Giveaway Winners Announced!!

Winter Fairy Giveaway winner is .....
marithecrone said...27

I love this little blue fairy angel. She will look wonderful fluttering around the top of my tree; there is a space waiting for her arrival. :)

PS I'm a buddy of Val, if you think that would sway your mind.

December 17, 2011 4:08 PM

Congratulations Marithecrone!!! i do not have contact info for you, please contact me!

Knotty Val giveaway winners are...

The winner of the bracelet is...

harpersmama said...83

I liked Knotty Val on FB!!
Kimberly W.

terrapinmoon at gmail dot com

December 18, 2011 10:25 PM

Congratulations Kimberly W.!!


The winner of the peace sign earrings is...

Carole said...30

and I'm already a follower of your wonderful blog.

December 11, 2011 3:40 PM

Congratulations Carole!!

The Patchwork Pinecones reusable produce bag giveaway winner is:

treebee said...44

following one green tomato! treevt80 at yahoo

December 19, 2011 8:52 AM

Congratulations treebee!

The Tiemeyer Glass pendant giveaway winner is:

Julie said... 208

follow you on twitter
and tweeted
@hbgarden
https://twitter.com/#!/hbgarden/status/152903969956569089
hebb dot julie at gmail dot com

December 30, 2011 7:09 PM

Congratulations Julie!!!

Congratulations to all the winners! i will send out emails later today. You will have 48 hours to respond to my email or a new winner will be chosen! Thank you all who entered!!

A little bit of Luck, and a whole lot of Gratitude.

Back in October i came across contest on facebook from Kid's Creations LLC for the Ugliest Swing set contest. i had already been dreaming and drooling over their beautiful redwood swing sets for quite a while. Their swing sets are made with the high quality redwood which is naturally resistant to decay and insects, and has not been treated chemically. All of the redwood they use has been harvested in a sustainable way. Kid's Creations wooden playset structures are also hand-crafted in the U.S.A.

They first posted about the contest sometime in October, and i just thought 'Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing to win?!?! i should really enter.' but...i didn't. i actually forgot about the contest. Around the middle of November i happened to catch a reminder post, and this time i decided to enter. All you had to do was post a picture of your 'ugly swing set' and they would chose a winner on Dec. 1st to receive a Two ring Adventure swing set.

So i went outside and took a picture of our rusted, broken, 'piece of crap' swingset. However, when i brought up the picture on my computer it just didn't really look like much. So i went back outside and took pictures from all angles, took a close up of the broken/rusted support bar, the swing seats that literally deteriorated in about 2 years..the bent metal. If i was going to enter this contest, i wanted the judges to see just how 'ugly' my swing set really was.


Horrible, isn't it? The worst part is that this swing set was purchased new (by my folks), and is only about 5 years old. My boy never really played on it so it just sat in the yard and deteriorated. It's never been abused, or even played on much at all, it just literally fell apart. By the time my girl was really old enough to play on it, it was already a hazardous mess. This should be a pretty good warning to stay away from Chinese made crap, because that is exactly what you will get...total crap.

So i entered my picture with fingers crossed, and put it out of my mind for a little while.

The rules to the contest were rather vague. It didn't really say whether the winner would be chosen by picture alone, or if 'likes' would be a contributing factor. In the last few days of the contest, i noticed that several of the other contestants were getting 'likes' on their photos. So i shared my entry on my wall, asking friends and family to 'like' my photo to show support. About 10 of them did. :) Then, sometime later Kid's Creation posted that they 'may be swayed by public opinion'. So i took that to heart, and really encourage my friends/family to vote. i had no idea if it would really make a difference, but i figured it couldn't hurt.

i was completely blown away by the response! i've entered other contests on FB before, and asked my friends to vote...and i usually get about a dozen people that do. lol. However this time, when i posted that it was the last day of the contest and asked folks to vote, my FB feed completely blew up with my friends/family sharing the post and asking their friends to vote. i even had several 'friends of friends' people i didn't even know share the post!! i'm still overwhelmed by the unbelievable response, and can not even begin to express my gratitude in just seeing so many folks rooting for us, and posting such positive comments and kind words.

