Troy-Bilt Snow Thrower Giveaway

In honor of Chicago's first real stick-to-the-ground snow of 2011 and in general holiday merriment, I'm giving away a snow thrower courtesy of Troy-Bilt.  This is the Troy-Bilt Storm 2410, a two-stage snow thrower with an electric push-button start.  It will clear snow drifts up to 21 inches high at a width of 24 inches at a time.

I don't own this or any other snow thrower so I can't comment on its performance but I did find this cute video of a guy clearing his driveway using this model.  It looks like it works well.  But, now I can't get this song out of my head!



To enter the contest post your worst snow-shoveling experience and I'll pick a winner at random.  The contest is open to people living in the contiguous United States only.

This contest will close on Friday December 16th at 7:00 pm CST.  I will contact the winner directly so please make sure I have a way to reach you.  If I cannot contact you within 24 hours I will select another winner.  The snow thrower will be shipped to you directly from Troy-Bilt so you will need to share your address with them after I notify you that you have won.

Good Luck!

Update: Congrats Benjamin Vogt, winner of the Troy-Bilt Storm 2410 snow thrower!  Check out Benjamin's blog The Deep Middle.

Contest: Troy-Bilt Cordless Battery-Powered Pole Saw

Thanks to the fine folks at Troy-Bilt I'm giving away one of their cordless battery-powered pole saws.  The saw extends from 5-8 feet and comes with a lithium battery and charger.  For my information check out my review of it.  And for a good laugh, watch the video below of me actually using it.




To enter the contest, simply leave a comment telling us why you need a pole saw like this and I'll pick a winner using a random number generator Tuesday October 4th at 8:00 CST.  The product will be shipped directly to you from the manufacturer so you won't need to give me your mailing address, but you will need to give it to them.

Note: Only folks in the contiguous US may enter. (sorry, international friends) Please make sure you enter the contest using an account that is connected to an email address or leave your email address in the comment.  If I cannot contact you to inform you that you are the winner, I'll unfortunately need to pick a different winner.

Good Luck!

Spin Bin Compost Tumbler Contest Winner

The winner of the Spin Bin Compost Tumbler is Mike O'Keefe of Oak Park, IL.  Mike, please email me ASAP so that I can coordinate the delivery of your new composter.  Congrats, Mike!

Mike says...

"My wood frame compost has seen it's last days. Almost all of my lawn, front and back, has been dug up and replaced with veggies and perennials and they need great soil. My family of 5 have lots of good scraps and we have been digging holes throughout our garden and filling them since the loss of our compost bin. And I live in Oak Park!"


Thank you Clean Air Gardening for donating the compost tumbler for the contest.  I'm really enjoying mine so far and I'm sure Mike will love his.  


And thank you all for participating.  I've never had anywhere close to this many comments!  It's been fun.  

Spin Bin Composter Giveaway

On May 21st, my blog turned 3 years old - I can't believe it.  You can see a picture of my first garden here.  I still love the upsidedown tomato cages which a reader corrected me on, thankfully.

To celebrate my blog's birthday, I'm giving away this great compost tumbler, courtesy of Clean Air Gardening.  It's made from 100% recycled plastic and holds 60 gallons.  These closed system composters are great for food scraps, especially if you're too afraid of mice (or God forbid, rats) to throw them into an open compost pile like I am.

If you'd like to enter the contest and you live in the 48 contiguous United States, leave a comment here telling me why you need this composter and I'll select a winner randomly from all the comments submitted.  The deadline for submissions will be Friday June 4th at 5:00 pm central standard time.  If you win, the company will ship the composter directly to your house.  So, please make sure that you either leave your email in the comment section, or that your profile links to something with an email address.  I'll announce the winner here as soon as I'm able to notify them.

Clean Air Gardening also sent me a Spin Bin to review and I'm super excited about it.  My husband says it looks like a spaceship but all those bolts along the seam remind me of Herman Munster for some reason.  I've already assembled mine and placed it in its new home right in the middle of my kitchen garden.  I'll be posting a full review as soon as I get some greens and browns in there and see how it works.

See high tech video below for a spinning demonstration.  And, Good Luck!

