Thursday, August 23, 2012

World Kitchen Garden Day Giveaway!


Recently, I've mentioned my need to tackle our overrun, ugly summer kitchen gardens to make the transition to fall crops. I've created plans, determined when to start the seeds, and realized I'm behind schedule.

Guess what? I've still successfully avoided the gardens all week.

I could make excuses: I'm readjusting to the back-to-school routine, focusing on writing, cleaning the house (my husband is rolling his eyes now). Honestly, the gardens just look so...depressing.

Then yesterday, while searching a website, I found my motivation:

World Kitchen Garden Day—Sunday, August 26, 2012. 
 
Launched by Kitchen Gardeners International as a healthy response to the International Snack Food Association's “Snack Food Month,” World Kitchen Garden Day is an opportunity to gather in gardens with friends, family, and neighbors to celebrate the pleasures and benefits of home-grown, homemade food.

Real food. Local food. Healthy food.

Now, that's something to celebrate!

World Kitchen Garden Day is an excellent motivator to get our gardens whipped into shape.

Plus, I can spin it into a fun, family event, instead of tackling the gardens by myself—HA! It's a holiday, after all—right? Maybe I'll invite friends and neighbors, too, and share some of the weed-pulling, soil-amending, planting fun in our gardens.

Of course, I'd feed them yummy local food. I have a great recipe for Peach Crisp.

In honor of World Kitchen Garden Day, I have a giveaway to inspire you to get your hands dirty!

World Kitchen Garden Day Giveaway
The winner will receive:

$25 gift certificate for Seed Savers Exchange
 to purchase your kitchen garden seeds. 
(They also have a great selection of books and gardening gifts.)

-and-
 
 American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America

No matter your political beliefs (and let's check those at the door, please)--this is a beautiful book. In 2008, Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) initiated a high-profile public awareness and advocacy campaign known as "Eat the View," calling on the White House to plant a kitchen garden. The organization believed that if a kitchen garden could be planted in such a high-profile location, it might inspire millions of people to plant their own gardens. With more than 110,000 signatures on KGI's White House garden petition, the administration took notice.

So did most of the country, as the White House South Lawn became filled with fruits, vegetables, herbs—and thousands of visitors.

From the inception of the garden to the planning, soil testing, crop selection, community involvement, fails, and even seasonal recipes, American Grown is more than just a coffee table book. The layout and photography is gorgeous, but I especially loved the profiles of gardens and gardeners across the country, as well as the seasonal planting diagrams of the White House Kitchen Garden.

There are several ways to enter the giveaway—and each action counts as a separate entry. That's right, you can enter up to FOUR times! Here's how:
  1. Leave a comment on this post with your name and your favorite homegrown fruit or vegetable. (If you don't currently follow Growing Days, I would be grateful if you would “Join this Site.” If you already follow Growing Days—thank you!)
  2. “Like” my Garden Delights Facebook page and leave a comment. I share more gardening tips and information on the FB page. (Again, thank you if you've already liked the page—just leave a comment!)
  3. Repin this post on Pinterest. To make it easy, you can just Repin this pin.
  4. Share this post with your friends on Facebook.

Giveaway details:
  • The contest deadline is midnight EST on Friday, August 31, 2012.
  • The winner must be a resident of the continental U.S.
  • The winner will be selected by a random drawing.
  • The winner will be announced in an update to this post and on my Facebook page during the first week of September.
Happy World Kitchen Garden Day, everyone!
Cheers!


Julie

35 comments:

  1. Our tomatoes are wonderful -- first year growing in the mountains! Would love that peach crisp recipe (:

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    1. So glad your tomatoes flourished! The Peach Crisp recipe was yesterday's post--and you know if it's a recipe from Alice Waters, it has to be good! Enjoy!

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  2. just found this site, love it, I grow lots; fave is lettuce

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    1. Jo Anne, welcome! So glad you stopped by! I must admit--I got a little carried away when I ordered my lettuce seed...I think I have about 8 or 10 varieties! I love colorful, speckled, interesting heirloom lettuce!

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  3. Hi Julie -- just found this site (via pinterest) and am excited to learn more from you. this is my first year gardening in texas and so far, i've loved my homegrown heirloom tomatoes the best, but our peaches and plums were terrific too. starting my fall/winter gardening this weekend!

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    1. Hi Jooles! I'm so glad you're here! Pinterest is addicting, isn't it? Congratulations on taking the gardening plunge--it's so much fun, sometimes a little frustrating, too--but ultimately there's nothing like eating your own homegrown food! Our SC peaches have been to die for...(but I don't grow my own yet, sadly.) Please let me know if you ever have any gardening questions--I'll be happy to help! Cheers!

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  4. Favorite veg is asparagus - what's available at the market tastes like a different vegetable altogether. Also love Seed Savers Exchange, btw.

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    1. Just-picked asparagus is amazing! We had a tiny harvest this year, since I only planted it two years ago. Sadly, asparagus requires patience, which is not my strength! Still, I'm really looking forward to spring when we should have a decent harvest. We'll be on year three of the asparagus bed by then, so hopefully we can harvest lots!

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  5. Favorite homegrown vegetable would be carrots! Favorite homegrown fruit would have to be strawberries. I'm Tina Ramsey. That book looks lovely.

