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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Giveaway – Womanswork Gloves, Gardening Books, Seeds and More

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
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garden giveaway

I was working in the garden the other day planting more seeds for my fall and winter crops when I had the idea for this giveaway.  Maybe it will motivate some of you to get out there and try planting a fall garden this year.

This garden giveaway not only includes some of my favorite things, but it has a retail value of over $150!

the best gardening books

This giveaway includes:

womanswork gloves

If you have never tried on a pair of Womanswear garden gloves before, they are awesome. I especially like how the elbow length cuff has a stretchy pull cord at the end for cinching the cuff around your arm or shirt sleeves. It comes in handy when your pulling weeds or moving plants with creepy crawly bugs all over. Plus the palm is made of a durable synthetic leather and are making them easy to work with.

national heirloom exposition ryan

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite thing about gardening is.

Just answer that one question and you’re entered to win. Life’s pretty complicated sometimes, so I like to keep things simple around here.

Rules

1 entry per person/ip address. If you cheat, you will totally be disqualified.
This giveaway ends Sunday, September 15th, 2013 @9 pm PST and the winners will be announced in the Tuesday, September 17th, 2013 edition of Mornings with Mavis. You will be notified via email and have 48 hours to claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize within 48 hours, the prize will be forfeited.

Good Luck! I hope you win!

♥ Mavis

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This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

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Comments

    • My favourite thing about gardening is the food! Feeling closer to my Opa who taught me, in my early days of gardening everything he knew, and he always had extra rows of peas (my fave!) for me to tend to.

    • My favorite thing about gardening?? How therapeutic it can be!! Brings the stress level down and the happiness level up!!

      • I just walked in from planting seeds, I live in the deep south and I am sweating like crazy…..I love the smell of the dirt, the sweat pouring down my back and watching the little seedlings pop up. I love to eat my delicious veggies as well, nothing like it 🙂

    • I never knew how much gardening would mean to me, until I had my baby daughter, was a stay at home mom, and was going insane with lack of time for myself. That is how I found myself outside practically in the dark, under the corner streetlight, digging up the grass and turning up the soil for my street corner garden and my sanity. That was 16 years ago , one more child, much more digging and now at least, my son may be following in my footsteps. Knowing that my kids are learning about local produce, sustainability, and environmental awareness is my unexpected favorite thing about gardening.

    • My favorite thing about gardening is the incredible miracle of sticking a seed in dirt and watching a living thing rise up to produce and give glory.
      Such great joy and it never gets old….

  2. I constantly get new ideas of what to plant “next time”. And should i move my garden to this side of the house or that side! I love to garden.

  5. Wow, those gloves would really take my weeding chores up a notch! Favorite things about gardening: weeding and slug catching!

  8. I love knowing that I have been involved from the beginning with the seeds to the end product,the vegetables…A s a trained Chef, I love growing all the vegetables I use to prepare the meals for My Family and Friends

  9. My favorite thing(s) about gardening is seeing the plants come to life and I also love how it makes me feel working in the garden, even though it is hard work, I feel like it relieves a bit of stress!

  10. My favorite thing about gardening is the sense of accomplishment that comes from nurturing a plant through every stage, from seed to harvest. I also love feeling that I am doing something that my ancestors did. In a way it makes me feel closer to them.

  11. I just get so giddy knowing that I had a hand in growing what I’m eating, even though I know it was God who did all the hard work.

  14. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to eat delicious organic food that tastes a lot better than store bought.

  15. The greatest thing about gardening is watching the transformation from seed to something that provides our sustenance! I love it!

  16. My favorite thing about gardening is feeling close to my dad, who always had a great garden, and helped teach me to appreciate everything about growing my own food.

  17. This was my first summer of gardening. My garden produced tomatoes and green peppers. My apple tree I planted 4 years ago also produced its first 2 apples ever. It was so exciting for my 8 year old, 4 year old, and myself to watch everything grow and then be able to pick it. We would love to win and learn how to plant a winter garden! I am not sure where to begin when it comes to a winter garden so this would sure help. Thank you!

  18. Inspiration is the most wonderful part of gardening for me. It touches every aspects from meticulously planning and then changing it all on a whim so you can make a tea sipping book reading hideaway among all the growing goodies. Inspiration as you examine the subtle colors and shapes emerging as your garden grows and transforms. I have to say my most giddy inspiration comes from what I have a chance to create in the kitchen from a seasons hard work.

  19. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing exactly where my food comes from and it is nice to have the only hands handle my family’s food is my own, I know where my hands have been 😉

  20. How can I pick just ONE favorite thing about gardening?? It would have to be the sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing that I am growing healthy food for my family right in my backyard. I get to see my plants grow from little seeds to producing veggies and I know EXACTLY what conditions they were grown in. Nothing beats that!

  21. My absolute favorite thing about gardening is the feelings it gives me. It makes me feel connected to the land and in touch with mother nature. Through out the growing season there are so many emotional highs and lows. The giddiness when your seedlings pop up. The sadness when a catepillar has devoured a whole plant seemly overnight. The triumph of the perfect crop of tomatoes or peppers. Anger because I goofed up and underwatered or overwatered or did something wrong. The utter relief when winter kicks in and you finally get to rest. I can’t imagine life without gardening.

  22. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to do something fun and feed hungry people at the same time. 500 plus pounds and counting so far this year donated. woohoo

  23. Gardening is wonderful therapy, relieve stress, lowers blood pressure and it is a “spiritual experience”.

  25. Knowing that I grew it myself, and it has no chemicals or pesticides. There is nothing better than a fresh picked tomato that has just ripened in the 90 degree sun. Warm and delicious.

  26. My favorite thing about gardening is my fascination while watching these wonderful things grow from an itty bitty seed! Of course, I also love that I can feed my family, the food is organic and that I’m in charge of what goes into our bellies.

  27. What I really love about gardening is how therapeutic it is for me. It’s helps me relax and it’s rewarding. How does the saying go “Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes”. 😉

  28. I don’t have a favorite thing about gardening, I am still learning. I DO like seeing my efforts become fruitful though. 🙂

  29. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing my kids, 4 and 16 months out there watching and learning! They love seeing the plants grow and get so excited when we eat things from the garden it amazes them!

  30. My favorite thing about gardening is the produce! What we wait for all year… but I love the smell of the garden, too, and giving over-abundance away to people–that’s pretty nice, too. 🙂
    Sarah M

  31. I LOVE being able to pull fresh veggies for my family! And the thrill of walking out to the garden and see what is growing that day! 🙂

  33. My favorite thing about gardening is connecting with the earth, feeling grounded and self-reliant.

  37. My favorite thing about gardening is the food that comes from the ground. I have been know to hold some sort of garden grown item up yelling “FOOD!!! FROM THE GROUND!!!”

  39. my fav thing about gardening is knowing exactly what went into your food,no chemicals or gmo’s,organic is the way to go!

  40. My favorite thing about gardening is that I know where my food comes from. Not to mention we all work together as a family to pull it together!

  41. My favorite thing about gardening is watching the baby seedlings come through the soil and reach for the sun.

  42. I get to work with the Master Gardener. Even though I dig, water, plant, and weed, I can’t make anything grow. Its a faith-thing: you plant and He makes it grow. That miracle-of-life thing. That’s what I love about gardening. And tomatoes.

  43. My favorite thing is being proud of the work I put in and being able to look at the finished product, and thinking, I did good! Whether it’s putting something fresh on the table that same day, or getting to enjoy canning and preserving, I like knowing I did something healthy for my family.

  44. My favorite thing about gardening is actually how it’s like magic. You plant these things, and then you get food. It’s amazing. I love being able to eat what we grow, and share it with others. It’s amazing to me how much food we can grow in a small area.

  45. I would say my favorite thing is eating what I grow, but I really think the best part is watching things grow. You put this TINY little seed in the ground and then, MAGIC! It’s amazing to see what happens to those tiny things. And how fast. And the rest of nature interacting with it all – good bugs and bad bugs and everything in between. My favorite part is the magic.

  46. You actually inspired my new found love of gardening last winter- we chose our next home based on how much potential the garden would have! My favorite part is getting my kids involved, showing them how to become self sustainable, and that hard work and patience pays off!

  47. I am just setting up my first garden in over 10 years – can’t wait for it to start producing goodies!

  50. My favorite thing has to be watching my children enjoy everything from yelling at me to come get a slug out of the garden, to watching them eat the fruits of our labor. We’re building each of them their own mini garden beds for fall (the kids are 3 and 5), so I can’t wait to watch them enjoy their very own gardens.

  52. sigh… my FAVORITE thing? EVERYTHING. I even love weeding. (ok… so I do not love flea beetles, but almost everything). How about this – I love everything about gardening but flea beetles… and fire ants. dang…

  53. My absolute favorite thing about gardening is when my daughter has friends over and she says “my mom grew ALL of this!!”

  54. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing ky 3 year old eat peas, green beans, tomatoes & whatever else he can find ripe at 7 am, while out in the garden. He loves snacking on all of our veges 🙂

  57. To choose one favorite would be hard. But, if I must choose. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing that my children who once sat beside me smelling basil and eating fresh peas now find comfort and joy in their own gardens. Gardening with your children makes happy future gardeners.

  60. It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment to know that I grew something that will nourish my family!

  61. My favorite part of gardening is that everything is a learning experience. Plus you get yummy food!

  62. My favorite thing is feeling like I accomplished something. I have so many things going on that seeing something grow and being able to eat it is a good feeling that doesn’t happen often enough.

  63. My favorite thing about gardening is that my kids love to forage in it– they will eat things in the garden that they might not normally eat if it were just offered to them indoors– tomatoes, snap peas, carrots, strawberries, raspberries. They love it all!

  64. My favorite thing is the feeling of satisfaction that if it weren’t for me planting a seed this plant would not exist. 🙂

  65. I’ve been thinking about doing a fall/winter garden, but I’ve been too chicken (so to speak). Perhaps this will be the kick in the pants I need.

    My favorite thing about gardening: Mornings. Gardening has been therapeutic for me in grieving the loss of my Dad. (I wrote about it here: http://www.collectingraindrops.blogspot.com/2012/08/of-sewing-and-mending.html )

    I recently observed: Morning in the garden is good for a sore and swollen heart. A soundtrack of song birds and the atomic thrum of bees bouncing between squash blossoms. Water drops hanging from tomatoe branches like chandelier crystals. And all of it backlit from the east, a cathedral and each leaf a stained glass window…

    My garden has given me more than tomatoes and zucchini…

  66. I love everything about gardening, it’s healthy for the mind and body. My favorite part is being able to share the harvest.