The night before the winner was chosen, my stomach was in knots. My friends & family had done an amazing job of rallying together and making sure my picture had the most votes, however i really didn't know if that would matter. The final vote was up to the judges, and all of the swing sets entered were just as 'ugly' as mine. i was really, really hoping the judges would take the 'likes' into consideration, but really didn't know if they would.

On Dec. 1st Kid's creation posted that "the judges will confer today, and will announce our winner tomorrow morning at 9am!" It's amazing i slept at all that night. In the morning i was glued to computer, while trying to get ready to leave to volunteer at the school. Then it occurred to me, that they are in a different time zone and i won't even be home when the winner is chosen!! Ack!

and just as i was about to walk out the door, Kid's Creation posted the winner...




Wohoo!!! i seriously can not even begin to tell you how overwhelmed/excited/shocked/grateful i felt. What an absolutely amazing surprise i will have for the kids this year!!!!

i have to shout out a huge THANK YOU to Kid's Creation and a huge THANK YOU to all my friends and family that helped make this happen. My heart is overflowing with gratitude.

Our swing set arrived on Dec. 23 (unassembled) and so we managed to keep it hidden from the kids, so that it was a total surprise!

That will be my next post. :)

Handmade and Local Gifts.

The holidaze always seem to be a time of overwhelming commercialism. Although we are not entirely immune to it, we still like to try and support handmade and local businesses as much as possible.


Many of the gifts we gave and received this year were made here in Floyd county. i put together a gift basket similar to this for my folks, i found the basket at the Goodwill. Some of the items given and received this year were coffee from Red Rooster, local honey, local apple butter, homemade blackberry jam, homemade laundry powder, hand crocheted dish clothes, local handmade soap, locally made wooden utensils (including the honey dippers, apple butter spreaders etc). We also gave lots of homemade cookies, chocolate covered pretzels and glass icicle ornaments. :)


The honey is so good! It's just called Papa and Tara's and is raw honey from Check, which is at the other end of Floyd County. We can purchase it at both the Dugpur and Willis mini-marts (our closest gas stations). The honey dippers, apple butter spreaders and other utensils were hand made by local woodworkers and can also be purchased at Willis mini-mart. :)


The crocheted wash clothes were made by me. The soap is locally made and was purchased at the Floyd County Store.



Although my kids do get there share of store bought gifts, both my husband and i always hand make them something special for our Yule celebration. This year my husband made each of us our own glass loopity loop straw. i've seen the ones from Dharma Glass, and had asked him a while ago if he'd make us a set. My girls straw has an etched dichro butterfly marble embellishing it.


My boy ended up with yoda. :)



i got the mother of all loopity loop straws!! :) It has a beautiful etched dichro goddess marble.



i've been so busy this month with custom orders, i didn't know if i'd get anything made for my kids. However, one afternoon i got inspired to make my girl a Ruby Gloom doll. Ruby gloom is a cute show we recently started watching on netflix. She's just so cute, i had to make one! She came together so quickly that i made a Doom kitty to go with her. My daughter was thrilled with them. They are made using eco-fi felt and clean carded wool. i just used the basic blanket stick to sew them together. Doom kitty has a pipe cleaner in his tail so that it is posable.



After making the Ruby Gloom doll for my girl, i needed something for my boy. i thought a Harry Potter Lego mini-figure would be fun and slightly challenging. :) Here are the pieces before it was all stitched together. i wasn't happy with a couple of things after i stitched it together and stuffed it, and will be changing it a bit before posting pictures of the completed doll. My boy was still thrilled with it. Both kids have slept with their handmade dolls every night since they received them. :)

We were really, really blessed this year, and were able to give the kids a pretty amazing surprise (which i'll post about soon). It's still these simple handmade items that really make me feel the love and spirit of the season.

