I SAW MY FIRST COPIES of “The Backyard Parables” today—and even though it’s not out officially till January 15, ‘tis the season to be generous. Here are two ways you can win one of the first books off the presses:
1. GOODREADS [DOT] COM, like a giant virtual book club, is hosting a giveaway of five copies of “The Backyard Parables.” You have to be a Goodreads member, which is free—and a great resource for any reader. I’m a member, and so are many of my author friends. Enter their giveaway by clicking here.
2. RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, I’ve got five books to share, too. Here’s how that will work:
I’ll use the random-number tool on random [dot] org to select one winner a day from December 26-30, at 6 PM Eastern daily. The rules:
- You must be a subscriber to my email newsletter to win. (If you’re not yet, it’s free—all you do is put your email in the little “bubble” at the top right of any page on the blog, just above the green frog, then click the gray “JOIN…” button below that…or click here to get started.
- To enter, comment below by telling me something (besides my book!) that was on your holiday-gift wishlist.
- You can only enter once.
get your own copy on publication day
WANT TO BE GUARANTEED you’ll have a copy of “The Backyard Parables” in your hands on publication date, January 15? Order now (specific details on shipping methods and arrival dates are at each vendor’s “The Backyard Parables” page, links below):
wishing for more time and longer warmer days
Merry green Christmas to everyone
An indoor composer and I got my wish as an early present! Now to see if vokashi really keeps it smelling good enough for indoors!
Some of the previous posts really touched my heart. Some were simple requests, others a little more challenging. I hope each and everyone of you sees your Christmas wishes come true. For me, a simple one, I would like some new, sturdy gardening gloves & for my husband & I to build some vegetable boxes. One that’s harder is to get some relief from the pain of Fibromayalgia. Thank you Margaret for sharing so much of your life. Viewing the pictures of your garden is such a pleasure.
Happy holly days.
Wishing for big smiles on my daughter’s face on Christmas morning!
Joy to the World!
On my holiday wishlist was to host a nice dinner party for my employees – something I’d never done before. We had it last night – good food, lots of fun, and a great way to transition from one workyear into another.
I asked for a manual pasta crank machine and a wooden ravioli rolling pin. Once the garden is dormant, it appears that I’m the one growing!
Would like a hand-held immersion blender fir making soups and frosty drinks!
on my wish list ~Swan Neck Hoe ($49-$89)
More work with less strain on the body. This hoe is sometimes also called a half-moon hoe, due to the blade shape.
An “out of the ballpark” wish is a new garden shed to replace the metal one that was here when we moved in.
My holiday wish list includes peace, health, and fulfillment for everyone dear to me, and to those outside our circle of family and friends. Stuff just isn’t on it this year, (though I wouldn’t mind at all winning a copy of your book. :~) The excerpt I read was wonderful.
I wish you great success with the book, Margaret. Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy, and bountiful New Year to you and yours.
Wishing for enough snow cover that the birds consider this the best house in the neighborhood all winter.
One thing on my gift wish list besides your book was a new job…and I got it! Now I just need The Backyard Parables for a perfect Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
My son’s family bought me several bags of tulips, in assorted reds and burgandy colors. at Thanksgiving. This was my Christmas gift! They were planted the day after Thanksgiving. Marcia
I wish for good health and the complete healing of my right foot, I fell in may and had a fracture on the left one (all well now) but now the other one is acting up ( go figure!) no fun limping, so, yes, counting my blessings I wish for healing and wellness. What a beautiful book cover Margaret! Cannot wait to dig in! May God’s blessings continue to enrich your life in all ways. Merry Christmas!
New work boots for the garden. My old ones have sprung a leak.
Happy Holidays to you, Margaret, and to Everyone!! My wish is for Peace on Earth in 2013.
Williams-Sonoma Smart Tools Kitchen Stand for Tablets
Margaret thanks for the chance to win your book! Even if I don’t that’s fine still will cozy up with cup of tea and prepare to enter garden “paradise.” Am fairly new to A Way to Garden site, but already immersed by your fabulous knowledge and the Spirit of your oneness with the earth and all it’s glory. How can I can thank enough or find the words to express the sharing of that Spirit. Miles don’t matter because I feel I’m walking with you through your gardens.
Christmas warm wishes to you and all of you no matter where you are!!!!!!
Snow…
I asked for some Hawaiian body scrub to help me escape our very cold winter.
All the help in all the forms there are to finding my way.
My wish list has 75 metres of irrigation hose to be able to reach the furtherest reaches of my garden in the country which is scorching in the summer heat in New Zealand. Last year on this day we were still reeling in Christchurch from yet another big quake 2 days before Christmas and touch wood it has been a year since our last big one. I have found my passion again for my garden after all the havoc and damage. Wishing you a warm safe and Happy Christmas while we swelter in our predicted 31 degrees Celsius for Christmas Day.