  67. I love the food, and how fresh it takes, but honestly, my favorite thing about gardening is the peace I feel when I am in the garden. I am about to try my first fall garden, and am very excited to extend that peace from summer to fall 🙂

  68. I’ve been clinically depressed since I was about 6. I’ve had self esteem and self-worth issues which have virtually crippled me to the point where I can’t work anymore. Since I started gardening (which was only about a year ago) I feel better every time I find a tomato, or a flower turns into a bell pepper, or the wind blows the smell of spearmint and lemon balm across my back porch. I guess I love the feeling that I’m actually doing something worthwhile with my life now, even if you can only see it from my back yard and my kitchen.

    Also? Tomatoes. Tomatoes are my favorite thing about gardening.

  69. My favorite thing about gardening is having your hands in the earth! I love seeing the fruits (or veggies) of your labor. This includes seeing the flowers grow, or other plants flourish…such a wonderful feeling knowing you were a part of their survival! 🙂

  70. My favorite thing is making dinner with my FRESH from the GARDEN produce, doesn’t get any better than that!!

  71. My favorite thing would have to be how the garden goes from looking empty to looking like a jungle, after a couple months of growth!

  72. My favorite thing about gardening is connecting with nature. It is grounding (no pun intended) 🙂 Raising a garden is the perfect way to align yourself with the seasons and experience the full cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth!

  73. The best things are knowing where your food comes from and sharing with your kids. It is very satisfying watching how they take on the responsibility and love the reward of fresh food. They are always so proud!

  75. I am always thrilled and in awe of the wonders of God when I see the seedling break through the soil, just days after planting. Perfect.

  76. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing where my food came from. It wasn’t trucked in from some unknown place and that I grew it.

  78. Gardening is more than food, it’s a way of life. I enjoy providing healthy, whole foods for my family knowing there are no hidden hazards. Thanks for offering this give-away!

  79. My favorite thing about gardening is that I can grow fruits and vegetables that I may not necessarily find in the markets. Heirloom tomatoes, red carrots, purple broccoli, etc.

  81. My favorite part of gardening is always having fresh produce in the yard, and teaching my kids to eat healthy.

  82. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing where my food comes from, what it is truly, what is or most importantly isn’t on or in it and the sense of accomplishment that I grew this.
    P.S. I love to grow things. I always have, even since I was a child. I will sprout anything I can. I have a ridiculous amount of avocado trees in my house. 😉

  84. I love that it has brought me back to my roots I love that I can teach my boys where their food comes from how it’s grown and what is in their food or lack thereof when you grow it at home.

  87. My favorite part of gardening is wwatching the looks of wonder and amazement on my kids faces as they watch things grow and at the harvest. Most rewarding feeling ever.

  89. My favorite thing about gardening is the yummy veggies and also teaching my kids about growing and eating fresh veggies and fruit.

  92. Gardening….oddly….is a fabulous combination of “me” time as well as “family” time. Gardening by myself is therapeutic in a meditative way. I can forget about the phone, computer and all of the other daily nuisances. Then, in the evenings, when everyone is playing in the yard and helping to weed or water, or picking things on the sneak I enjoy how much a simple garden can bring us all together.

  94. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing where my food comes from and being able to provide food for my family from my own back yard!

  95. my child asking for ‘homemade carrots’ for her school lunch today.
    She decided the best way for her wiggly tooth to come out would be to eat a ‘homemade carrot’ for lunch.
    She went and picked her own!

    Cue Julie Andrews…”these are a few of my favorite things”… 🙂

  96. My favorite thing about gardening would have to be sharing our bounty with friends and family who aren’t able to garden for one reason or another. I know they are getting 100% goodness and I love that!

  97. Love, love, love being able to “grocery shop” in my own backyard and being able to feed my family on what I have grown from seeds!

  98. My favorite thing about gardening is that I am able to provide my family with the freshest food possible.

  100. So far I have only been in the planning stage of having a garden. I have 5 pallets and loads of cardboard to place underneath. I have even talked it over with my beloved on where I plan to put them. I have some seeds. Spring is when I plan to begin here in Illinois. I need all the help I can get. Look forward to this life long endeavor. Thanks for keeping me inspired.

  101. My favorite thing about gardening is the excitement of seeing a seed sprout and grow into something large and ultimately edible.

    If I can add a second thing, I love the unbridled optimism of planning a garden, when everything is covered by a deep blanket of snow. I get into so much trouble over-ordering seeds and plants!

  103. I love the way the soil feels between my fingers. I think it is instant relaxation. Plus it reminds me of some of my best times with my grandmother.

  104. Is there anything better than that first ripe red tomato from the garden? That is my favorite thing!!

  108. My favorite thing about gardening…besides eating the yummy fresh produce…is starting seeds and watching the miracle of a tiny seed become food for my family.

  109. My favorite thing about gardening is, to sum it all up, the sense of accomplishment I feel when I harvest and prepare our own produce….I don’t want to forget to mention the positive improvement our garden has made for our stress level and overall health and fitness.

  112. The greatest thing about gardening is watching the transformation from seed to something that provides our sustenance!

  114. my favorite thing about gardening is being able to go into my back yard for veggies, herbs, eggs and fruit 🙂

  116. I have so many “favorites” about gardening–but it starts with perusing all the seed catalogs in the dead of winter and dreaming of what I am going to plant in the spring!

  118. I love having an edible landscape that enables me to provide most of the food we eat. I can grow heirloom varieties in an organic and sustainable manner and share the food with family and friends. I love the mailman telling me the black krim tomatoes we gave him were the best tomatoes he had ever eaten, or seeing the school crossing guards smile when we drop off a bag of produce.

  120. All the obvious reasons – the food is healthier than the stuff in the stores, it’s better for all of us, etc. But the best part of gardening for me is the solitude. I love being outside with the sun, the garden and me!

  121. I’ve always loved vegetable gardening, but gardening is even more special now since I share this experience with my adult autistic son (22) now. He loves to mix up the garden soil, watch the seeds grow, mulches and waters, and loves to pick the harvest. It’s a special time that we can share together.

  122. My favorite thing about gardening used to be cheap food! Now, my favorite thing about gardening is knowing where my food comes from and how “clean” it is!

  124. I am really bad at picking favorites. BUT if I had to narrow it down, I think I’d say my favorite thing about gardening is being outside and getting my hands in the soil. Thanks for hosting the giveaway!

  125. My favorite thing about gardening is how amazing plants are, from the tomato seeds that grow out of my compost, to the half dead prickly pears paddles that bloom in a cast off pile. They are always showing me that life finds a way.

  126. I love knowing where my food comes from, the taste of the fresh veggies, and the cost savings from growing my own food!

  127. My favorite thing is being done weeding and being “done” and seeing the results. Neat looking flower bed, pretty flowers. Yummy veg. I need the winter gardening book and those gloves!!

  131. I like gardening because of the accomplishment of growing my own food, and watching my kids actually enjoying the outdoors.

  132. I am just getting started but love the idea of growing my own food. Its amazing the gift that God has given us the ability to grow healthy foods for our family in our own backyard!!!

  133. My favorite thing about gardening is reaping the reward of eating great food and I know where it came from!

  134. gardening is rewarding to me b/c it is a way to take care of yourself, your environment and family in so many ways.

  136. Oh Mavis… Only one thing I like about gardening? There are too many answers to this question..LOL Watching the plants grow, and knowing I helped them survive. Thanks for the giveaway. Love your blog

  139. My favorite thing about gardening is the constant wonder of how that little seed made that big plant.

  140. The most wonderful part of gardening, for me, is to know what my family is eating. I love that
    we are in control of that and it makes all the work worthwhile. Thanks.

  141. I get excited seeing the little shoots appear from the earth….knowing they will grow and mature into something good to eat!

  144. I love growing my own veggies because they taste so much better than commercially grown. I think it is the combination of hard work and sweat that makes them taste so much better.

  145. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the smiles on my daughters face in the morning when there are ripe Tomatoes:) and knowing that my hard work paid off. We are kind of new to gardening so all this stuff would be put to good use by us:)

  148. My favorite thing about gardening is how it connects me with my great aunt,mother and father all passionate gardeners. My sister brother and I all garden, My daughter grows bits of things on her ledge in her apartment.

  149. I too love watching the miracle of things growing and the beautiful flowers! Thank you for a chance to win.

  151. I love getting to eat things that I grow. I know it’s good for me and it makes it seem tastier 🙂

  152. My favorite thing about gardening is the prospect of seeing a bounty after a bit of work and patience. I’m new to gardening and will be beginning with a Fall garden this year. Thank you for giving us all an opportunity to win such a great prize!

  153. I love seeing it go from a tiny little seed to a big beautiful organic vegetable producing plant. It amazes me to see how quickly some things grow; like okra. I love that my produce comes from my own back yard and not from Mexico or China. It makes me feel really happy that I can feed my family food that I grew myself. 🙂

  154. I’m going to be that person and not just share one thing: I love being able to SHOW my sons where their food comes from and why it’s important, it helps keeps us on budget with our grocery bill, veggies taste better and I know there are no nasty chemicals on/in them.

  155. My favorite thing about gardening is how relaxed it makes me feel. Whenever i’ve had a long day, I sit and study my garden – it works wonders!

  157. My favorite thing about gardening is growing healthy food. I know it is non-GMO, pesticide free and chemical free because I planted in and tended to it. It’s so satisfying growing food, and so easy. My second favorite thing would be cooking the homegrown food.

  158. I haven’t had enough success to freeze or can. Working in my garden gives me peace and helps me feel closer to the people I love.

  159. My favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction of planting and then canning, etc. thereby providing for my family!! It is alot of work but very rewarding.

  161. Pulling root veggies in the fall. It’s like a surprise party every time, not knowing what is going on down there under the stem. I <3 it!

  163. The best thing about gardening is home grown tomatoes. No matter how many locally grown or organic tomatoes I buy, they are just never as good as the ones you grow yourself! Thanks for the chance to win!

  164. My favorite thing about gardening is the whole amazing process from seed — plant — food! It’s crazy something so tiny has the ability to make something so amazing!

  165. I was raised by gardeners (well my grandparetns were gardeners) that gene skipped my parents.. It is my zen.. It’s my retreat and a time just for me.. simple easy, and get to try new stuff every year, without any judgment or criticism.. just me, dirt, seeds and plants..

  166. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing where my food comes from and teaching my children about it.