Reminder, the Tiemeyer Glass Pendant giveaway is ending on the 30th! i'll pick and post winners to all 4 of the giveaways on the 31st!!

Our new Yule Tree and Dried Fruit Ornaments.

Now that the Holiday season is wrapping up (only one more to go!!) i finally have a minute to put together some posts.

For the past 11 years we have always had a live potted tree to celebrate Yule. After the holidays are over we replant the tree outside, and the next year we dig it up and bring it back inside again until the tree becomes too large to bring inside. The tree becomes a part of our family for a few weeks each year, and we always look forward to bringing it back inside the next year. It's like a familiar friend to spent the holidays with. Two years ago, we lost our current Yule tree when a large truck backed over it. :( We replaced it with the only 'living christmas tree' we could find, which was a Norfolk Island Pine. It was not a hardy tree, and didn't survive the year. So this year we went out looking for a new Yule tree.

We found a tree lot that hd a really nice selection of potted trees, and came home with this lovely little Frasier fir. The Frasier fir is native to the Appalachian mountains of Virginia. Infact it's restricted to a small area of the southeastern Appalachian Mountains in south western Virginia, North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Making it the perfect choice to replant on our proprty.

i like that the needles are soft, so that the kids can decorate it without constantly getting poked. It also smells wonderful. :) The kids decorated with our usual ornaments. Hand blown glass icicles, pinecones, ribbons, bells, gingerbread and dried fruits.

After decorating our new Yule tree, we went outside to decorate our past trees. Some years we add lights, or ribbons and some years we make the pinecone peanut butter bird feeders. This year covered them in dried citrus fruits. i wanted to string cranberries as well, but never got around to it. They still looked beautiful.


Drying citrus to hang on your tree is very easy. It looks fabulous on a tree and smells wonderful.

To make dried fruit slices, you just slice your fruit round 1/8 inch thick, place on rack and bake at your lowest oven setting for about 2- 3 hours. You could also use a food dehydrator, or air dry them for a couple days. i did both the air dry method and the oven method. Some of the oven dried fruit turned a little brown, while the air dried fruit kept it's color better. It took bout two days to dry, and i had them setting near our wood stove.

We used oranges, tangerines, lemons and limes. Pink grapefruit would look gorgeous as well. You can also use apple slices, but soak them in a little lemon/juice water or they will get very brown.

We left our fruit natural, but you could preserve these with a little varnish. i've seen some folks sprinkle them with glitter first, and then coat them a varnish, clear glue or mod podge. Then you just attach a ribbon and hang, you can also glue them together or onto a grapevine wreath to make a beautiful dried fruit wreath. i think that my be our next project!

Tiemeyer Glass Opal Pendant Giveaway!

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Yay! Another giveaway!! :) i promise i'll go back to my regular posting soon. i just can't resist giving things away. :)




The beautiful Light Mandala pendant was made by husband, Kenan of Tiemeyer Glass. He's been self employed as a glass artist for 11 years now, supporting us with his beautiful work. His main concentration is marbles and paperweights, but he also makes beads, pendants and occasionally bracelets and rings. You can visit his website www.Tiemeyerglass.com to see more of his work.

So, in the spirit of giving, he has offered up this beautiful pendant. It has a gold and silver fumed light vibration pattern, a large pear shaped Gilson opal, purple "burst" pattern dichro. Gold and silver fumed feathering and pin wheels on the back.
The pendant is: 1-1/2' tall, 15/16" wide, 7/8" thick, 1/4" loop hole

Entry is easy!! 1. To enter, Visit the Tiemeyer Glass Gallery on FB, then come back and leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite piece is!
Be sure and include your email so i can contact you if you win!!

Extra Entries!!

