April 7th – 16th, 2016
Hello and thank you for stopping by my ‘home’ on the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop. Make sure to read to the bottom for prize info!
My name is Stacey, and I love gardening and canning my own vegetables. My tip may be a bit obvious, but I’m still going to share it for two reasons. 1. It *may* be new to someone out there and 2. even if it’s not new, I want you to know even for avid gardeners, it’s okay if you didn’t grow it yourself!
Do you maybe not have room to plant that garden you’d love to so you can enjoy the fresh taste and benefits of homegrown veggies? Or do you not have the time a garden requires? Maybe, you have the room, and the time, but for some reason things didn’t grow as you’d hoped/planned?
That happened to me last year. None of my pickle plants grew well enough to produce, and it was too late to replant. Because dill pickles are a favorite of my hubby and youngest son, I went to the local vegetable farm and ordered 45lbs of canning pickles so we didn’t have to forego them for a whole year. When I received a bag of pre-washed and pre-scrubbed pickles, and was able to can them all in 1 day instead of 4 or 5 different days of small batches, any guilt I had for not growing them myself completely disappeared. 🙂
So my TIP is…if you find you are not able to garden for whatever reason, visit your local farmers markets or find a local vegetable farm so you can still enjoy fresh from the garden while supporting a local business!
It’s not yet quite planting season here in Wisconsin, so here are a couple spring books you can enjoy before the work in the garden begins. If you’re in an area where you’ve already planted, relax between weedings!
Tessa Sullivan figures she can handle a no-strings-attached fling with the handsome stranger she meets at her sister’s Spring wedding. After all, she doesn’t believe in love. Or so she tells herself.
Trevor Jackson’s painful past leaves him adamant he’ll never open his heart again. But a week of uncomplicated fun with the beautiful bridesmaid? Now that’s an arrangement he can work with.
All’s well that ends well—a mutually enjoyable relationship that will end as simply as it started—until someone breaks the rules and falls in love.
Sometimes love happens when you least expect it…
Lora Howell is stunned to find out her husband cheated on her before his death, but drinking too much and picking up a one night stand to get back at him might not have been the smartest thing to do. Facing the stupidity of her actions, the thirty-two year old mother of two recognizes the emptiness in her heart can’t be filled by sex—especially not with the town playboy whose reputation for loving-and-leaving is legendary.
Charismatic SWAT Officer Shane Parker was perfectly happy with his carefree bachelor ways until that one night with the beautiful widow. Now he can’t get the woman out of his head, and the more time he spends with Lora and her young boys, the higher the risk to his heart. Convincing her he’s ready to settle down becomes the most important negotiation of his life—until one last unexpected bombshell threatens everything.
My Blog Stop prize is a set of 4 Romancing Wisconsin Wine Charms. You can enter by liking my Stacey Joy Netzel Author page on FB
For the details of the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop Grand Prize, click here: http://diannevenetta.com/events/
Best of luck with all the prizes, and to enter for the Grand Prize, make sure to visit all the authors on the blog hop!
~ Stacey
Dianne Venetta
We love to can Hungarian Wax peppers. They’re great with pizza or fresh bread.
Zana712
The wine charms sound great for my friends and I! Thanks for the opportunity to put my name in!
Throuthehaze
I love buying fresh veggies from the farmers market 🙂
Lori H
Happy Spring! I’m looking forward to reading your books 🙂
Tia
I love that your tip does not require work. Some of us have a hard time gardening. I love to visit the local farmer market. Great tip!
Zana712
Thanks for the giveaway from one Wisconsinite to another!
Catherine Chant
Great tip about local farmer’s markets. I love visiting the ones in our area. Produce always tastes better than store bought. cchant86 @ yahoo.com
Amber Ag
Thank you! 🙂 Visiting a farmer’s market is definitely a smart idea if you want great food, but are having problems growing your own. The food is always good 🙂
kissedbymidnight AT gmail.com
Anne
Thanks for the tip and participating.
acm05atjuno.com
Savannah Miller
I adore our local farmers market! When I can’t get it from my own backyard they are my first choice! Everything is always so fresh 🙂
Darla
Just putting down that I visited here 🙂
Alisha Sienkiel
Thanks for the giveaway!
nancy burgess
jean60212@gmail.com Thanks for the gardening tip.
Michele Hayes
Liked your page, thanks for the chance to win. (mybeach52 at yahoo dot com)
Jeanna Massman
I love farmers’ markets but I didn’t know about ordering canning pickles!
jeanna_massman at hotmail dot com
Beth T.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Michelle Sears
I made a ton of pickles last year – dill and bread and butter. And yes, it is a pain to wait for enough to ripen so you can have enough to process! I’m glad you were able to get a bunch from a nearby farm.
Linda Romer
Thank you Stacey, we grow potatoes and green beans and flowers. I love fresh vegetables and get a delivery every two weeks. I love to support our local growers. Thank you Linda Romer isisthe12th (at)gmail (dot)com
Michelle Sears
Hmm – I wrote a whole comment about how we can too and I did a bunch of dill and bread and butter pickles last year but it doesn’t look like it stuck! 🙁 trying again…
blueberrycrisp@gmail dot com
Amber Ag
I think I commented here, but I’m not sure so sorry for the possible duplicate.
Thank you 🙂 We have a great market in the city where I live.
kissedbymidnight AT gmail.com
Richard Brandt
Farmer’s markets are great in any case because sometimes you just can’t do it all yourself!
Deborah
I love your website! And I love pickles!
Happy Gardening!
Deborah
Love having a vegetable garden. Also love buying produce from the local farmer markets.
Happy Spring!
sprocket 215 at g mail dot com
amy
I love the farmers market. You have so many options and such fresh food.
amybowens34(at) yahoo(dot) com
BookAttict
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth(at)bookattict(dot)com
ELF
I don’t have a FB account, but I agree, the local farmers’ markets have great produce!
elewkf1 at yahoo dot com