  168. My dad passed away this year in May when I was planting my garden. He lived 725 miles away so I couldn’t be there when it happened. When I am out working in the garden I feel like a part of his spirit is there with me. The wind, the rain, the heat. It’s where I can talk to him and feel ok. It’s my happy place. And the veggies did very well this year. In know he is watching out for me.

  169. My favorite thing about gardening is that the food from my garden is fresher & picked at it’s peak vs the stuff from the grocery store that’s been in transit for weeks…fresh food tastes much better!

  170. i always feel so calm and peaceful in the garden… a nice change from my loud, full of children home 🙂 and there is such a feeling of satisfaction when i put away cans or freezer bags or put dinner on the table, knowing that it came from my own garden.

  171. My favorite thing is to harvest all the goodies that I have labored so hard to produce. The smell of a fresh picked tomato is so heady and all those jars of “put up” vegies makes it all worth while.

  173. My favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction you get when you sit down to eat, know where your food came from

  174. The thing I like most about gardening is the calm it brings to me internally while creating beauty and food externally. It is my place of nirvana!

  176. My favorite part of gardening is weeding. Planting new seeds, harvesting, and planning the next round is all great, but weeding brings peace to the mind and the heart! For me, it’s as though everything melts away. It’s just me, the weeds, and my weed trash bin. Rip, Rip, Rip them out!! And then everything is pretty again. 🙂

  177. My favorite thing is seeing my kids go into the garden and pick something off a bush and eat it. Fresh. They go into the grocery store and say “mom your tomatoes are prettier then these!” They can ID just about any veggie/fruit out there.

  179. My favorite thing about gardening is the time I get to spend outside with my animals. I have two dogs, two chickens, and a cat. They all like to hang out with me and “help”. It makes me feel more connected with the living things in my life (and less connected with the tv/internet).

  181. My favorite thing about gardening is watching the kids harvest the food they are eating for diner that day!!

  182. My favorite thing about gardening is plant tiny seeds into the ground, feed them with water and love and watch them sprout. I will allows be amazed on how something soooo small can come from a seed and grow into a big plant that nurtures us.

  185. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing exactly where our fruits and veggies are coming from.

  186. I love gardening for many reasons and I so wish it weren’t required for us to choose just one. Seriously. But I think one of the things I enjoy the most, because it so deeply touches my heart, soul and gut, is spending time in the garden with my kids. My boys are my amazing teachers, as children are if allowed to blossom. They get so excited to see the itty bitty plants emerge from their seed homes and transform. It blows their minds, as it does mine. Year after year it never ceases to amaze them and me. And I hope that wonder and amazement never goes away. It’s magic!!! How awesome to share in it together.

  189. The fresh veggies are my favorite, not beats a home grown tomato…beautiful flowers are a close second.

  190. My wife and I enjoy gardening as a way to relax and stay calm after a long strenuous and hard week at work. We can always get the kids involved by just telling them we are seeking treasures for dinner.

  191. My favorite thing is the smell of dirt…I know it sounds crazy, but it takes me back to being a child and helping my dad plant the garden.

  192. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to grow food for my family knowing it is safe and healthy without added chemicals, GMOs, etc.

  194. I love learning from my plants. Being a university student they serve so many purposes; from giving me first hand lessons that I can relate back to my botany and ecology classes, to putting my own grown lavender in my tea! It’s such a joy to watch them grow and flourish!

  195. What I love about gardening is that as I am learning to garden, growing my knowledge and garden, I am sharing and teaching my 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son so that they can learn to be self sustaining and then teach their children one day!

  198. I have a lot of favorite things about gardening. The smell of the earth and the peace I feel there. Also knowing where my food comes from brings a lot of peace of mind. My husband and I garden together and are looking to learn more.

  200. My favorite thing about gardening is when my tomato seedlings in the greenhouse begin to smell like tomato plants 🙂

  202. Gardening strengthens my connection with the earth. There’s nothing like working with the soil and plants for being part of the planet. (And I agree with lots of the above comments too…)

  203. I’m new to gardening this year and have enjoyed walking outside every morning to harvest veggies for that day’s lunch salad. I’m currently reading a couple gardening books & blogs (like this one) 🙂 and building a couple 4×10 raised garden beds for next season. I’m learning something new everyday!

    PS Any chance those gloves come in manly sizes? lol

  204. I only do a few veggies but my favorite thing about gardening them is actually producing something and just being able to go out my door to feed my family. I love my flower gardens because I love to give away flowers to make others happy and also so others can enjoy them when they go by my home.

  205. My favorite thing about gardening spending time praying and praising that I’m able to use the gifts God gave me to provide for my family.

  208. My favorite thing about gardening, well I have a couple of favorite things – hope that is okay. 1.) How relaxing it can be 2.) How I am give my family organic produce for nearly nothing 3.) How rewarding it is, well until groundhogs start to get into your garden and munch on EVERYTHING!

    Thank you!

  209. I have so many favorite things about gardening. I love playing in the dirt and watching those seeds emerge. I also love the peace and how relaxing it is. There is just something about a garden that makes you feel at home.

  210. My favorite thing about gardening is the fresh taste – especially from things that I don’t usually find in my grocery store (yellow crook-neck squash).

  211. I love playing in dirt and watching things grow from seeds that I have planted. Its so great to be able to go outside and pick my own fruits and veggies and know they are fresh without chemicals. But I don’t care how old I get I still love playing in the dirt…I have to be barefoot to feel the dirt between my toes and on my hands. Gardening gives me so much pleasure and a sense of peace from everyday life. If I am not growing something I feel lost. I talk to my plant just like they are my children. Happy Planting everyone! 🙂

  213. My favorite thing about gardening is rubbing tomato leaves all over my hands so I can enjoy unique smell that symbolizes summer.

  215. I love the great rewards of all my hard work…especially when it’s time to can my goods! I grow all Organic so I know where my food is coming from and what went into it! Such a satisfying feeling!

  217. I love the pride I feel when I look at my garden and think “I grew all of this fabulous organic food”.

  218. I love everything about gardening. Even when I kill some poor plant, I learn something – when to plant it, what to water, what to feed, etc. But my favorite thing about gardening is watching my niece wander around the garden picking leaves and berries and just popping everything she sees in her mouth. It’s an amazing feeling to know I’m growing healthy food for her that is safe to eat.

  219. I enjoy every aspect of gardening. From planting the tiny seeds and watching them sprout, to gatherings fresh veggies and fruit. I have a definite sense of accomplishment with gardening. 🙂

  221. The thing I love most about gardening is the “oneness”. That nature is complete in and of itself as a circle, and that I feel complete and one with it when I am part of it while gardening.

  222. My favorite thing watching my 2 year old, Mirabelle snooping through the garden every morning to find hidden strawberries or blueberries that may have ripened up; or watching how excited she is when pulling up carrots. “Wash please!” Nom nom nom

  223. My favorite thing is that it gets me outside – (Hello Vitamin D! I live in Seattle and I need you!!) and away from the incessant clamor of technology.

  224. I don’t think I can pick just one thing that I love about gardening– it’s a stress-reliever, it’s a creative outlet, and I love getting food that I grew myself. OK, that’s one sentence I love about it.

  225. I enjoy gardening because I feel as if I’m reclaiming my independence. I have control of what I will provide to my family through harvesting the fruit of my labor.

  226. My favorite thing about gardening is the rewarding cycle: perusing seed catalogs in the dead of winter, planting tomato seeds in the spring, admiring the young plants as they reach for the sky, biting into the first red orb of deliciousness in mid-August and even now, when I’m tired of canning, I’ll put on one more canner load of tomatoes to enjoy this winter. Eat and repeat.

  227. My favorite thing about gardening is nurturing a tiny little seed to become a beautiful plant that produces yummy offspring.

  228. Gardening is so relaxing – love everything about it. Like you, this year has been a bit more challenging since we have two (brothers from the same litter) 6-month old boxer puppies who love to dig just as much as Lucy does! But I love every second of them being with me in the garden!

  229. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to walk through the yard and pick and eat….walk past the raspberry bed – pick and eat a raspberry….walk past the tomato plant – pick and eat the tomato…walk past the pea trellis – pick and eat a pea. Love it!

  230. I love being able to plant a seed and then being able to get our food or pretty flowers from that one seed. I feel accomplished!

  231. Oh, what’s not to love about gardening?! I think my favorite thing about gardening is all the fresh produce you get! You know where your food is coming from!

  232. My favorite thing is definitely the produce itself. It’s so nice to have really fresh fruits and vegetables and it’s handy to be able to walk out into the yard and dig up some green onions or clip off some fresh herbs for dinner.

  234. My favorite thing about gardening is sharing the experience with our 7 year old twins. My son says he wants to be a farmer!

  235. I like the end result when something grows. It is also a great time to spend time with the family in the dirt

  236. It’s my therapy and it gets me most of the things I need for my second form of therapy which is cooking/baking 😀

  238. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to water can and pressure cook all the great stuff that our family has grown to use during the winter. 🙂

  239. My favorite thing is the planning and keeping things neat. The planning is the anticipation of how I believe things will turn out. The planning of the chores for the day, and planning how I can get my sons out there to help me. I love a neat and clean garden where everything is ordered and pretty. I plan my garden so that it looks good. I like harvesting and eating the vegetable’s but that is my wife’s favorite thing. I do the maintaining and she does the picking.

    We both read your blog everyday.
    Happy digging!!

  240. How to pick just one favorite thing about gardening … ??? I guess the miracle of life coming from a small seed and multiplying to create and sustain more life.

  242. I have been gardening for so many years and each year has brought great memories.
    Gardening brings many positive things in your life, feeding your family with good healthy
    food, teaching your children how they can feed themselves, now all my children garden.

  243. I have many wonderful reasons why I enjoy gardening. But my favorite event that I look forward to, with great anticipation (like Christmas Morning), is watching the transformation of the seed. I plant a seed and the miracle unfolds; poking out of the dirt and changing each day. It is magical to me how a seed that is planted turn into something bigger and better. That seed can provide for my family and nourish them. It brings me great relief to know as I’ve learned about gardening and experimented with, I have found I can be self sufficient. Which brings great self accomplishment and confidence in this life.

  244. We always had a garden when I was a kid and my job was weeding..which I hated. But when I got back into gardening I began to love weeding because my kids would totally leave me alone when I was doing it so they wouldn’t get roped into it! So I had lots of peace and quiet instead of listening to whining, crying and fighting! And now that they are grown my favorite thing is picking those yummy ripe tomatoes…nothing better!!!