1. "like" Tiemeyer Glass page on facebook. Leave me a comment letting me know your FB name and that you did!
2. Leave a comment on any image in one of the photo albums of Tiemeyer Glass FB page. Leave me a comment letting me know you did and where i can find it!
3. 'heart' Tiemeyer Glass on Etsy. Leave me a comment with your Etsy name.
4 follow my blog via GFC! Leave a comment letting me know you do!
5. be a fan of my page on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you are and your FB name!!
6. Share the giveaway post on FB or twitter. Leave a link in your comment! (can be done daily)
7. Enter my other giveaways! Leave a comment letting me know what you entered!
8. Join the Tiemeyer Glass mailing send an email to: kenan@tiemeyerglass.com with the subject line "join mailing list" and the email address you would like subscribed. Leave a comment letting me know you joined!

Good Luck!

This giveaway ends Dec. 30th at 11:59pm it is open to US and Canada only.

Patchwork and Pinecones feature and giveaway!

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A few months ago you may remember that i featured Danielle from Pixypatch as my featured artist. ! Danielle has since started transitioning into a new business name called Patchwork and Pine cones.

"I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and change my business’s name. This could end up being a colossal mistake, especially since I’ve had a strong, ten-year, on-line presence as Pixy Patch. But, you live, you learn, and you evolve. I’ve been resisting this change for several years, but I have now reached a point where I feel a new name may better encompass the person I’ve become. "

Danielle's reason for this name change are to incorporate two of her main passions, patchwork and nature. Most of her most treasured garments are made of patchwork, she loves to make it as well as wear it. She picked pinecones to not only show her love for trees and nature, but also because of their symbolize and deeper meaning.

Her current passion is to design and create clothing with an emphasis on hemp and other eco friendly fabrics. Her focus for the past few years has been striving towards a self sustaining future with a minimal impact on our environment.

Take a stand against single-use plastic and look good doing it with reusable produce bags!

Her reusable, eco friendly, produce bags are made from a light-weight, durable, cotton mesh that has been paired up with a printed cotton. They also have a hand crocheted drawstring closure.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!
Danielle has offered one lucky reader a reusable produce bag of choice from her etsy shop!

**Mandatory Entry**

TO ENTER: visit the Patchwork and Pinecones Etsy Shop and have a look around then leave a comment here telling me what item you love the most! *You MUST do the mandatory entry! Bonus entries will not count, if mandatory entry it's not done first!*

Please be sure to leave your email address, or make sure it's visible on your profile.

**Bonus Entries**
Bonus entries are not required. However, you may do one or all to increase your chance of winning!
{Please leave separate comments for each entry or it will not count}


1.Follow Patchwork and Pinecones's blog (bottom right) {1 entry, leave 1 comment}
2. Add Patchwork and Pinecones to your favorites on Etsy. {1 entry} (leave your etsy user name in comment)
3. Be a fan of Patchwork and pinecones on Facebook {1 entry } leave facebook name in comment

4. Be a fan of Pixypatch on Facebook {1 entry } leave facebook name in comment
5.Add Pixypatch to your favorites on Etsy. {1 entry} (leave your etsy user name in comment)
6.Follow the Pixypatch blog Twisted Threads

7.Follow Danielle's food blog One Green Tomato 1 entry, leave one comment}
8. like One Green Tomato on facebook 1 entry, leave one comment}

9. Follow The Enchanted Tree blog publicly on google friend connect {1 entry}
10. Be a fan of The Enchanted Tree on Facebook {1 entry} leave facebook name in comment

**Rules**

• Giveaway ends Dec, 27th, 2011 at 11:59pm EST
  
• Winner will be chosen via Random.Org., and contacted by email, and posted on the blog.
  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen
• Giveaway open to USA shipping addresses only
  

Winter Fairy Giveway!!! CLOSED

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i was really hoping to put together 12 days of giveaways, but my computer has been having some serious issues this past week and i haven't been able to get on here much at all.