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    1. Tina, the kids and I just ate strawberries from the potager like made this year--they were amazing! Also amazing is American Grown--I have an entire library of gardening books (and I'm just a compulsive reader of all topics), and I adore this book. It's beautiful, interesting, and also practical. I highly recommend it!

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  6. I love the phrase "Eat the View"! Hard to pin down to a favorite from my garden, but if I HAD to pick one I guess it would be tomatoes. But the basil and cukes go so well with them, and then there's the green beans and the okra. Oh, and don't forget the canteloupes.

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    1. Leslie, isn't that a great phrase? And I agree...it's so hard to pick a garden favorite! I mean, really--tomatoes and basil are married. What's one without the other? Happy harvesting!

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  7. My fave is okra, but I had lots of fun with my lettuces this year!!
    Excited to have joined your site!

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    1. Ginny, okra is so beautiful--I would grow it as an ornamental even without it's yumminess! Sadly, my hubby is okra-adverse...sigh. (BTW--I completely overindulged when ordering our lettuce seeds--8 or 10 heirloom varieties. Can't wait!)

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  8. Great contest Julie. Since I won your last one I will opt out of this one, just wanted to say great book! Know you will get your fall garden in order. Peach crisp will help draw them in!

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    1. HA, Janet! I was thinking of you when I devised the contest, because you had a serious winning streak happening a few months ago! I love this book--it's such a great combination of gorgeous photography, entertaining stories, and practical information. A perfect match for World Kitchen Garden Day!

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  9. Tomatoes are the best. Blast this heat!

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    1. Rosalinda, our tomato vines are sadly almost done. I think I'm going to start some to grown in containers in the greenhouse this winter. I just can't buy tomatoes in the store in the winter...Here's to cooler weather coming our way soon!

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  10. Oh so sad:( I live in Australia so cant enter - that looks like a fabulous book, I will have to look out for it.. I was so proud of that garden and felt the petition did make a difference. I came into garden blogging through the original KGI, so have a real soft spot for it. Have a great kitchen garden day!

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    1. Awww...I'm sorry! KGI is such a wonderful organization, and that's incredible that it got you started with your blogging! You will love the book--it's so full of information, but it's just beautiful, too. The stories of kitchen gardens throughout the country are wonderful. I apologize for the domestic-only giveaway...but I DO hope you'll check out the book! Cheers to a great kitchen garden day!

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  11. I am looking forward to mini eggplants I grew on my patio and to checking out your blog. I just found it via Pinterest.

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    1. Hi Jillian, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great harvest of eggplants. Do you grow many other veggies in containers? My big splurge this year was the purchase of six different varieties of dwarf citrus trees that I planted in containers so I can move them into the greenhouse in the winter. I'm really anxious for them to produce fruit--but I need a dose of patience! Happy Kitchen Garden Day!

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  12. I love homegrown heirloom tomatoes!

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    1. SolDucky, homegrown heirloom tomatoes are the BEST. I'm so sad that our tomatoes are almost done...but I'm planning to start some more seeds to try to grow a few tomato vines in the greenhouse this winter. Do you have a favorite variety? Mine is Amana Orange...beautiful AND delicious! Happy Kitchen Garden Day to you!

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  13. My favorite is a Honeye strawberry, still warm from the sun. There's nothing quite like an Indiana strawberry! (P.S. I've linked to your giveaway through my blog: http://fraudulentfarmgirl.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/world-kitchen-garden-day/)

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    1. Mmmmm...I wish it was strawberry season right now! I think I ate my weight in strawberries this past spring. I have them tucked into every sunny spot I can find throughout the gardens and yard! Have you every tried fraise des bois? Those little strawberries are the sweetest things ever--and they produce until the first frost. Thank you so much for mentioning the giveaway on your blog! I'm looking forward to checking out your site! Happy World Kitchen Garden Day!

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  14. My favorite homegrown veggies is corn. We grew some this year but the heat killed the plants too soon.

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    1. Carolyn, my dad was obsessed with fresh corn--obsessed. He would drive all over, looking for a farm stand that had just picked the corn that morning. I've inherited that gene! But, I've never grown corn successfully. I thought we'd have a good harvest this year using the Three Sisters garden, but the beans pulled the corn stalks down. Strange. Sorry to hear that your corn succumbed to the heat. :-(

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  15. If I am forced to pick it would be the tomatoes. My favorite time is when plants produce for the first time because it's so special to eat the first harvest of anything. Meals that include the first bowl of lettuce, first cucumber salad, first steamed sweet corn,first tomato sandwich, etc. are always the best meals of summer.


    maynekitty [at] live [dot] com

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    1. Maynekitty, I agree--I'm excited about the first harvest of all fruits and veggies! We actually have a little family strawberry celebration when we pick our first berries in the spring.

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  16. Like your page on FB

    maynekitty [at] live [dot] com

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  17. Squash is my favorite vegetable, we have always had great luck growing it and my man makes the best squash casserole. I love all of my herbs I grow also, it is such a good feeling that when I need to season something I can just go out the back door and get what I need.

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    1. Catlover, our squash went crazy this year! I'd love to know the recipe for the squash casserole--sounds delicious!

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  18. Koralik tomatoes! Best tomatoes ever :)

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