    PS: thanks for having another contest

  246. My favourite thing about gardening is harvesting. I have a young family, so investing in fruit trees and a good garden now will really help in a few years when I have teenagers with ravenous appetites. I got chickens for free fertilizer and am starting to save seeds for next year so the cost of our food should go down in the years to come.

  248. I have always loved that gardening provides food for my family and I know where it came from. But this past March we lost my mother in law unexpectedly. She was one of those people who could take a dead twig stuck in a pot and turn it into a huge healthy plant. And as I worked in my garden this year, I felt closer to her. She was a woman who blessed everyone who met her, and I spent my gardening time just thinking about all the lessons I have learned, just by watching how she lived.

  249. We love seeing the reactions of our children when they have chosen a vegetable and can eat right off the plant a few months later.

  250. I love gardening because it’s a project my husband and I enjoy doing together. I love those mornings where we go out to water and just enjoy our coffee and quiet…

  251. I love everything about gardening! ………Well maybe not weeding…….I love playing in the dirt, the anticipation of what might grow the best each year, the continual experimenting, coming up with the “ultimate” plan every year and of course the harvest.

  252. I’m very new to gardening, and everything about it excites me.
    If I had to pick one favorite, it would be seeing the plants grow and thrive. 🙂

  253. My favorite thing about gardening is that there is always something new growing, I can feed my family good pesticide free food,share the wealth and get some of the best therapy ever. sorry, that was more than one thing!

  254. I really enjoy sharing a love of growing food with my daughter. We are raising a new generation that actually knows where food come from. .

  255. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the first seedlings sprout. It is a miracle that never ceases to amaze and delight me!

  256. My favorite thing about gardening is the joy and sense of accomplishment I feel when I harvest my loot!

  257. my favorite thing about gardening is the end result, that i get to share with our kids, grandkids, and other family and friends.
    i am so proud of what we grow and amazed at what you can do by playing in the dirt. happy gardening!!!!!!!!!

  259. My favorite thing about gardening – eating the results. Tasting those wonderful flavors that are missing from store produce.

  263. I love the de-stressing of putting your fingers into the dirt and working there. Man was made to garden. It benefits us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Then you get fresh food that you know how it’s been grown! Nothing better than put water on to boil for corn, go pick and shuck corn and then eat it about 15 minutes later!

  264. Satisfaction. From choosing seeds, to pulling weeds, to picking veggies and fruit, there is satisfaction in work done well.

  265. This was my first garden in about 35 years! My children (all grown) built my raised beds, and a clothesline for my birthday.
    I love working outside in the dirt, and watching things grow, with my grandchildren. They helped me plant and are having fun helping with harvesting the things “they” grew. We’ve had so much fun this summer, and are getting ready to plant a fall garden now that some things are finally finished. We plan to expand next year!

  266. My favorite thing about gardening is teaching my 6 year old where our food comes from. I love it when she squeals in excitement when she sees the first melon or cucumber. It is so sweet. This is our first year gardening, along with our first year caring for a flock of chickens. Seeing the satisfaction on my husband and daughters face and feeling my smile light up when we sit down to eat food we grew as a family, is amazing. Literally, one digging, one dropping seed and one of us covering, I like to remind my girl of that. She was the seed dropper:)

  267. My favorite thing about gardening is being witness to all the birds that inhabit my small back yard. They are a true joy to behold!

    And the good eats ranks pretty high, too!

  268. What do I love about gardening? Everything! Watching plants grow, touching & tending to them (I talk to them too!), enjoying their beauty and bounty, scrutinizing plants up close – and in total awe of how nature works! There is just so much beauty out there – I can’t get enough~!

  269. My favorite thing about gardening is the time I spend digging in the Earth and using that time to clear mind of all my troubles.

  270. My favorite thing about gardening is making something beautiful out of a messy, untamed space. My least favorite thing is slugs…just in case you were curious 😉

  273. Planting, growing and picking results with my grandson and watching the not SNF excitement on his face also how proud he is of the bounty.

  275. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing my food and how it was grown from seed to table! No GMOs or pesticides here!!!

  276. I enjoy the feeling that I am putting my own effort into providing nutritious and unadulterated food for my family. I’m still learning about my garden and how to care for it, but I have a lot more respect for it than I used to! 🙂

  277. My favorite thing about gardening is the sense of peace that I get from it. I love seeing the fruits (no pun intended) of my labor and knowing how close I am to nature and self-sufficiency.

  279. My favorite thing about gardening is the spirituality of it. The planting a tiny seed, waiting for it to germinate and then watching it grow into a mature, food-bearing plant. And then there’s the therapy of gardening – there were many mornings when my tears watered the soil as I was weeding or planting. And then there’s the opportunity to try different kinds of vegetables that might not be available in grocery stores or from the local farmers markets. Gardening is all good!

  281. My favorite thing is that it is something I can do with my children and it really is amazing to watch a seed grow into a something you can eat!

  283. I love to work the soil and plant seeds and I love watching things grow and eating the fruits of my labor.
    It is easy to love gardening.

  284. My favorite thing about gardening is just watching things grow from a tiny seed – its truly amazing. Gardening also brings me a lot of peace – both my parents were avid gardeners and I think about them often when I am putzing around outside.

  285. My favorite thing about gardening is that it is something we can do as a family and take pride in our accomplishments and help each other through the disappointment when something doesn’t go as planned such as the weather, critters eating the plants, etc.

  286. Gardening is a teacher and is all about the rewards of patience and learning. For example one might say from experience, “See those beautiful cucumbers over there? I grew them myself and I’m so proud. Alas, I should have picked them yesterday because today they have worms in them.”

  287. Hi Mavis. Thanks for this wonderful giveaway. You are gonna make one of us extremely happy.
    What I love most about gardening is sharing. Sharing new start/plants to get others interested in gardening their own food, sharing a fresh harvest (what you grew this?!) or sharing something I grew then canned. Its all good.

  291. EVERYTHING!!!! I love the sense of accomplishment and I especially love knowing where my family’s food has come from.

  293. My favorite part about gardening is that when my big kid (ahem husband) asks if what is on our plate came from our garden I am able to answer “yes!”, and it ALL gets eaten! This is coming from a man who considers a squeeze pack of apple sauce a day his fruits and veggies for the day. Works great for real kids too!

  294. I love (but am sometimes frustrated by it) that gardening is never the same from year to year. I also love being able to eat food that we have grown ourselves!

  295. Every different type of plant has such amazing, beautiful design, from our delicious tomatoes to peonys to every plant you can think of. I thank our Creator Jehovah God for giving us such wonderful plants.

  299. When I was a child, my sisters and I would go into the garden and help ourselves to cherry tomatoes, kirby cucumbers, beans, and a variety of berries. Sometimes we would rinse them off with the hose, sometimes not. But nothing tasted better than what we had just picked ourselves. I love to garden to give my children the same experience.

  300. My favorite thing about gardening is on your apple galette page. My teenage peep clicked off your page as I was finishing canning green tomatoes for winter frying and signed me back onto the wrong page. Its never a dull moment here. Love your blog.

  301. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to eat and can/preserve what I grew while teaching my children how to be self-reliant in the process.

  303. I love gardening because it gives me a sense of power. I know what goes into my food and i chose to compost which gives plants wonderful nutrients.

  304. My most favorite thing about gardening is being outside with nature. The chickens are scratching around, the birds are singing their songs and butterflies are fluttering about. There is nothing more deeply satisfying than cultivating your own little piece of earth and tasting the fruits of your labor.

  305. The thing I love the most about Gardening is similar to what most people are posting. The sense of calm and tranquility it gives me, as well the sense of accomplishment. Knowing that you created something to provide to others from such a small beginning, is amazing and fulfilling. 🙂

  306. My favorite thing about gardening is… the people I’ve met because I showed an interest in it 🙂 I actually got to meet Cisco (such a nice & goofy guy) & I got to meet Joel Salatin… I GOT TO MEET MAVIS BUTTERFIELD!! (& studly boyfriend Ryan) & I got to meet the awesome team at the Mukilteo Community Garden & Ben the crazy farmer guy from R Heritage. All because I was looking for a way to save some money & find a cheap, fulfilling hobby – I’ve got to meet some really awesome people & change my perspective on the food system & nature entirely.

    *high-fives all the way around* Y’all ROCK for what you do & are truly inspiring.

  307. My favorite thing about gardening is the miracle of life from a tiny little seed…and it’s yummy!

  308. My favorite thing about gardening is the sense of accomplishment when I am able to harvest fruits and veggies.

  309. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the beauty of nature!! Nevermind the great exercise, the creativity and the thrill of seeing your crops come to fruition. Oh and TALKING about it! That’s awesome too 🙂

  310. The thing I love about gardening is that you get so much from one tiny seed. To grow something I can feed my family is truly a gift.

  312. The sense of accomplishment. Even when things aren’t great (blight, bolting, birds, slugs, bad seeds) there’s still “fruits of your labor”, and being able to make dinner from you back yard and can the over abundance for the winter is very gratifying.

  313. I live in California, far from where I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario.. My love of gardening comes from my father, who would take me with him to buy 6 small tomato plants and about 4 packs of seeds each spring. I’d plant a big vegetable garden with him every year. My mother would can dill pickles, chili sauce, peaches, tomatoes, etc. There is not a seed or plant that I put into the ground or tend my garden as it grows that I don’t hear his voice, gently teaching me and making comments about the plants. My parents passed away several years ago and I’m reminded of each, as I tend my garden daily. I love gardening.

  315. I am so excited about being able to plant a fall and winter garden. I am retiring from my job in just a week. One of my first projects is to put together a composter that I purchased and begin gardening. I have not had a garden since 1990. What have I been doing so long!

  318. The quiet activity of nature is the best thing about gardening. The different birds, bees, rabbits and deer that go on with their routines around me as I work. Yes I think that is the best thing right now. I know it isn’t the harvest this year. But there is always next year, right. Thanks for this great give away Mavis.

  319. I have ALWAYS loved gardening. I work at a computer 10+ hours a day and it gives me a much needed break. I also like that nothing is PERFECT in gardening. Things happen (weather, bugs, etc) and you just have to grow with it 🙂
    Thanks for the giveaway Mavis!

  321. My favorite thing is making my family a meal with ingredients nearly all from the garden and having my daughter eating things she wouldn’t before, just because Mommy grew them!

  323. Favorite thing? Just one? Fresh food! Raspberries, tomatoes, rhubarb, apples, butternut squash, etc. Or, the smell of fresh dirt. Or the birds hopping from tree branch to tree branch. Or the sight of the peach, apple, and pear trees in bloom. Do I have to pick just one favorite?