Cafe Ba Ba Reeba Las Vegas: The Tomato Trip

Remember that tomato contest I won back in August 2009? Well we finally took our free trip to Las Vegas. What a great time! As it turns out, gambling is way less stressful when your airfare, hotel and dinner are paid for by somebody else.

We stayed at the Paris Hotel which we found very comfortable. If you're thinking of heading to Vegas, check them out. They have a really nice spa which I spent nearly an entire day at spending all the money I'd won playing blackjack the first two nights. Did you know that you can buy a little Black Jack card to tell you exactly what to play no matter what your hand is? Thanks for that info, Dad!

The weather in Vegas was not hot but I didn't need a coat and that's about all I needed considering the cold temperatures and snow we've had in Chicago this winter. And I even saw Snapdragons growing on the strip!

The Show Me Your Tomatoes contest was hosted Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, a great tapas restaurant with locations in Chicago and in Las Vegas. The last night we were there, we headed down to Cafe Ba Ba Vegas which is located across from the Wynn hotel on the strip. We felt like rock stars because the folks at Lettuce Entertain You made our reservations for us - we just had to show up. My husband had never eaten tapas and since we're both rather picky, I was concerned about being able to find dishes we'd enjoy. We ordered nearly every non-meat item on the menu. And it was all amazing! Our two favorites were the Walnut Date salad and the Caramel Crunch desert.

After dinner, the manager, Michael (whom we'd never met), walked up to our table and said to my husband "So, are you the guy who was mad and freezing cold at the contest?" He had obviously read my blog which really caught me off guard. Michael and our waitress Kate (sorry for the bad quality picture) talked to us for while before we left and we found them to be extremely warm and friendly. Friendly, and good food. Score!

Thank you Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for hosting this contest and for the free trip to Vegas. I'll definitely be back this summer with my tasty tomatoes!

Tomato Contest: Winner!

On Saturday I entered the Show Me Your Tomatoes contest hosted by this awesome Tapas restaurant called Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. I'd first read about the contest on Chicago Garden and since I had what I thought was the ugliest tomato (one of the contest categories) in town growing in my backyard, I decided to enter. And since there were two tickets to Las Vegas being awarded for the Tastiest Tomato, I thought I'd be crazy not to enter that, too. I've got 18 tomato plants growing in my garden for God's sake! I bought some from our community garden, some from Chicago Tomato Fest plant sale and a few from Jewel grocery because they sold organic heirlooms again this year and, well, they were right there while I was shopping. I had no choice!

Big Ugly is a Brandywine tomato grown organically by Forest Park Community Garden for their plant sale. I didn't do anything special to this particular plant and if you've grown Heirloom Brandywine before, you know they have a tendency to get pretty mutated. But, the flavor! Holy smokes they are amazing. In the days leading up to the contest I had a lot of fun showing the picture of Big Ugly to people and watching them grimace. My husband was so creeped out by it that he would only agree to go to the contest with me if I "covered that thing up so that he didn't have to look at it again."

I'd planned to enter a Heirloom Mortgage Lifter (I'm growing it for the first time this year) for the tastiest because I think the flavor is really interesting. But, Saturday morning when I went out to harvest the Mortgage, I was horrified to find that there was not a single ripe one that didn't have some flaw. Thank you, squirrels! But, I did find a couple of nice looking Heirloom Cherokee Purple (pictured above) tomatoes. I'm growing them for the first time this year, too, but the problem was that I had not tasted the Cherokee Purple myself. The first ones were literally just ripe on Saturday morning. So, while I'd read that these tomatoes are one of the most delicious heirlooms you can grow, I had no personal evidence of that.

Cafe Ba Ba Reeba has hosted the Show Me Your Tomatoes contest for four years. We found all the staff extremely warm and friendly and we'll definitely be going back there for dinner soon. The judges were Lyle Allen, Executive Director of Chicago Green Market, WGN's Mr. Fix-it, Lou Manfredini and Doug Tomek, owner of Uncle Dougie's. All very nice gentlemen and as I watched them taste the tomatoes, I could tell that they really love and savor tomatoes, just like me.

Just before the judging started, I was admiring all the entries in the various categories (Ugliest, Famous, Biggest, Heaviest and Tastiest) when a lady asked from her table "which one is yours". When I pointed out Big Ugly, she said "yep, that's the winner!" I was pretty confident.

