The giveaway is now closed. The winner of the book is:
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21
Timestamp: 2009-03-27 03:52:12 UTC
Amanda from Better is Little. Congratulations Amanda, I’ll be contacting you soon.
I am really enjoying Laura’s “Green Project,” it has helped me to evaluate areas in our life that can be made a little greener. This week my kids made a compost bin (click here for a tutorial). It was so easy, and I highly recommend this for anyone who doesn’t have room for a compost pile in their yard or is bound by HOA rules. It was also super cheap ~ under $20.
My family also helped reorganize the kitchen, in order to make it more recycling friendly. We took our indoor trash can and turned it into a recycling bin.
My daughter taped a card on the bin to let people know it is recycling, not trash.
We then took a small garbage can and put it under the sink for trash.
Because our county recycles almost everything we were able to really reduce our garbage. We have a huge blue county issued trash bin that previously we would fill up in a week. Now that we are making an effort to recycle or reuse everything we can, we only had a few small bags of garbage for the entire week. Not bad for a family of eight!
In an effort to cut back our paper towel use, I put a bowl of clean rags under the sink. It is my hope that having easy access to small rags will encourage the kids to reach for a rag instead of a paper towel.
I also put a dish pan on the dryer so the kids would have a place to put dirty rags.
Since we now have a compost bin, I used an old plastic ice cream bucket (that had a lid) to store our food scraps and other items for the compost bin. I assigned one child the job of emptying the bucket into the bin every other day.
One of the reasons we made a compost bin, is that we hope to have a small square foot garden. The compost won’t be ready for spring planting, but perhaps in the fall, of course this was before bed rest. I still think I have time for a small garden, as I have kids and a husband that are willing to do most of the work until I am back on my feet.
If you are like me, the idea of growing your own food sounds very appealing, but many times I don’t know how to prepare certain fruits and vegetables. Even picking good, ripe produce from the store can be challenging at times. Sometimes I pass up produce that is on sale because I don’t know what it is, how it tastes, and I don’t want to purchase something that I will end up throwing away. On a whim I picked up Melissa’s Great Book of Produce
Since prime Farmer’s Market shopping is just around the corner I finally read through this book, and I was so impressed! It is basically a produce encyclopedia, written for people like me who tend to buy lots of familiar fruits and veggies and turn the other way when confronted with a kumquat or ugli fruit. Not only are there pictures of each fruit and vegetable there are recipes, tips for choosing ripe fruit, information on when the fruit is in season, plus a general description of taste and preparation.
This book is definitely a reference book, but I read it like a novel! I had it with me at one of my doctor’s appointments this week and the nurses all thumbed through it as well. If you need any help in the area of fruits and veggies, I highly recommend reading this book. And, of course the great people who wrote this book have offered to give one away to one of my readers.
To enter the giveaway leave a comment on this post. For a second entry tweet about the contest and leave a second comment letting me know. The contest will end on March 26th at 10pm EST.
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I would love to have a copy of this book! Thank you SO much for your wonderful blog – I appreciate everything you share with us SO much!
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I have been dying to start my own garden – it’s a little difficult living on a third floor apartment with a balcony not getting direct sunlight. That doesn’t stop me from putting my little raspberry plant outside anyway and planting some chile peppers in a pot. I can’t wait to move into a house with a backyard so I can grow even more stuff!
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I’d love a copy!
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I RTed about the contest!
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We are just now starting a garden. This would be a great book to get us started.
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I would love this book, we are looking into a square foot garden as well!
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Tweeted about this neat giveaway.
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My poor brown thumb and I could certainly use some help!
I also posted on reducing food waste a few weeks ago — if you’re interested in ideas to use up bread heels and leftover steamed veggies (other than composting them), visit my blog. Thanks!
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I’d love to have a copy of this book, as we are starting our first garden this year!
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Just re-tweeted!
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Looks like a wonderful book. We are lucky enough to have a great farmer’s market close by and I’d love to have a guide to exploring some new produce!
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Great giveaway! Just found your blog–I look forward to reading more!
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I would love to have this as a reference! It looks just like what I’ve been thinking I could use as I try to venture out in the produce department.
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What a great book! I would love to have it. I’m starting my first garden this year!
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What a great book! I’d love a copy! AND I am impressed how much your household is still getting done even with you on bedrest! very impressive teamwork! When I was on bedrest with our 3rd (and had 2 toddlers) we were in total survival mode… only the basics, and lots of paper plates and paper towels! Keep up the great resting work!