That being said..i do have a few giveaways to share. i do LOVE to give stuff away!!


i just finished up this lovely little winter fairy and thought she'd be fun to giveaway!
CLOSED
Entry is easy!! 1. To enter, leave me a comment letting me know who this little fairy will be given to! If you want to keep her for yourself, that's fine too..just leave a comment letting me know!
Be sure and include your email so i can contact you if you win!!

Extra Entries!!
2 follow my blog via GFC! Leave a comment letting me know you do!
3. be a fan of my page on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you are!
4. Share the giveaway post on FB or twitter. Leave a link in your comment!
5. Enter my other giveaways! Leave a comment letting me know what you entered!

Giveaway will end Dec. 22nd at 11:59 pm. Winner will be notified via email, and also posted here on the blog and on my FB page. ]

Good luck!

Knotty Val Giveaway!! 2 winners!!! CLOSED

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i'm super thrilled to host another Knotty Val giveaway! Val is a dear friend of mine, and an extremely talented artist!! She does some of the the most detailed and extraordinary knotwork i have ever seen. She is also a very talented beader and painter (see the shed mural below!)!


A bit about Val. "I have always been drawn to color and pattern. Straight lines and monotones bore me. I love trying new crafts and "up-cycling" old stuff. If I can paint it I will. A picture framer for more than 20 years I have had the good fortune to see amazing art from all over the world and from all types of artists in all walks of life....just going to work everyday. Art impacts our lives every minute of everyday, something I am sure I already knew but it was driven home working with people, helping them to display and conserve their personal treasures."



Check out the mural she painted on the back of her neighbors shed! Unbelievably cool!

"When my daughter was born in 2004, I wasn't really expecting her, I was getting ready to have a teenager and my very own craft space in our new house but that became a nursery and crafty plans went on hold for me. When I first got online and discovered the community of crafty people there I was inspired to start weaving again, it being something I could do that my young daughter couldn't do much damage with."

"I have been so inspired to keep creating by the women and men I have met in this online community. My daughter loves art and I am really looking forward to sharing all my crafty cravings with her. I have always been happiest when creating and working with color."


"I taught myself to flat weave after a friend bought a Guatemalan "friendship" bracelet while on tour following the Grateful Dead. I love to do beadwork too, and look forward to the day when I have a dedicated space for beading.

Val has offered a special discount to my readers. Use the coupon code "123buyknotty" to receive 20% off anything in the shop, does not include shipping.

Now for the Giveaway!!!
Val has generously offered this beautiful hand woven bracelet and this pair of peace sign earrings to two of my lucky readers!! That's right two winners!!



CLOSED

MANDATORY ENTRY

1. Head over to Knotty Val on Etsy then come back and let me know your favorite item! Also, let me know if you would most like to win the bracelet, the earrings or both if you are chosen as one of the lucky winners!!

Please include your e-mail address or make sure it is visible in your blogger profile so i have a way to contact you if you win. Otherwise a new winner will be chosen!

EXTRA ENTRIES
please leave a new comment for each extra entry. If you qualify for 5 entries, leave 5 separate comments.
(make sure you did the mandatory first!!)

2. Add Knotty Val's Etsy Shop to your favorites (heart) leave a comment letting me know you did, and your etsy name! 1 entry
3. 'Heart' your favorite item in her etsy shop. leave a comment letting me know you did, and your etsy name! 1 entry
4. Like Knotty Val on facebook leave a comment letting me know you did, and your FB name! 1 entry

5. Follow my The Enchanted Tree blog via google friend connect. leave a comment letting me know you did. 1 entry
6. Be a fan of The Enchanted Tree on Facebook. leave a comment letting me know you did, and your FB name! 1 entry.

7. Share this giveaway with your facebook friends, Tweet the giveaway or Blog about it! leave a comment with a link to where it is shared. 1 entry each.