  325. My favorite thing about gardening is constantly learning something new, either a new skill or technique or about new to me heirloom plants.

  326. My favorite thing about gardening is going out to the backyard to get fresh food for a meal – herbs, veggies, lemons – whatever. 🙂

  329. My fav thing about gardening is how it challenges me. Makes me more health, relaxes me while invigorating me all at the same time. It is such a great way to channel my ideas even if they don’t always work the way I had imagined.

  330. my favorite thing is definitely eating amazing, vine ripened organic produce. for almost free!! 🙂 thanks for the giveaway!

  332. My favorite part of gardening is two fold. 1. It gives me time for meditating, for me it is so peaceful and 2. I love to share the bounty!!

  333. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the “fruit” of my labor! 😉 It is so rewarding to actually grow and enjoy something that would put sweat and love into!

  334. I love to get out in the fresh air and plant healthy organic seeds and plants. It is so relaxing and calming playing in the dirt. The reward I get is watching what I have planted develop from each stage into healthy food that I have confidence in eating. Gardening brings out the best of me.

  335. The thing I love about gardening is being by myself for just a little while, weeding here,hoeing there, and at the end seeing all the love come back to you in produce.

  337. Gardening allows me to feel a great sense of accomplishment each time something grows.. It allows serves as a self reminder that there is no such thing as a black thumb!

  339. I love gardening with my mom, working together outside has brought us closer than ever. I would absolutely love to win this for her!

  342. I like planting the little seeds and watch then shooost up to the sky. 🙂 “Green Acres”
    Actually I like knowing exactly how my food is grown.

  343. I experience a very real thrill when those little tiny seeds display their first leaves. The care required from that point on seems small compared to the wonder of the seeds germinating. Always a pleasant surprise!

  344. My favorite thing is having food I grew myself. Plus, I’m allergic to most pets and its nice having something to care for, though somewhat stranger when I talk to them… 🙂

  346. Being outside. Helping things grow. Playing in dirt. Teaching my son about all of the above. Eating fresh veggies! It’s like magic, really.

  348. My favorite thing about gardening is the fact that my 16 year old son enjoys working in our vegetable garden as much as I do!

  349. My favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction I get from planting something that I know will grow. I say to myself…yes, I did that!!! 🙂

  351. My favorite things about gardening is that it makes me feel closer to my Grandmother, Great Aunt and my Father who taught me about gardening and putting food up for the winter. They are all up in heaven looking down on my garden and canning. I feel that they are smiling and saying “Good Job ” and We are proud of you.

  352. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing I’m actually able to grow a little plant from seed and pick something off it and feed my family. Which is quite surprising, because most of my houseplants I tend to kill.

  356. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing that the food I grow will be safe, nutritious, and more flavorful than what I can buy at the grocery store.

  357. My favorite thing about gardening is the free time to think! I like to involve my family but usually I’m alone. This alone time allows me to center myself and reconnect with nature. You’d be amazed at the peace you can find digging in the dirt . 🙂

  358. The fact that it grows! Plus the fact that it reminds me of grandmother. She always “made” me garden with her when I was younger.

  360. Since I haven’t actually started yet, I am going to say my favorite thing about gardening is going to be the ability to provide healthy food for my family for way less money than I would pay for it from the store.

  361. As an experienced gardener but novice beekeeper, my favorite part of gardening this year has been watching the bees pollinate our peach tree and harvesting our first crop of peaches. I should have channeled my inner Mavis and weighed them before putting them up!

  362. I love gardening because of all the food 🙂 We eat tons of fresh fruit and veggies, and it is so satisfying to grow our own. Our chickens love the garden scraps too!

  364. I love everything about gardening, but I really love it when my tomatoes turn into these brightly colored fruits the size of footballs, and the look on the face of the recieier when I share the harvest with them.

  365. the connection to the earth that’s my fav. There’s just something about my hands in the dirt that is just … earth (pun intended) 😉

  366. I love knowing that I can grow things to feed my family and I know exactly where my vegetables are coming from! I also love watching my babies try new things. My 2 year old LOVES garden fresh tomatoes!

  369. I love the conversations I have with my kids while we are working in the garden, growing our own food.

  371. Fav thing about gardening: pretending the plants can hear you of course. Who doesn’t like talking to their plants?

  372. My favorite thing about gardening is eating the harvest. However, everything is exciting from planting the tiny seeds to the first little leaves poking through the soil to the fruit and veggies developing on the plants.

  373. I love gardening because it connects me to the past, present and future. I have many fond memories of Dad digging monstrous potatoes and Mom and Grandma canning and freezing bushels and bushels of tomatoes, beans, and corn. Walking in the fresh dirt was fun but I HATED pulling weeds. Now I enjoy trying methods to grow more with less work. Raised beds, straw bales, and potato towers are all new adventures in my own back yard. My children are learning to grow, pick, and sell some strawberries to Grandma! They see our chemical free raised beds and they can pick and eat from the vines. They are learning where whole foods are coming from and are able to compare fresh to processed and it is easy to gross them out reading labels. Children learn be seeing and doing rather than some health person in a book or on TV telling them what they should eat. Did I mention I have five kids and I LOVE to weed. Kids don’t so I am left with sun and soul food! I believe whole, chemical free and old-time traditional gardening is our future. My garden produces chemical free, preservative free, non carcinogenic food that builds our bodies. I see home grown and home raised foods as a basic necessity. As the saying goes “We are what we eat” and people are catching on!

  374. so many things! sunshine, fresh air, fresh food, superior taste! but the very best things is the look on my kids’ faces when they see what they have helped to grow!! priceless

  375. Besides eating awesome, healthy food, I love that my family does not want to help me. I get some alone time to think, plan, work out aggressions, pray, whatever moves me. I do also love watching all my cool little babies grow every year!

  376. I love be able to grow our own food to share with our families. I also want to be able toteach my kids how to live sustainably

  377. I love the smell and feel of the earth! Digging in the dirt and feeling how easily it can be molded makes me feel so accomplished. The smell after I have watered it soothes my soul. Gardening is wonderful!!

  378. Gardening is therapy to me – peaceful time spent thinking and enjoying nature – getting my hands dirty just digging in the dirt and connecting to the earth and its seasons.

  379. I love rummaging through my garden just before dinner to see what’s ready to harvest and then figure out how to add it to my dinner plan for the evening…therapeutic and mentally challenging at the same time! (It also makes me feel empowered to know I can at least provide healthy side dshes during the times my hubby is between work…)

  380. I’m a pretty simple gardener. I put seeds in the soil, water them, and then gather the results a few weeks later. It’s a miracle to me every year. I live in Michigan though, so I’m not sure it would actually work in the fall. It would be an adventure in gardening!

  382. I have to pick one! Well, I guess the thing I love most about gardening is, come February I can go to my “put ups” shelf and open a jar of my favorite pasta sauce and make dinner that tastes like summer! And its so healthy too! I know exactly where those tomatoes came from. Oh! and the yummy dessert that comes from the freezer……. chocolate zucchini cake!

  384. With all the confusion in the world with government regulations, monstato, gmo’s, blah blah blah… i just like the feeling of producing my own. I guess its kindof my way of flipping off the powers that be!! Hehe:)

  385. My favorite thing is simply knowing where my food came from. It makes one appreciate it and all the work that goes into it. Things are always better when you work harder for it yourself. Knowing that you have grown nutritious food that is healthy for my family.

  386. I totally LOVE those gloves. My absolute favorite thing to do is to find a beautiful, ripe tomato all warm in the sun and to pluck and eat it. How much better can you get than that. My problem is that I am actually allergic to the vines the tomatoes grow on. My arms turn green and itch like crazy. Those awesome gloves sure would come in handy!!!

  389. I love gardening for the stress relief factor. Anytime I can’t stand the kids or the disastrously messy house I head outside and after a while, and some hard work, everything is right with the world. I’m much more able to conquer everything inside after my work outside.

    Plus free food is always an awesome thing.

  390. What an amazing package! My favorite thing about gardening is that undefinable moment when you look at the plants laden with amazing stuff to eat and realize it all came from a single seed.

  391. My favorite thing is all the fresh foods I get to preserve for the winter. I LOVE my shelves in the basement with all my canned goods!!

  392. My favorite things about gardening are the great feeling of serving up food we grew ourselves, that is gets me outside frequently, and finally, the best thing about gardening — all my gardening friends who love to share their tips, knowledge, triumphs and troubles.

  394. I love that gardening is very forgiving! I make mistakes – sometimes plan B works out, and I always learn something!

  395. Totally canning/preserving the end result to enjoy over our long, hard, midwestern winter. It’s great fresh, obviously, but in February, when I can crack open a jar of green beans or some salsa to go with our nachos, it’s like it’s summer again.

  397. My favorite thing about gardening is the simplicity. I know here are no chemicals or hormones in the food I have planted. Just clean and healthy eating.

  398. My favorite thing about gardening is picking fresh tomatoes, peas, and beans and eating them before they ever make it into the house.

  399. My favorite thing about gardening is the flavor. I’m not sure if it’s because I grow less common varieties or because I do it organically or because I work so hard in the hot sun or because of the love that goes into the project…but at the end of the season, the flavors are just unbeatable. You can’t buy a tomato at the grocery store that tastes even a fraction as amazing as one that is home grown.

    KK from Preppy Pink Crocodile

  401. My favorite thing about gardening is the peacefulness of the earth. The smell, the feel and finally the taste. To be in the garden is to be in the joy of life, things are growing, life is happening , the fruits and vegetables of my labor are born and I am grateful.

  402. I love being able to preserve the fruits and vegetables that I have grown! The bonding and family time the garden brings is great, whether I want the help or not the kids are out there digging in the dirt right along side me.

  403. Working in our gardens helped me get through my father’s time in a hospice facility while also homeschooling our 4 children. Sometimes I would be hacking at the weeds, after sundown, trying not to succumb to my weariness. I poured out my stress into the dirt and sweet potatoes, onions, and many other things grew. Thank God for my gardens.

  404. The smell of fresh picked tomatoes is intoxicating to me. If I could only grow one thing that’s what it would be.

  406. I love the excitement my kids and I feel watching our little seeds grow into something we can actually eat!

  407. My favorite part of gardening is, the expression on my grand daughters face, when she digs up the carrots she had planted.

  408. That it gets me outside. Some days I come home from work and the thought of going outside to water is the last thing I want to do. But once I’m out there it ends up being the best way to relax in the evening.

