Adventures in Backyard Farming: A New Chapter + A Giveaway

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Tree Top, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #TreeTopInc #raisinggoodapples http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Unless you’ve been reading my blog for more than two years, you probably don’t know that I used to write a fun little series about all of the crazy backyard farming adventures we had in our tiny, postage stamp-sized backyard at our old house in the suburbs. I unintentionally took a huge break from writing about anything farm life-related because building the Dream House became all-consuming. But now the house is finished, we’ve moved in and gotten settled, and sunshine and warm weather are upon us. It’s time to start the next chapter!

As I mentioned, our old backyard was teeny tiny, but we managed to outfit it with a little collection of fruit trees, a handful of raised garden beds, and quite a few chickens. But that didn’t leave much room for running and jumping and playing. One of the big reasons we’ve been so excited to move out to the country is to give our kids room to play catch, fly kites, roll down grassy hills, and run to their hearts’ content, while still having plenty of space for a shady orchard and a prolific garden.

We spent the weekend plotting out our new garden. One of our neighbors scoffed a little when he saw us marking off the boundaries (it’s on the big side), but we seriously want to grow all the fruits and vegetables we can. Potatoes, strawberries, peas, corn, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, blueberries, radishes, pumpkins, squash, spinach…basically all of them. Our kids helped us measure and mark the edges with kitchen twine and landscaping flags (so high-tech!), and my husband placed dozens of railroad ties to terrace the gentle slope of the land. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we couldn’t be more excited to start a whole new series of adventures in backyard farming!

And now, I have a fun giveaway for you so you can get your kids gardening this Spring! We are big fans of Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches in our family. We stock up at our local Albertsons grocery store and keep a constant supply on-hand. They’re convenient and easy to pack, and they’re made with 100% USA-grown apples from the heart of Washington’s apple country. Through their “Raising Good Apples” campaign, Tree Top is partnering with the National Gardening Association’s KidsGardening.org to help educate kids on gardening. For every box of Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches purchased through 5/31, Tree Top will donate $1 to help KidsGardening.org to help build and grow youth gardens. And Tree Top is giving away a Kid’s Gardening Kit to one lucky Lulu the Baker reader this week! The winner will receive a “My Gardening Journal”, red Tubtrug pail, kids gardening gloves, watering can, soft touch hand tool set, Favorite Five sprouting seeds, and Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches. The giveaway will run from Monday, April 20th through midnight on Monday, April 27th. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter, and good luck!