**Rules**

• Giveaway ends Dec. 28th 2011 11:59pm EST
  
• Winner will be chosen via Random.Org. i will then contact them by email, and post the winners name on my blog.
  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen
• This giveaway is open to everyone.

Eat More Kale Winner Announced!

The winner of the Eat More Kale T-shirt is.....

Not So Average Mama said... 72

I am your fan on fb

November 23, 2011 11:01 AM

Congratulations Not S0 Average Mama!! i will send you an email later today. You will have 48 hours to respond to my email or a new winner will be chosen! Thank you all who entered!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing catch up on back posts again. :)

Our Thanksgiving was quiet and simple. The majority of our feast came right from our garden. While, i spent the morning cooking, Kenan took the kids out hiking. It was a beautiful day, and i love being able to walk outside and pick our meal.


The potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes were harvested about a month ago and stored. The greens are a combination of curly leaf kale, rainbow Lacinato kale, Swiss chard, red and green leaf lettuce and spinach. My cold crops are all still doing great and producing well.


We also enjoyed a salad straight from the garden. The salad contained red and green leaf lettuce, spinach, red onion, carrots, a purple pepper and the one strawberry i found a few days ago. :) The tomatoes were picked green, and ripened in a window sill. i still have just a few left.

i made a cherry pie from scratch. The cherries were picked at our neighbors house earlier this spring. We still have a ton of these cherries in the freezer, they are so wonderful for baking!

In the past our Thanksgiving have been a bit nontraditional. We usually have a Feast of Favorite. i make everyone's favorite dish, and we have everything from bean dip to nori rolls. This year i was in the mood for something a bit more Traditional. As a vegetarian family, we don't eat turkey...so instead i made a stuffed seitan/tofu log. This is made very similar to basic seitan recipe. It just has a few extra ingredients, and a few extra steps. i may try writing it out one of these days. Besides our home made 'Tofurky" we had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, roasted root veggies and garlicy greens. We also had garden green beans (from our freezer) apple sauce that i had canned, and homemade blackerry/raspberry jam on our rolls.

We were hoping to spend our Thanksgiving in Michigan this year with family, but things don't always work out how we plan. So we enjoyed a simple day with just the 4 of us and gave our thanks for another amazing year.



Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~Melody Beattie

Wordless Wednesday- Strawberry

i went out to pick some spinach today, and spied this bright red strawberry in the raised bed next to my spinach. i don't think i've ever had strawberries bloom and fruit in November before. :)

Petition to help small business

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This petition is against corporate bullying.
Vermont's own EATMOREKALE.com, a small, quirky family business, is attempting to secure a federal trademark for the business name they've been using for at least ten years "EATMOREKALE.COM". Corporate Goliath fast food chain CHICK-FIL-A is blocking their attempt alleging EATMOREKALE.COM confuses CHICK-FIL-A customers. They claim that Bo's one man t-shirt printing business EatMoreKale.com is infringing on their business and profits. Um...yeah...okay.


This isn't the first time they have tried to shut down Bo's busniess. 5 yrs ago they attempted to shut his website down and they wanted him to send his entire inventory to them to be destroyed. Bo fought back and they backed off. NOW they are blocking his attempt to secure a fed. trademark.

Please sign the petition and take a stand against big business bullies!!
You can also help out by tweeting this message use the tweet link above!

Earn two extra entries on my Eat More Kale giveaway, by signing the petition! Just leave two comments on the giveaway post saying you signed, and your name.

Earn another for tweeting the above link! Just leave a comment on the giveaway post with a link to your tweet. Can be done daily!

Let's send a message that corporate bullying like this is abusive and won't be tolerated!

Eat More Kale Giveaway!