  409. My favorite thing about gardening, especially from seed, is makinggrowing something where there once was nothing!

  410. Does it have to be just one thing? I love getting dirty, and eating fresh out of my yard, and watching my food grow. I love the solitude out in the garden, the colors, teaching my special needs kids how to grow food. Too much to choose from to pick just a favorite!

  411. My favorite thing about gardening is the many years of memories that I have of Grandpa and Dad … both who loved to garden, share the bounty with friends and family, and cook big pots of food. I can still picture walking through my grandpa’s vegetable garden as though it were just yesterday. Memories to live by for sure!

  415. My favorite thing about gardening is that it forces me outside when I might otherwise veg out with the computer and/or television…

  417. Mine is watching the pure joy that blooms upon the faces of my children when they are out in the garden with me. They have been through some terrible traumas in their young lives. They have been through so much and when I see them out there working, smiling and laughing, grinning ear to ear, with no traces of sorrow, anxiety, or anger it is a true miracle. I am so blessed to have them in my life and to be able to give them such a simple thing that so many take for granted, humbles me. Also, knowing that they are learning and gaining so much knowledge and experience that they can use in their future, that they will always have a means to put food on their tables, and provide for themselves brings me hope and a sense of peace.
    I love women’s work products. I used to have a pair of their gauntlet gloves and I loved them, but they were stolen out of my car and I haven’t been able to replace them. I have never planted a winter garden, and this year is my first attempt. So far, I have planted a few varieties of spinach, swiss chards, beets, lettuces, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for being an inspiration to us all, Mavis!

  423. I especially love weeding! Or, more specifically, the time I have to think and pray, and just be!

  427. I love every season of gardening . . . prepping the ground in the spring, the miracle of a tiny seed popping out of the ground, taking care of the plants in the summer, busyness of harvest in the fall (think canning, drying and freezing), and the break from all that work during the winter. But seed cataloges in the mail get me dreaming about another year of the cycle!

  428. my favorite thing about gardening is watching the fruits and veggies grow and seeing my family and friends enjoy the results.

  429. So many reasons…playing in the dirt, being outdoors, doing something as a family, watching your little seeds grow, harvesting all this good stuff, eating all this good, fresh produce, satisfaction of being self sufficient.

  431. My favorite thing about gardening is watching the excitement in my 2 year old daughters eyes when she gardens with me.

  432. My favorite thing about gardening is the eating! Everything from the garden is just soooo much better tasting than anything you can get anywhere else.

  433. My favorite thing bout gardening is growing food with my children. It’s so wonderful to have them help in the garden and then be able to eat the rewards from their work.

  434. My favorite thing about gardening is that it’s a way for me to connect with my dad. Also, it is wonderful enjoying delicious food that is so healthy.

  435. I love gardening because I get to be outside and have time to think about all kinds of things. I have time to work out problems, count my blessings, pray, plan my week, enjoy the beauty and the sounds all around. Plus, I just enjoy digging in the dirt!

  436. The thing I like best about gardening is knowing what my food is, I know what it’s grown in, how it’s grown & that makes me feel healthy.

  439. My favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction I get when I harvest and supply my family with good, healthy food that I know where it came from, and how it got there! It’s a wonderful feeling!!

  440. Sign me up for the give-a-way, please. My favorite thing about gardening…feeding my pup dogs the forgotten green beans.

  441. I love being able to go out and harvest vegetables and herbs. Bringing them into my kitchen and preparing our food, not only tasts better, it is better. Gardening is so therapeutic. No matter what I am worried about, when I am in my garden, all my worries fade away.

  442. I’m not very good at gardening (not only is my lawn dead, but so are the weeds!), but I’m glad that other people are great at growing things.

  443. My favorite thing about gardening is it has become a stealth date night with my husband. It’s not the kids’ favorite thing to join us outside perusing and weeding in the evening, so that gives us some quiet time to hang out and chat before the little pickers come out eventually. 🙂

  444. My favorite thing about gardening is the sights, sounds, smells as i’m up to my elbows in God’s green earth!!

  445. Days stress just disappears and the sun shines into life again, the kids also love it when i have my zen place, especially when it is in the backyard. Ha

  446. Love reaping the rewards of all my hard work over the summer. Eating fresh fruits and veggies, canning and being able to look at all the beautiful colors in my pantry. It’s fun going out and looking under vines to find pumpkin, squashes or even those giant zucchini. .

  448. I love the quiet, peacefulness of gardening; the fact that I am providing food for my family; and the important life lessons my young children are learning by helping and asking.

  450. Working in the dirt is like hopeful meditation. Worries disappear, and you know that you are providing sustenance and beauty for your family and friends. You are linked to past and future generations just by tilling the soil. Those and being outdoors are my favorite reasons to garden.

  451. My favorite thing about gardening is how my sheep and goat flock stand at the garden gate and fence and stare in and watch my every move in there… hoping that I might bring them leftovers or goodies to munch. It’s like free cheese day at the local church! 🙂 And it’s funny, because normally they would baa and try and get my attention but they don’t, they just stand and stare all 12 of them. And Cody Pony too. I think they are trying to use mind control on me to get their goodies…. 🙂

    Great site! Love it!

    Sherri

  452. I love gardening and teaching children where good food comes from. The looks on their faces as they harvest food they helped grow is a great reward!

  454. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to see my two boys outside planting and weeding and picking the fruits of their labor. Sharing the art of working the land with my babies is the best feeling in the world.

  456. I love the miracle of such a small seed growing into such a beautiful thing. They are all magic beans for me.

  457. My favorite things about gardening is growing my OWN produce and knowing that it’s completely organic! It makes my day EVERY TIME I pick my own greens for salads, main dishes or for smoothies. I love it! :] Btw Mavis, thank you for sharing your life through your blog.

  460. I love watching my grandchildren pick veggies from the garden. They’ll try anything that they pick themselves, things they would never try at home.

  461. I love how fresh and delicious our home grown food is….. and I love being able to “shop” from our backyard!

  462. My favorite thing is I can grow healthy food for my family and it won’t cost me tons of money if I were to buy it at the grocery store.

  464. Gardening!!! What can I say…. It’s free!! It’s my therapy and it’s’ saved me millions on a shrink over the years!! Well Seriously, it is very therapeutic and I’m just happier getting my hands into the soil! Watching the fruits of my labor come to life and grow. Knowing where my food is coming from and enjoying the harvest with my family…. Priceless!!
    I’d love to learn about winter gardening!

  466. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the garden mid-summer and being in awe of how it’s grown from just little seeds 🙂

  467. My favorite thing about gardening is feeling closer to nature and to our Creator, Jehovah. There’s just nothing like watching a plant grow and having a small part in caring for it – and then it gives back to us with its beauty or in food, sometimes both. What a bargain! Nature’s majesty, what more can I say? I love getting my friends started on gardening- or just on eating vegetables. When they realize the best tasting fruits and veggies are the ones you grow, they are hooked.

  468. My favorite thing about vegetable gardening is to see the seedlings emerging in neat little Riss, and, if course, enjoying eating those veggies fresh from the garden (even in the garden sometimes)

  469. I love to watch the seedlings emerge in neat straight rows and, of corse, I love eating those fresh veggies right from our garden

  471. Other than being one with nature I would say harvesting. It amazes me that I can grow food from just a tiny little seed.

  472. Growing up, my mom’s idea of vegetables with a meal was the packet of tomato sauce in the hamburger helper box. This year was my first attempt at gardening and my favorite thing was that first bite of a lemon cucmber. We had never heard of them before but as we are incororporating the principles of permaculture on our land, we thought they might be a neat change from regular cucumbers. They are delicious (the pig loves them too) and I grin each time I pick one because I helped grow the food we are eating.

    Thank you Mavis!

  473. My favorite thing about gardening is walking outside to get a piece of lettuce for my sandwich. I mean, really, how cool is that?

  474. It’s all about the harvest! Except when it seems to hit all at once and I lose sleep trying to figure out how to process it all at once.

  476. I love the planning of the garden space! Figuring out how to organize it, what goes well with what, etc!

  477. I love that my garden is solely mine. My gloves will be where I left them, no shoes will be piled up in a corner, no pile of mail clutters it. My family respects my little kingdom and what I say goes. I love it!

  478. I have never had a garden before. This is my fist attempt for fall. We are starting with container gardening. My favorite part will be taking my kids on the journey of growing their own food. Having that spence of accomplishment, and of course….the food!!!

  480. My favorite thing about gardening is being close to the earth.
    Digging in dirt, pulling weeds & touching the plants is very therapeutic.
    No need for a therapist.

  482. My favourite thing about gardening is the stuf is free of cemicals and therefor healty for us, and its free. And gardening are good for my soul <3

  483. My favourite thing about gardening is sharing it with my kids. They are 15 and 5 and they both love to help out in the garden. We chat about lots of things and stand in awe at our yield!

  484. This was my first year gardening and my favorite part was watching the plants grow. It is the best feeling to see the vegetables start to grow and know that I grew my own food!

  485. My favorite thing about gardening is how amazing nature is when it creates large plants with edible results from the tiniest of seeds.

  487. I’ve always said my favorite thing about gardening is that it always brings me back down to the basics of life: you reap what you sow, and just like weeding a garden you have to weed your life. I think it keeps me grounded, plus we get fresh organic veggies! 🙂

  489. My favorite thing about gardening is at the beginning of spring when you forget where everything is planted and you see little green shoots coming up. Its like a new beginning of life.

  490. My favorite thing about gardening is knowing that I grew it myself! Not that you asked, but my second favorite thing is sharing with my neighbors and family!

  492. My favorite thing about gardening is the satisfaction of knowing that what comes out of the ground is nourishing my family. I also love that I know the food hasn’t been treated with pesticides, or altered in any way.

  493. I have a sign on my garden gate that says “Therapy in session, do not disturb” This is truly why I enjoy gardening, the sweet silence while connecting with the earth.

  494. My favorite thing is being able to go outside and come back in with organic, super local, fresh , yummy food for almost free!

  495. My favorite thing about gardening is that when you are weeding, you have lots of time to think and plan. Also, when a plant actually produces something (I am a not-so-good beginner), I am thrilled beyond belief!

  496. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to make something from nothing. Being able to take a tiny seed and see it grow and produce food is amazing.

  497. The way you can take a tiny seed, poke it down into a hole and a few days later out pops out a perfect, tiny plant. It is truly a miracle and a wonderful testament to the beauty God created. That is my favorite thing about gardening.

