimed wood - I love talking with neighbors!
* Thanks to cleared backyard as well, will be able to put up a clothesline that does not attract falling debris :)
* Take dog to holistic veterinarian - at her age, the traditionals are not working :(
Hmmmmm.....this is always hard for me.
*Raise worms
*Sell eggs
*Add an animal (alpaca or llama)
*Try not to get another dog (probably won't happen)
*Enjoy my grandchild
Now may I please, please, please win a honey pot????
Happy New Year!
Sandy
No New Year resolutions here, I use a 'word of the year' instead. Last year's was EffortlessAbundance - and yes it is a word! This year's word is Success, because that must be what Effortless Abundance leads to, mustn't it?
So, I am planning to successfully do the following:
1. Make my self-watering, self-feeding raised beds even more productive this year.
2. Plan and fence a permanent garden space and hen house so my chickens can till and fertilize it for me this year.
3. Add pecans and hazelnuts to the landscape.
4. Learn to can, and explore other ways of preserving and pickling food.
5. Continue baking all of our yummy yummy bread.
And I would love a honey pot, and or biscuit cutters, tisane mix!
Thank you for your blog, and for your giveaways. I hope to read all about your triumphant move to the perfect homestead in this coming year.
My goals/plans for 2010 to become more self-sufficient include:
1) Starting up a small (5-10 customer) vegetable/fruit CSA with options for customers to also purchase honey, breads, jellies/jams, free range eggs, and chickens.
2) Start and maintain an online presence for my garden/farm business.
3) Focus my crafting energies more and sell items online and at local events.
4) Start writing again (and hopefully earn a few pennies from it).
5) Attempt to get my 16yr old "materialized" daughter as "unmaterialized" as possible (not sure if it's even possible due to my x-hubby, her dad, and his materialistic family). Not a problem with my 14yr old son. He envisions and helps me plan for the day (in 3 or 4yrs) when we can make the move to Alaska or the Dakotas and have a completely self-sustaining homestead.
It's not going to be easy, but I hope to be able to leave my "regular" salaried job soon. Leaving the house at 5am and returning at 6pm while only getting paid for 40 hours is the pits... Plus, at my yearly check up a few months ago, the doc found that after being in remission for 14 years, my cancer is back. Fun! But, due to some friends support and herbs, it has stopped growing, and actually started "shrinking". :)
All in all, with a positive outlook, spiritual guidance, a few good friends, and the love of a good man and my kids, I feel as though 'nothing' is impossible!
Good luck to ALL in the new year!
Im STILL working on my lists but here are my 5.
-to grow at least 50% of our produce
-to become more proficient at crocheting things
-to work on lobbying my village council to allow me to have some laying hens
-to be more frugal (always a good goal)
-to eat more organic and make more meals from scratch
I will continue with my college classes.
I have been buying more local fruits and veggies. A farmers market opened near our house.
I have been collecting my Alaskan Malamutes hair and donating to a local spinner who makes yarn out of it.
She donates something to our dog rescue group that she makes from the hair.
I have been volunteering at our local parks and I'm going to continue.
My new year's resolutions are to buy local, start a garden, learn how to knit, roast my own coffee beans, and learn how to sew.
sundaygirl at gmail dot com
I love that honey jar , these are wonderful giveaways Tammie.
My Goals for 2010
* Get a Rooster for my hens and add 6 more hens to our flock , hope to sell eggs this year to help with feed supply.
* Learn more about goats , decide on bred I want to try and build fencing and shelter. Hope to get 2 goats , 1 for milking and a wether for cleaning up underbrush and keeping the other one company.
* Learn to crochet
* Use claypot irrigation in my garden , tried it last year with a few plants , it works great.
* Start a homebased business , a general store type business. My husband and I plan to sell antiques , collectibles , crafts , garden art , garden veggies , eggs , herbs , plants and much more.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway and Happy New Year to You and Your Family.
Happy New Year!!!
1)This year I want to start composting
2) I want to start my seeds inside by March
3) I want to make and put up home made pasta sauce
4) I want to expand my garden
5) I want to learn to knit
What a wonderful give-away - and a truly wonderful story.
My five goals -
Make more quilts to give to people who are without warm covers.
Grow more vegetables and herbs.
Use nature more in the decor of my home, and for gifts
Teach our grandsons more about birds, their calls and their habitat.
Help expand the nature preserve near our home.
I need to clean up and replant my raspberry & strawberry gardens
I got two big barrels to catch rain for watering my flowers
I'd like to plant more & different veggies and can them
grow more herbs and learn how to preserve them
plant some apple trees
tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
We are already pretty much self-sufficient but there's always room for improvement, right.