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Yay!!! i'm very excited to host another Eat More Kale giveaway here on my blog!! i love to help support and promote independent artists and small business, and hope that you will take the time to check out Bo's website and facebook page. These are awesome t-shirts!! You know you want one. :)

Bo is the man behind these fabulous shirts. He prints every shirt individually by hand using hand cut stencils, black ink and a squeegee. He heat-sets the prints with an iron and pre-washes them, creating a super soft t-shirt with a nicely faded look .

Bo get his blank shirts from Comfort Colors a local company up in Vermont, where Bo resides. They are an environmentally-minded shop with that small business feel and quality products.

For four years, Bo sold his t-shirts from a small booth at the Montpelier, Vermont weekly farmer's market. You can now also find his shirts online, and you may even see him selling shirts and handing out his 'business card' stickers at a few food and music festivals each summer.

The T-shirts are available in several popular styles, like Compost, Localvore, Cheese, Organic and of course Eat More Kale. His shirts come in several color choices, and he also offers an organic natural.

Bo runs a contest almost every week on his facebook page, where you have a chance to win a free shirt. The contests are always amusing and a lot of fun to enter. Make sure and fan his page, so if you don't win this time...you can enter his weekly contests for more chances to win!

Need a shirt right now? You can purchase one of Bo's hand printed t-shirts online at the Eat More Kale store.

Now for the Giveaway!

Bo has offered one reader the choice of any one short-sleeved shirt from his site.

MANDATORY ENTRY

1. Visit the Eat More Kale and let me know which shirt style/color you would choose and why.

Please include your e-mail address in the format of Yourname(at)email dot com or make sure it is visible in your blogger profile so i have a way to contact you if you win. Otherwise a new winner will be chosen!

EXTRA ENTRIES (make sure you did the mandatory first!!)
please leave a new comment for each extra entry. You can do as many or as little extra entries as you like! If you qualify for 5 entries, leave 5 separate comments.

2. Be a fan of Eat More Kale on Facebook.
3. Leave a comment telling me if you like kale, and what is your favorite way to prepare it? (i'm always looking for new recipes!!)
4. Be a fan of The Enchanted Tree on Facebook 1 entry

5. Follow my blog The Enchanted Tree on Google friend connect 1 entry
6. Add my button (top left column) to your blog or add me to your blog roll. leave a link. 3 entries (leave 3 comments)
7. Blog about the giveaway link to this post and the Eat More Kale FB page. 3 entries, leave 3 comments.
8. Tweet about the contest leave a link to your tweet. 1 entry (can tweet daily)

EXTRA ENTRIES for signing the PETITION

**Rules**

• Giveaway ends Dec 3, 2011 at 11:59pm EST EXTENDED
  
• Winner will be chosen via Random.Org. notified by email, and posted on the blog.
  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen
• This giveaway is open to EVERYONE.
  

Pumpkin Pasties

Yes, i'm semi-obsessed with Harry Potter and make HP themed snacks and treats any chance i can get. Last month, we brought home two small pie pumpkins from Sage's field trip to Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Patch. She asked me to make a pumpkin pie, but honestly have never been a fan of pumpkin pie...and thought Pumpkin Pasties (pronounced Past-E) sounded more my style.

i used this recipe as an example, but changed it up a bit. Rather than using canned pumpkin, i used fresh cooked. i roasted my pumpkin whole, and then scooped out the flesh and used it in the recipe above. i failed to take pictures of the process though, so check out the post at The Cultural Dish if you need help putting these together.

For the filling i used
-1 cup cooked pumpkin

-1/4 cup granulated sugar

-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

-1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

i mixed this all together and set it aside while i made the crust.

For the pie crust i used
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour.
1 stick cold butter.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 t...sp sugar.
3-4TBSP ice cold water.

Combine flour, salt, sugar and cut in butter (or use a pastry blender)...until the mix is crumbly and the butter pieces are pea sized. Then add ice water 1 tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork until dough holds together. The key to a flaky crust is COLD butter and water...so keep it cold.