The only thing on my wish list was a smart phone but my husband gave it to me for our 40th wedding anniversary last month. Now I’m just wishing for “Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men”.
I’ve asked for the book “Herbal Tea Gardens”!
I’m wishing for a surprise visit from my son, he lives in Oregon and we live in Michigan! However, I know it’s possible with a lot of prayer.
My wish is for a peace-filled Christmas day throughout the world — even if it’s only for just one day.
My holiday wish list includes lots of books. Ok, so you didn’t want me to say that your book was on my list, but it is. I’m also wishing for Katrina Kenison’s latest, Magical Journeys, and the newest book of Mary Oliver Poetry. I’ve had Tara Brach’s Radical Acceptance on my list for some time, and I’ve added World Enough and Time Enough by Christian McEwan. I think this year I am going to indulge myself!
Continued stamina so I can keep gardening indefinitely. Oh, and cloning myself might not hurt, either!
A hand-knitted blanket from a local store!
I learned most from your guide to underplanting last spring…so much so that I limbed up a 60 foot bald cypress and went to town! My Christmas wishlist is just for whatever will comfort those in Newtown CT…We raised our children in Redding, so that was our “hood”…… and I can’t think of anything else…….
A charm of a little girl for my bracelet. I have a new granddaughter
… wishing for
* my daughter to find her way in life
* peace in my decision to retire early and move forward in life (much like you did!)
Blessings and thank you for being such an inspiration to all!
I’m wishing for a good snow cover that will last till spring. And I’m wishing for safe travel for all my friends and myself as we all travel to Arkansas to reconnect with one another after 40-some-odd years apart. Your book would be icing on the cake.
Thanks for your interesting ideas and beautiful photos. My wishlist is for massages! for my still aching back and neck. I hope I get straightened out before next spring.
I wish for world peace – is it possible? Can it be?
My wish has been the same for several years… a yard makeover for our low income senior residence. It could be so nice but no one in charge seems to care… I live vicariously in the wonderful garden of your website… Thank You
PEACE, KINDNESS, SHARING AND CARING FOR OUR FELLOW HUMANS, AMAZING ANIMALS AND PRECIOUS EARTH.
I actually have ‘snow’ on my wish list for this year… nasty drought conditions here in Iowa and we will need plenty of white stuff before spring. Merry Christmas, Margaret
I’ve been wanting a really good hand saw since I think I must’ve lost my Felco one while unloading my truck… I just bought myself a small folding Okatsune one…. The ARS pole pruning shears are still on my wish list after using a friends one recently
Some time out in my garden before having to go back to the job.
My wish is that all my loved ones (family and friends) and all their loved ones will be happy, healthy, and financially secure throughout the coming years.
My husband and I stopped exchanging gifts a long time ago. I’m sure my kids/spouses have all chipped in to buy us something special. Wishing for a healthy and happy 2013 for each and every family member….and some tiny sense of peace for all those who lost their loved ones in CT.
I wished for a Kitchenaid mixer so I can learn to make bread
Peace, and far less violence, both around the world, and here in the U.S.
Love to share my enthusiasm for your blog w/ friends… and got gardener spouse Elvin McDonald’s book (you mentioned it) and myself “Smitten Kitchen” as you introduced me to it, too. Waiting on your new book, too! Love reading about Jack.. Years of annual trips to VT through your part of NY heightens interest in your stories.
I’ve been wishing to see my first grandchild. He was due on Christmas Eve, but he arrived last week, healthy and beautiful. What a wonderful Christmas for my husband and me, to watch our daughter and her husband starting their own sweet family. (If I could ever get her interested in gardening as well, that would be a true Christmas miracle– but we can’t have it all!)
Merry Christmas to you all.
A cocktail shaker! I have your two other books and love them so I’m looking forward to the new one.
Thank you for your newsletter.
On my wish list this year was to have new evergreen trees for our recently purchased home. It is all hardwoods and would be so pretty with winter interest.
I love to garden more than anything and love reading your column. Can’t wait for it to come. My next wish is for there to be no hungry children in the world this year at Christmas.
The only thing on my Christmas wish list is to get the back window/hatch back of my car fixed so I can get my car back on the road and keep me going to work. We had 80+pmh winds come through and the pineish tree out front split down the middle. Half of it was laying on the house, the other half on top of my car. God was watching over me and my car, the car could have been worse. The tree could have gone through the roof and gotten me on the couch. Instead it was like He lightly laid it down. I didn’t even know the tree was down til my neighbor came knocking at 5 AM to see if I was ok in here. He also worked it out so landlord’s insurance is going to pay for it, at first we thought they weren’t and I only have liability on my car.
My wishes are to see how happy our Grandchildren are when they see our gifts to them!