1. Raise chickens for eggs.
2. Get more informed on beekeeping so I can eventually raise bees.
3. Eat more wild edible plants.
4. Add 5 more herbs to those that I already have.
5. Eat more local foods.
This is a very nice giveaway. Thank you and happy new year.
My goals for this year include:
1. creating raised beds along the perimeter of the garden for flowers and herbs.
2. learn to operate a chain saw
3. continue to improve companion planting (in the veggie garden to control pests.
4. plan a fall garden now so we will have greens into the winter.
5. plant pumpkins sooner (I need to check the packaging). No more by the seat of my pants for me! =)
Thank you for the chance!
Goals...
1) Lern more about container gardening
2) Grow my own organic herbs
3) Plant fruit trees in my yard
4) Learn to knit
5) Begin a compost pile
ooooh, what a sweet honey pot! i like that the lid is attached to the honey stick, reassuring a mama that the honey stick will not come up missing (one can dream, right?!)
here are some of my goals for this year:
~downsize our livestock to a more manageable and sustainable level and continue to work on growing our own feed for them to close the circle
~repurpose old clothing into new clothing or use for sewing into hankies, cloth wipes or other useable itmes
~be better at preserving our harvest this year, especially drying apples and tomatoes
~study/learn/use more regional herbs. i've got a list compiled of herbs i want to focus on and learn about this year that grown w/in a 20 mile radius of me
~continue passing on the skills of this lifestyle to my kids: knitting, sewing, preserving, gardening, herbal medicine
~finish up the medicinal herbal walk garden i am creating at a local conservation area and start offering herb walks to the community to teach them to be more self sufficient and knowledgeable about herbal medicine
there are more but i think that's at least 5!
happy new year tammie and thanks for such a great giveaway!
I plan to learn more and implement more seed saving. Also now that I have a pressure canner I would like to put up lots of food. We put up over 1000lbs of meat last year but I'd like to make salsas, spag sauces and all that good stuff. We also just put up a greenhouse so we have lots to learn there.
I enjoyed reading you 2010 goals. I too would love a press...someday. Good luck with the move!
I can hardly wait for your homesteading posts! I always love getting advice and tips from friends ~ its the best way to learn.
I have so many goals this year, but a couple of them are:
1) compost ~ I just built a compost area from discarded pallets and have begun layering. Its a bit early and cold but I keep saving my kitchen scraps for a really rich pile come spring
2) plant a blueberry row
3) plow a new garden spot in the pasture for large crops and keep my raised bed for smaller ones.
4) build a coop for my poor chicken girls
5) raise our own chicks
It's so exciting!
With joy, Lea
5 resolutions/goals for 2010:
- Increase garden space to grow more food to
- Increase our canning which includes purchasing a pressure canner
- Get a couple of goats for milk (and then cheese!)
- Add chickens for eggs
- Continue to learn to make our home life more sustainable!
I would love the biscuit cutters, if I had a choice.
My plans really go around and through Norm ... or include him, however you want to see it. My energy level and abilities are not conducive to me being outside gardening - especially when the bees come out.
BUT, Norm listens, for the most part, so this is what I hope to see happen this next summer.
Forget about potatoes ... they are a failure here. Plant enough tomatoes again, so that I can process them into the several different things ... sauce, salsa, chunkies, juice. More cucumbers so that I can do more pickles. My brother needs 799 jars of dills every year (never have gotten this level) and I need more sweet pickles for me and the grand-girls. More peppers, if they do as well as this last year.
Chickens .. more layers, more efficiency with them. Try to find organic, affordable feed for them. Get flax "waste" from an organic gardener near by to raise the anti-oxidants in the eggs.
Hmmm, not much else. I will try to do more gardening, personally, depending on health, but will "nag" more to keep the garden weeded by Mr Handy.
I enjoyed the pictures of the canning shelves in your last post. I used to go down to my aunt's basement and stand in awe of her shelves.
Living on the corner of 2 main streets in a small town with not much (very rocky) yard, too much asphalt, and renting- my options are limited.
That being said, these are the things I hope to accomplish in the realm of homesteading in 2010:
1. Talk to my landlord (and hopefully gain permission) about putting in a square foot garden in the small torn up front "lawn".
2. Whether quest #1 becomes a reality or not- Start up a container garden properly this year. (I attempted and horribly failed last year)
3. Build or buy a worm bin to use up the scraps of veggies that my 2 guinea pigs cannot eat, junk mail, other used up paper products and worm friendly waste (including waste from guinea pigs)
4. Support local growers by purchasing what I feel I can of their bumper crop (and hopefully gaining some knowledge from them as well)
5. Use all of these projects as learning tools in our home school curriculum to hopefully pass this on to the next generation of our family.
6. (Yes I know you said 5. I just had to add this) Use whatever found/repurposed/refurbished items I can in each of these projects. Waste not- want not. Right?
Post a Comment