If I had to name a food that I love as much as I do gardening, it'd be chocolate, hands down. Spaghetti is a close second So imagine the delight when I discovered Dagoba Organic Chocolate, an organic chocolate company who has aligned themselves with gardening.
Check out their great Seed The Day website complete with free seeds and a place to tell them what flavor of chocolate bar they ought to make next. There's also a spot to submit your garden photo (look for my giant Romanesco Broccoli).
Dagoba Organic Chocolate is a company who is "committed to creating a deeply satisfying chocolate in a socially responsible way." Doesn't this sound too good to be true? They do it through their Full Circle Sustainability initiative which you can read about here.
Here's what Dagoba's Brand Ambassador, an avid gardener, wrote when I asked her to contribute a few words for my blog.
"Dagoba Organic Chocolate was founded with a passion for exceptional cacao and respect for the land and people that nurtured it. Today, that passion still drives our company and inspired us to plant 60,000 cacao trees in Costa Rica to improve economic opportunity for small farmers, restore native biodiversity and provide habitat for wildlife. The urban gardening movement has similar aspects - culinary adventure, beautifying our surroundings and contributing to the sustainability of our communities - all things we are passionate about. So it made perfect sense for us to create "Seed the Day" as a way to link our efforts in Costa Rica with the lives of chocolate lovers back in the U.S. It's also connected directly to our chocolate. Dagoba has always infused our chocolate with herbs and botanicals such as lavender, mint, rosemary, and more recently seeds and other delicious natural flavors such as lemon and ginger. These are all things people can grow and explore in their home gardens. We're happy to give away free chocolate and seeds. We hope they inspire people to go on their own culinary adventures, exploring exotic pairings and combinations with what they grow."
- Liz Kaplan, brand ambassador for Dagoba Organic Chocolate
Speaking of "giving away chocolate" - I'm giving away some chocolate! Thank you Dagoba for sending these awesome Organic Chocolate Bars for me to share with my readers. But, I gotta tell you, when I opened that box and that mind-blowing chocolate smell reached my nose, I seriously considered eating it all myself.
Here's a list of what I've got to give away, thank you Kim V!
Mint 59% - The refreshment of mint, with a hint of rosemary for relaxation. Perfect for after dinner.
Seeds 68% - Rich dark chocolate is studded with healthy, flavorful hemp, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and finished with a sprinkling of Balinese Sea Salt.
Lemon-Ginger 68% - Crystallized ginger and lemon is refreshing and rejuvenating.
Super Fruit 74% - Acai, goji berries, and currants offer natural antioxidants and delicious flavor.
Lavender Blueberry 59% - Lavender instills calm, blueberries offer antioxidants. A subtle floral experience.
New Moon 74% - Pure bittersweet perfection. One of Dagoba’s best seller.
Xocolatl 74% - Chilies, nibs, spices, vanilla. The Aztec’s enchanting cacao elixir.
The contest is simple. Just leave a comment to tell me what your favorite post on My Skinny Garden was. I'll pick 3 winners from a random drawing of the entries and each winner will receive 2 Dagoba Organic Chocolate bars. (I pick the flavors but I will check with the winners to make sure they're not allergic to any of the ingredients - there will be no death-by-chocolate on my watch. All bars are Kosher) I'll draw the winners next Friday September 12th. Don't wanna bother with the contest? You can order these online or pick them up at your local Whole Foods Market.
PS I've decided my new dream job is "Chocolate Ambassador". Dagoba, call me!
That's easy, hands down the Rabbit post.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even have to think about this one.
I can't find the link but it is the post where you wrote about going out front one Sunday morning where you just started digging out sod to widen the front border. Hey, how come we don't see any pictures of the front garden on your blog?
ReplyDeleteCarol, May Dreams Gardens
I liked the post on your bronze medalist in the Gardening Olympics. It was nice to hear that someone can grow Brandywine!
ReplyDeletewell heck, my fave has to be this post on Chocolate! Yes, a garden post devoted to chocolate and sustainablility. all good things in one place!
ReplyDeleteno wait, i'm not anonymous. It's me MA in Idaho!
ReplyDeleteYou're going to hate me, but my favorite post is probably "A Tree Falls on a House." I giggle every time I think about you saying, "Oh, no, the tree..." in a small voice, while your DH freaks out behind you. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd then at the end: "Now millions of carpenter ants have been displaced and I'm sure they are finding their way into the house to eat me in my sleep."
(Really, you can't hate me for this, Gina. It's your own fault you're so darn funny--and are a good enough writer to show it!)
By the way, if I win, I volunteer for something wacky. Lemon-ginger or lavender blueberry sound great... I've had ginger chocolate and blueberry chocolate before, and both were delicious. And if you didn't get one of each kind for your own consumption, I think you should be able to break a piece off of each to try before you send them out! lol.
Chocolate ambassador is my dream job too! My favorite Skinny Garden post isn't about gardening, its the Where in the World post about Forest Park & the circus train wreck monument. You did your homework on that one & it was very well written. (BTW, I'm allergic to lemons, orange & strawberry.)
ReplyDeletei like the homemade composter... good picture... good advice.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the specific post, but the one where you write about how much you enjoy my bastard garden cracked me up. But I enjoy all your writing. The post that Kim referenced with the oh no, the tree made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. And I love mint should I win!
ReplyDeleteI like the post where you talk about the old house that you lived in back in the Memphis days....mainly because it brought back memories. Seems like a lifetime ago (and maybe it was)!
ReplyDeleteOh, and chocolate ---- surprise me. I never met a chocolate I didn't love.
Debra C.
My favorite is the "Weekend Warriors" episode and trying to build cedar planter boxes. We were working in the blazing hot sun, kept burning our fingers on the screws (instead of predrilling holes like normal people, we used the screw to predrill to avoid cracking the wood and then reversed it before screwing the pieces together) and kept forgetting which was was reverse on the drill. It was the funniest moment ever!!!! Didn't you almost pee in your pants from laughing so hard?
ReplyDeleteGB
I can't pick a favorite...I just love how you always keep it real. And how your sense of humor always shines through. Lavender blueberry sounds very interesting...
ReplyDeleteThis one is my fav! it combines gardening, organics and chocolate - which are three of my fav topics!
ReplyDeleteI think I will go check out that choc site - it sounds interesting.
Okay, don't take this wrong but my favorite post was the one where the tree fell on the house. Not bc. I like disasters but it reminded me of the time I comforted a little boy during a thunderstorm.
ReplyDeleteHe said, "What if a tree falls on my house? My mom is there with the new baby."
I said, "Oh, honey, that won't happen. No tree is going to fall on your house."
Of course, when I returned him to his house one hour later --- you guessed it, a giant tree was in his living room! Luckily, mom and baby were safe. And I learned not to be so dismissive of kids' fears.
The kid still reminds me of 'the time Tory was wrong about the tree on the house".
Tory
The earwig post in July!
ReplyDelete