  501. I love watching the garden space grow from an empty space to a thriving, colorful, full space of goodness.

  502. There are many things I love about gardening. I think the main reason I continue is the wonderment of placing seeds in the soil, nurturing them, and seeing new life burst forward. I never tire of the excitement of seeing tiny green leaves appear in the garden and the possibilities of what will happen.

  504. I love the feeling of seeing so much food coming out of such a little seed. It amazes and thrills me every time something tasty comes from my garden that started off as just a small seed in my hand.

  506. My favorite thing about gardening is the dirt! The feel of it as I dig my fingers in it, the smell of it after a rainfall. My favorite smell next to fresh cut grass. I used to have a large garden like you and now live where I’m lucky to have a couple tomato plants, But planning on moving closer to the grand kids, can’t wait to teach them to garden and can the veggies and fruits!!

  508. We live next door to my parents, so we all garden together. My favorite part is gardening and visiting not only with my girls but my mom & dad also. Cherished family time.

  510. Even after many years of gardening and canning, it is still exciting to see a tiny seed push its way through the earth and grow into a vegetable producing plant. Home grown veggies are so much better than anything bought at a store and are much better for us nutritionally also.

  511. My favorite thing is thinking I wish I had a “blank” to go with dinner, & then I remember I have it growing outside!

  512. My favorite thing about gardening is the food! Just can’t beat fresh, healthy, food that actually tastes GOOD!

  514. My favorite thing about gardening is being outside, feeling the sun on my face, getting my hands dirty, checking everyday to see if a seed has sprouted, watching it grow, and then figuring out a new way to cook it, and then the icing is eating it!

  516. It can be as big or small as you like. Oh and (sorry two things) you can grow things you cannot buy in stores. 🙂

  517. My favorite thing about gardening would be: How my Step-son can tell when its fresh or canned. I love the look he gives me when I try to slide in something from off the shelf. And he always follows with, Yours is better…lol. He’s just 12 and already has a palette for fresh produce.

  518. My favorite part is when my 8yr old daughter asks if the produce we are eating is ‘homemade’ because she knows homemade is way better than anything you can get in the store!

  519. My favorite thing about gardening is teaching my children where food comes from! They will always try something we’ve grown in the garden.

  520. My favorite thing about gardening is that it is so relaxing to me and makes me so happy when I see my pretty flowers, fruits, and veggies.

  521. My favorite thing is preparing a recipe and being able to WALK OUTSIDE AND PICK THE INGREDIENTS! That is so awesome! It gives me shivers just thinking about it!

  522. My favorite thing about gardening is the sense of satisfaction that comes with looking around at all of the beauty you’ve created!

  523. My favorite thing about gardening is harvesting and preserving what I’ve grown! I love pretty mason jars filled with my efforts 🙂

  528. My favorite thing is that it’s free therapy. My husband doesn’t like to garden so it’s guaranteed “me” time.

  529. My favorite thing is the taste of home grown fresh tomatoes. You can’t get tomatoes that taste like that in the store.

  530. My favorite thing about gardening? Pretty much everything from prepping, planting, weeding to harvesting. I find that the best part about gardening is the break it gives me from my day-to-day. A time and a space to focus. I also feel a great sense of accomplishment cooking, preserving and eating what I grow.

  531. I have fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis in my neck, hands, lower back, and right knee. Gardening is very therapeutic for me. It’s relaxing, very satisfying and helps me forget about the aches and pains I experience every day.

  533. My favorite things are watching tiny seeds transform themselves into great big plants full of ripe veggies, and getting to dig in the dirt with my son!

  534. My favorite thing about gardening is the enjoyment of nurturing plants from start to finish and having such tangible results (=food you can eat!). I also love that it involves constant learning through trial and error.

  535. My favorite thing about gardening has been the continued learning and trying new things. I have gardened for a long time but within the last few years I have really learned how to improve my crops. There are so many workshops, articles and now I am part of the Organic Gardeners club which I thoroughly enjoy. I think gardening brings people and ideas together. It is becoming a more common bond. Of course I love the food too!

  536. My favorite thing is weeding – crazy but true. There is just something so satisfying about it, and it allows my hands to work while my brain works on other things that I usually can’t process thanks to the kids!

  537. My favorite thing about gardening is weeding! I think it’s a great stress reliever and helps me relax.

  538. I currently don’t have a garden but am in the process of planning one out! So maybe my favorite thing about my yard is that I have lots of space available for a garden!

  539. My favorite thing about gardening is the nurturing cycle of mother nature… I nurture the growth of the plants and in return it provides me with the nutrition my family and I need 🙂 It’s quite a fascinating thing and I can’t wait to get started!

  540. I descend from 350 years of farmers. I guess it’s just in my blood. I feel connected to them somehow and that matters a whole lot to me! 😉

  542. Hi Mavis, a simple question is not always simple to answer. Every time I walk into my garden I think that this must be my favourite time of the year, so right now I’d say that harvest time is my favourite time. I am amazed at the amount of food we can grow from a small city lot, overwhelmed by the quality and the taste. It is easy too. I am already planning and looking forward to next year!

  544. My favorite thing about gardening is the awesome feeling of accomplishment every time I get to pick something I grew and feed it to my family. 🙂

  545. Dust to dust, my soul heals when my hands are in the dirt, planting, weeding, repotting. I’m so truly happy when I spend time in my garden, surrounded by the things growing. The best therapy in the world!

  546. This year is my first year gardening. My favorite part about gardening, that despite my health and physical ailments, I was still able to do container gardening. Watching everything grow and harvesting my own vegetables gives me a sense of accomplishment as well as comfort me in knowing that what I am eating is organic instead of gmo’s.

  547. I love discovering all the different creatures in the garden…rabbits, snakes, praying mantis, butterflies, the variety of bees, frogs. We live in the city and I’m an amateur photographer, so this is exciting for me!
    The best is eating from the garden! I planted greens last fall and was amazed how they stayed fresh through the snow.
    Super giveaway, thanks a bunch!
    ~Kelli

  549. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing my kids expressions when things start to grow and then their excitement over eating something that they helped to grow. It has been a learning experience for the entire family.

  550. My favorite thing about gardening is tasting the first strawberry, blackberry, sugar snap pea, ect.. right as you pick it.

  553. My favorite thing is just being outside with my hands in the dirt. You can’t beat the sun on your face, the wind in your hair and the sounds of God’s beauty all around.

  554. My favorite thing about gardening is the quality of food my family gets to eat. I can’t afford to buy organic but I can grow it.

  555. I love knowing exactly how my food was grown! It has also taught my children so much about their food supply!

  556. I love that gardening is pretty easy, but a lot of people are intimidated by it. Throw out a few annuals, and the neighbors are overcome with awe. It’s even more fun when you get to share the fruits of your labor…literally!!

  558. I would love to win this! Winter Backyard Gardening is on my reading list, and I am preparing to garden on a much larger scale next year in the hopes it will fully sustain our family throughout Spring – Fall. I love being able to grow my own food and the solace that working in the garden gives me.

  561. There are almost as many things to love about gardening as there are gardeners…but my absolute favorite is being able to open up a canning jar or freezer bag of home-grown fruit or vegetables for a taste of summer during the heart of our snowy Ohio winter.

  563. Because I’ve been canning up a storm, I’d say my favorite part about gardening is that we can literally eat the fruits of our labor. The green beans we grew in the summer will feed us all winter. The corn and tomatoes that we nurtured will be the salsa our friends enjoy when they come over for football watching parties. The apples we picked will be the pies we share with family this Christmas and Thanksgiving. It really is amazing, isn’t it?

  564. My favorite thing is just about everything! I love the smell of freshly turned dirt. Dirt under my nails. Seeds that have sprouted. Eating things that I’ve grown. Love gardening and love watching yours grow through your pictures. Thanks for your blog!

  565. My favorite thing about gardening is the sh*tload of fresh produce that I get from it, obvs! I always feel overwhelmed when I know I have a few dozen bottles of peaches to process for winter, but there is NOTHING better than a fresh peach. NOTHING. (except maybe a fresh tomato. Or fresh strawberries….)

  566. My favorite thing about gardening is that nostalgic aspect of continuing a tradition that our ancestors began so long ago. Plus, gardening is something that all mankind have in common on every continent and in every culture. It is what brings us together! It is also neat to see my small kids continue in the tradition by FREAKING OUT about getting new seeds!

  567. My favorite thing about gardening is watching my kids and the kids at their school, where I am the garden coordinator, get so excited about healthy and organic food. I love to see them so interested and having fun while in the garden!

  568. I am a new gardener and I am loving EVERYTHING about it. I love that I am able to provide healthy organic food for my family, I love that my kids are learning how things grow and that they are interested in helping in the garden, I love that our whole family is trying new foods and new recipes, I love the exercise and the therapy. My favorite thing……………….. providing healthy quality food for my family.

  569. Mavis,

    My favorite thing about gardening is not having to leave home to grow healthy food for my family!!

  570. I love to teach my kids about gardening and the hard work it takes to grow your own food. I think it helps them appreciate where our food comes from. Hope I win! 🙂

  571. The freshness of the food. Knowing what went into it & where it came from. Satisfaction in one’s work.

  573. My favorite thing about gardening is getting home from the office and getting my hands in the soil. It is a better stress reliever than blood pressure meds.

  574. I enjoy providing my family with nutritious food sadly not found in stores these days, also enjoy the money saving opportunity and teaching experience it brings to the young.

  576. My favorite thing about gardening is planting seeds and watching for them to come up. And, of course, enjoying the delicious, home grown food!

  578. One of my favorite things about gardening is sitting in my blooming aromatic lavender patch weaving lavender wands and watching the amazing bees busily at work!

  581. I work on a computer all day, so I love the way gardening forces me to take a break from the electronics and focus on the nature around me.

  582. I love eating tomatoes off the vine while still out in the garden. Those cherry tomatoes taste best in the garden.

  584. I love getting up early and seeing what has popped out of the ground overnight. I swear the asparagus grows five inches in one day.

  585. I love to garden because it’s a new adventure every year, and always makes me feel good when I am serving my family something I grew.

  586. I love the miracle of a tiny seed transforming into a big plant that can produce enough to fill our bellies. I rarely buy seedlings from the store b/c of that.

  587. My favorite thing about gardening is that it can be so therapeutic. When my mom was on hospice, and I was her only caregiver, I would often find myself outside tending to my raised beds, thinking and praying. It was so nice to escape the dread and stress for even just 5 or 10 minutes and to recharge myself to carry on with what I needed to do and face. Mom has since passed, but my little garden perks me right up when I am feeling down.