Then, after I thought the entry deadline had already passed, a lady walked by me with a really big crazy looking tomato and I groaned "oh boy, I may have some competition."

Let me just cut to the chase - they did not call my name for ugliest tomato. This late entry won that prize and dinner for four at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. I was pretty disappointed and to be honest, just wishing they'd hurry up and finish so we could go home (it was really cold on Saturday and we'd been sitting there freezing for a couple of hours by then.)

When they called my name for tastiest tomato, it was like I'd won the lottery. I screamed and my husband jumped up and high-five'd me. As I walked toward the front to claim my prize (round trip tickets for 2 to Las Vegas including 3 nights/4 days hotel stay and dinner for two at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, Las Vegas), the judges and the restaurant owner seemed really happy. "I would like to introduce the 2009 Tomato Queen." They put a leaf tiara on me and snapped a couple of pictures of me and the chef. I really never dreamed I'd win for tastiest. In my head I'm still a novice gardener - I'm lucky to get anything to grow much less grow something that is tastier than like 15 other tomatoes probably grown by much more experienced gardeners. It was the happiest my husband and I have been in quite a while. And it's been a rough few months so we really needed this.

A word of advice about tomato contests - know the variety you are entering! The girl who won for Heaviest Tomato was asked what variety it was by the crowd and she said "I have no idea." I didn't think too much of it until my husband told me later that, after I won and somebody in the crowd asked me the variety; they were all "well at least she knows what kind it is!"

I don't think I've ever won any contest where skill was involved. It's an amazing feeling, especially considering it involved a tomato, the most perfect food on the planet.

Ugly Tomato Contest: Big Ugly Brandywine

Here's a short video of my entry for the Ugliest Tomato at the Show Me Your Tomatoes contest hosted by Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. This is a Heirloom Brandywine tomato grown organically from seed by Forest Park Community Garden for their plant sale.

You can also check out Chicago Garden for a sneak peak at the results. I plan to write a full post about tomorrow.

And The Chocolate Goes To...

Thank you all who participated in the Dagoba Organic Chocolate contest. 

To enter, I asked that you leave a comment to tell me your favorite My Skinny Garden post.  This was so much fun for me!  In addition to giving away chocolate courtesy of the folks over at Dagoba, it was sort of like the People's Choice awards.  It was fun to see what posts people like the most and also gave me some ideas about the kinds of topics I should focus on in the future. 

Winners along with their favorite MSG post

Carol - Still Afraid To Dig

Mr. McGregor's Daughter - Garden Blogger's Geography Project: Forest Park, IL.

Camille Platt- Homemade Composter

Thanks to the rest of you for participating, too!  I wish I had chocolate for everybody!

Elizabeth Licata - The Garden: Earwig Defender Extraordinaire

Katie - No TGIF For Rabbit

Cindy, MYOK - Flawless Brandywine Takes Bronze In Garden Olympics

MA and Buddhist in the West- Chocolates and Gardening and Contests, Oh My!

Blackswamp Girl (Kim) and Tory - When A Tree Falls On A House

Heather - Bastard Garden Flower Arrangement

Debra C. - Watermelon and Worms (not sure if this is the one you are referring to, Debra)

GB - Weekend Warriors: Making Planter Boxes With Garden Buddy

Agnes (the sister of the Garden Buddy) - Pergola Part 3

Carol, MMD, Camille - please email me your home address and I'll get your chocolate in the mail to you right away.

Technorati Tags: dagoba chocolate,contests,gardening

Chocolate And Gardening And Contests - Oh My!

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!

Technorati Tags: dagoba chocolate,contests,gardening,full circle sustainability,organic chocolate

Happy Friday!

I'm cooking up a contest that will start next week. There will be prizes, very delicious prizes!

Check back next week for details (and possible clues if I get creative) and have yourself a fabulous weekend.

By the way, what's your favorite day of the week, and why? Mine is Friday. Friday evening, specifically. I love that it's the end of the work week and I know that for 2 straight mornings I don't need to be anywhere on time. Our new Friday night tradition is homemade pizza and fruit smoothies.