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I use a dishpan for my dirty rags, too!
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would love a copy of this book as i garden but still have no idea what im doing and am nervous because we planted carrots and lettuce but i wont know when they are ready to pluck. i too am on bedrest,but i will have my baby soon I HOPE. jasmine in CA
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Cool book, I am going to see if I can get it from my library ~ but I would love to win it!
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Great giveaway! Have you tried roasting broccoli? Yum!
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Our trash service just started offering recycling a month ago and it amazed us to see how much we aren’t throwing away anymore before composting and recycling.
One tip I learned about homemade composters is to paint them black so they will attract more sunlight and the food scraps will heat up and decompose faster.
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Happy Housewife, your blog is quite possibly my fav. (right up there with Pioneer Woman Cooks)
I am going to do your homemade compost bin as we just dump it in a corner of the garden and turn occasionally…Takes forever to make compost and I think the nutrients mostly leach out anyway.
We use a camping pot(not really sure what it’s called) for our compost bucket in the house, I’ll be writing a short post this week on it, Works for Me Wednesday.
I would LOVE this book as we too are stuck in a rut on the same veggies and fruit. We are planting our 3rd annual garden this year and I am EXCITED! Thanks for the great blog!
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Oh, I would love some help in moving away from just apples, oranges, pears, and berries! Great recommendation. Thanks for the chance at your giveaway!
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Great job at reducing your waste, very impressive! Thanks for the great giveaway!
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I so need to look into this book whether I win it or not. I am so clueless.
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I’d love to win the book! Another great one is Simply In Season, it has a little directory in the front of produce, how to know when its ripe, how to store it, etc, and then has recipes divided by seasons so you can use whats fresh at the time.
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That sounds like a great book! Nice recommendations too!
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Sign me up!
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I just started my first garden and would love to research of produce. Be blessed!!
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This looks like a great book! I am looking forward to starting my garden and also the farmer’s markets.
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Ooh, that book sounds great! We were introduced to a lot of different produce when we joined a CSA one year; it was great to try things that I had seen but never gotten up the nerve to try before.
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Just re-tweeted!
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The book sounds great, and I can’t wait to make my own compost bin!
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This sounds just like the book I could use!
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I could really use this book. My hubby is forever bringing home produce that he thinks looks good and I have no idea how to fix it! We have a garden (a rather large one thanks again to hubby) and I would love to read up on all the different veggies.
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I could really use a book like this! You sound just like me when it comes to picking out produce at the farmer’s market.
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Sounds fabulous! Thanks
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what a fun book! I’d love it.
does your grocery store take plastic bags for recycling? We’ve found that ours does and that has cut our waste even more!
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I would love a copy of this book!
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I would love to win this book. I was raised in a big family, so I can really relate to your blog!
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A whole book about PRODUCE? Love that! I’d love to win that book.
Heading off to twitter ’bout it.
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We still have 5 feet of snow on the ground but I am getting anxious to start gardening. I use small raised beds but would like to start canning veggies in a pressure canner…kind of nervous about that lol
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I had the pleasure of stumbling onto you website a few months ago. Thank goodness. You have inspired me in so many ways. Every morning I check your site before I start my day! This summer I’m going to become a SAHM to my 4 children. It’s all because of your site that I feel that’s even possible. I’ve been looking for an inexpensive way to start composting. Thanks for the tips.
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We are in an apartment at the moment so I have to be creative about what plants I grow, herbs are great but I am always looking for more ways to use veggies. Thanks.
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Wow! I want this book!
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Oh I would love to learn more about different fruits and veggies. I always buy the same things!
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I would love to win this book! I will be checking out the compost bin project as well. Looks like an answer to our compost problem! Thanks!
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Your container of egg shells looks just like mine. I started saving my eggshells to crush up for the garden. My aunt says that it helps your plants grow to put the crushed egg shells around them. Is that what you are doing too?
I like your homemade composter!!!
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I just started reading the All New Square Foot Garden book and love it. I would love to get my hands on this book as well.
Love you ideas for composting.
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What a great post. You’re inspiring me. We’ve been talking about a square foot garden this year too. How close to your house are you planning to build? Hubby is worried about the termites in the mid-Atlantic and the garden being too close to the house – attracting them.
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Yes, I have this book on hold at my library. I would love to own one
Thanks for the opportunity.
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