When your dough is ready. Roll out into 4" circles and place a rounded TBSP of the pumpkin filling in the center of your circle. i wet one edge of the dough for a good seal. Then fold the dough over the filling and use the end of a fork to crimp and seal the edges. Cut a couple slits on the tops to make vents. i didn't do an egg wash on these, but you could if you like.

Bake in the oven on an ungreased cookie sheet for 30 minutes or until browned.

These turned out great. The pumpkin filling, was good...but not overwhelming. These were delightful little bite sized treats. We enjoyed them so much we made them twice. Any left over pumpkin filling can be frozen for use at a later date.

Enjoy!

Fall Garden.

My fall garden has been enjoying the cooler temperatures! i actually took this picture about a month ago, and everything has doubled in size since.


i have 3 rows of dwarf grey peas. They are just now starting to bloom, so i'm not sure i'll get any peas out of them. We've been enjoying the pea shoots in salads and stir fries. They are pretty cold tolerant, and have thriving in these 30 degree temps. We had a really hard frost a few days ago that left a little bit of wilt on the tips of some of the plants, so i'm not sure they are going to make it to maturity. i also have about 18 broccoli plants, that are doing okay. The flower heads are about 2" across so far. i've been harvesting lots of kale, Swiss chard, spinach and a variety of leaf lettuces.

We had a pretty sad crop of tators this year. Lots of ugly little tators, due to early blight, colorado potato beetles and common scab. i planted using last years seed potatoes, and learned a huge lesson. This spring i'll be purchasing organic certified disease-free seed potatoes. We still managed to dig around 50 lbs. i have to cut a lot of spots out of them though, and they won't keep as long as i'd like.


Sweet potatoes did wonderful. We dug over 70 lbs.

i'm still not a hundred percent sure how to correctly cure sweet potatoes. Everything i've found online says they must be cured for about 10 days at 80-85°F and high relative humidity (85-90 percent). i'm just not sure how to maintain that temperature when it's dipping down into the 30's at night, and i have no idea how to maintain high humidity in a house with a wood stove. We run a humidifier, but it's still horribly dry.
After reading a few other blogs online i found a few suggestions, just leaving them sit out in the hot sun and bring them in at night, curing them in the back hatch of a car...etc. i decided to try the sun method. So far it seems to be working, the sweetpotatoes are maintaining their firmness..and haven't started rotting or wilting. So i hope that'll last a while. We have already eaten a few and they are delicious! i absolutely love sweet potatoes!

i grew peanuts for the first time this year! i had no idea what to expect with them, so i'm thrill that we actually got peanuts! i only had around 15 plants, so i didn't harvest a ton. They were dug a few weeks ago, and have been hanging in the shed to dry since. . :) i'm excited to plant more next year, they don't take up a ton of space and grew really well here. The only problem i had was some root aphids on some of the plants.

i'm loving all the green of the cooler season. We eat kale several times a week. In my colandiar i have blue curly kale, Lacinato Rainbow kale, Swiss Chard, a variety of leaf lettuces, and spinach. i picked this for dinner a few nights ago. The spinach and lettuces when into a salad with a few homegrown carrots, peppers and tomatoes (yes, i still have a few ripe tomatoes on my window sill!). i brought a purple pepper plant inside, and although it is a little wilty looking it's loaded in peppers and i think it'll only take a little while for it to adjust to life inside. Peppers are actually perennial and can grow all winter inside.

Still getting lots of carrots from the kids garden, and a raised bed. i had actually forgetten about these guys. They were hiding in my asparagus bed under some dill and fennel. While iw as cleaning out the bed a few days ago, i found them. i was thrilled to see that many of them were thing an and tender. With our clay soil, my carrots never do very well...they tend to be thick and stubby. This seems to be a good bed to grow them in.

i'm going to try to put up a couple of basic hoop houses over my leafy greens this week. So far they are thriving in the cold, but they won't be happy if they end up buried in a layer of snow.