  588. Walking down the rows in your bare feet and feeling the dirt change from sun warmed to cool as you dig your toes into it.

  590. My fave part about gardening in when the garden is all fresh turned dirt, and I makr my rows, and patt the little seeds in. (my hated part is all those weeds that then grow up in that gorgeous dirt!)

  592. My favorite part about gardening right now is taking my 2 toddlers out to the garden and having them eat the vegis as we pick them (tomatoes, Broc, peans & beans…..they love their vegis) It makes me feel like the garden experience will make them grow so well!!!!

  593. My favorite part of gardening: The blessings it has reaped in other areas of my life. My husband and I are closer b/c we spend time together outdoors doing it together. The health benefits not just from the food, but the actual work of gardening. The joy of helping others throughout my large family get started and excited about it. My brother who has four daughters now grows almost all of his own food. His wife now cans and helps in the garden. It started with gardening and raising home grown beef and expanded to raising home grown poultry and pork as well. We are so blessed.

  595. My favorite thing about gardening is the smell of tomato plants. Oh, and the taste of sun warmed tomatoes. Oh, and seeing the gold finches come to eat the sunflower seeds. And having a glass of wine and pulling weeds while listening to the wind and the grasshoppers. And watching my children learn to love veggies as they watch them grow and pick themselves. Wait, how am I supposed to pick just one?

  596. I love the sun on my face, sweat on my brow and eating my fried green tomatos along with the rest of my goodies that come from my hard work! Those gloves are really rockin’!

  597. Gardening brings me peace. Something about the putting a seed in the ground and watching it grow to produce food to eat and more seed to plant gives me hope.

  598. My favorite thing about gardening is being closer to the earth and teaching my daughter about a way of life before supermarkets.

  600. I love eating something right from the garden. Like when the first strawberries are ripe. I just go and eat them. Same with the blackberries and concord grapes. Yummy.

  601. Favorite thing about gardening..fried green tomatoes. Especially this year, I was one of the few who actually tomatos with all the rain we had in Virginia!

  602. I love just about everything about gardening: pouring over seed cataloges in the depth of winter, all the physical work, the joys of watching plants grow, chatting with neighbors and passersby, adding beauty to the world, working with my kids, eating and sharing the harvest.

  603. My favorite thing about gardening is how relaxed and pleased it makes me feel. I can work my butt off all day and when I’m done for the day, i never feel more relaxed and complete. That is my favorite thing about gardening.

  604. Getting my kids to eat veggies. Not a single snow pea nor asparagus spear made it into the house this summer. And the kids think they’re pulling one over on me. 🙂

  605. My all time favorite thing about gardening is all of the random vegetable eating that my children do because of it. Sometimes my husband complains that he doesn’t get to eat the produce from the garden, but I’m happy knowing my kids are growing up healthier because of their garden grazing!

  606. Gardening is magic! You put seeds in the ground with dirt, add water and food appears. It’s magic I tell you.

  607. It’s hard to pick just one favorite thing but…

    My favorite thing about gardening is the way it keeps me grounded (PUN! That was a pun!) in things that are really important, and that holds true for me whether I’m flower gardening or food gardening. The fresh food is a nice by-product of that, though.

  608. Ohhhh, so many things I love about gardening! #1 above all else is the satisfaction I get in making sure that the food I grow and feed my family has not been exposed to vast amounts of chemicals, it hasn’t been shipped hundred’s of miles and it hasn’t been sitting in the store for who knows how many days. It is quality food that I grew for my family – doesn’t get much better than that!

  612. Educating and inspiring my 5 young children about the beauty of Mother Nature and Her circle of life; how the garden must be valued and taken care of and in return, it gives back. Many life values can be learned in a garden.

  615. Gardening offers opportunities for non-stop learning and teaching, building community, wonderful cooking experiments and healthy eating. Hands in dirt, sky above – it can’t get better!

  616. My favoorite thing about Gardening is its gives me Peace to my soul! It’s such a great way to relax in this crazy and busy world!

  617. I like to work in my garden but the most enjoyment I get is being able to give my family fresh food. .

  618. My most favorite thing about gardening is everything. I can’t seem to pin point one exact thing. I love nuturing something to life and watching it grow. My children have to be my most prized growers,hehe. I even got my hubby into gardening and I have to say I am quite surprised at how much of a green thumb he has. I love the excitement of coming out every morning and evening (yes we check twice a day just to see if anything is different), to seeing how well everything is growing. Being a military family we will move come next year and I am hoping to start a much larger garden when we get to our new home. I also love that many of my neighbors have taken to creating gardens and we often exchange veggies and fruits with each other, it’s absolutely wonderful. Like I said there is so much I love about growing my own food. I can’t begin to cover it all 🙂

  619. My favorite thing is sitting down in the dead of winter and planning my garden for Spring. What will I add that is new? What will I plant again? What will I plant more of? I love digging through the seed catalogs, bulb catalogs and ideas on Pinterest!!! Makes my winter blues melt away!

  620. My favorite thing about gardening is harvest time. I love to reap the rewards from something that I started from a packet of seeds and raised til fruition. It is a great feeling to share the bounty with neighbors and put a smile on their faces as well!

  622. My favorite thing about gardening is preserving my own food! I love knowing in the cold winter I am eating produce from my own garden. 🙂

  623. My favorite thing about gardening is that plants obey me (for the most part), and don’t talk back like teen-agers 🙂

  625. I love being able to throw together a meal from my own yard. Cucumber and tomato salad, for one!

  627. I love that my work actually yields something visible…..I have a toddler and an almost-toddler so when I clean my house it doesn’t last. When I go out to the garden, Ahhhhh….food! I love the learning process also, ie next year, pole beans not bush! My kids eat them like they’re going out of style!

  628. My favorite thing about gardening is spending time with my family while teaching them a valuable skill. I have the fondest memories of working in the garden with my Grandmother & my mom and I have shared it with my children as well. It’s wonderful to see my kids run outside to pick a tomato for their sandwich, peas to crunch on and chives for their potatoes. It’s the best outdoor family tradition ever!

  629. My favorite thing about gardening is being out in the fresh air and sunshine and getting my hands dirty! The fresh veggies and fruit aren’t bad either!

  631. I have so many favorite things of gardening! Probably the therapeutic trance I get into is my favorite. I can have the biggest time warps when weeding. Just last week i went outside early morning in my pj’s and noticed a few weeds and next thing I knew it was noon and i was still in pj’s happy and weeding 🙂
    ps – I live in the country – it’s okay to weed in pj’s.

  632. Although I like growing my own food, my favorite part of gardening is the peace and quite! I’m the only one that likes going outside in the heat and humidity so it’s like my own little retreat from the daily demands of family and work.

  634. My favorite thing about gardening is that it has brought my uncle and I closer. He is older, around 75, and has always loved gardening. When I became interested in it, he was my go to source of information, and still is. Every February we get together with our seed catalogs, coffee, and doughnuts and make our wish lists of seeds. We usually end up splitting seeds, and he always starts them for us in his greenhouse. We also can and make jam together. 🙂

  635. My favorite thing about gardening is tending to everything. I love spending time watering, and digging in the dirt, and trimming, and picking the fruits and veggies!

  636. I think my favorite thing about gardening is planting the seeds and starts. There’s just something fresh and new about it. A clean start. And so many possibilities!

  637. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to teach my two toddlers that food doesn’t come from a grocery store, it comes from the earth, and it takes a lot of hard work to make it!

  638. My favorite thing about gardening is learning. I’m addicted to information and knowledge. I try to grow something new each year so I can learn something new. I never run out of new things to try.

  639. My favorite thing about gardening is the feeling it gives me: a wonderful combination of satisfaction, calm, beauty, and accomplishment.

  640. I love that no matter what i’m doing in the garden, big or small, I have a sense of accomplishment!

  641. Oh, I have enjoyed reading through all your comments. My thought as I read each one was “I like that about gardening too!” Even though we have drip lines to each of our garden beds, I still enjoy watering more than anything else. I always manage to find something to water that is not on a water line; our white lilac, the snowball bush, a few raspberry and blackberry bushes, asparagus, rhubarb plants, the apricot tree, the flower bed in the middle of our drive and our RV drive, newly transplanted flowers and herbs, iris along the back cedar fence, and my newest planting, a miniature ginkgo. As I was growing up, my parents had the largest and oldest known ginkgo tree in the United States. I remember groups coming from Japan and Korea coming to our home in Indiana see the tree, taking home seed pods and taking my picture (as the youngest of five) in front of the tree. It was a lovely tree, with such character in the trunk formation and giant leaves like no other. When I found the miniature ginkgo, I knew I had to have one next to my front door. It grows slowly and at it’s maximum height, will only be around four feet tall and five feet wide. It’s tiny leaves are the sweetest miniature of those I remember from my childhood. Be blessed, Mavis.

  642. My favorite things about gardening is the peace and calm that comes from being in the garden..Of course all the fresh food that we eat and preserve for future use.

  643. My favorite thing about gardening is the harvest, whether planted by me or by the upick-I feel so blessed when I am picking produce 🙂

  644. My favorite thing about gardening is that peaceful feeling it gives me as I work in the dirt- just me and my plants- there is a special kind of bond I have with my gardens- it pulls me – I can’t think of ever NOT gardening.

  645. My favorite things about gardening is that it brings me closer to my dad. He has been gone now for over 11 years but I think of him and smile whenever I harvest a Golden Boy tomato or when I am planning on growing white eggplants. He always liked some unexpected things in his garden. Many times I wish he was still here so I could ask him questions and learn from his experience.

    • Great comment! I can relate to your feelings. My dad is the inspiration for my love of gardening. He had the most beautiful gardens. And agreed that I wish he were still here to learn from. When I am missing him badly gardening is a good way to feel close to him.

  646. This is a topic I have thought about extensively. What I’ve decided is this: I love gardening because it is the only time I am completely present. When I pull weeds I am just pulling weeds. No thinking about anything else, and it is an incredibly freeing experience.

  647. It’s the peacefulness of digging in the dirt and the promise of things to come that I love about gardening.

  648. My favorite thing is to grow tomatoes and watch them turn red. I really enjoy eating the first one of the season.

  649. Narrowing it down to just one favorite thing???? Turning the compost and seeing millions of wigglers – makes me think of my dad who taught me so much about gardening. Okay, and just one more – when my kids pop a snap pea or a cherry tomato in their mouths and say, “Mmmm, this is soooo good!”

  650. I love gardening, because it actually relaxes me! It takes me away from all of the technology and the busy life of working in an office.

  651. My favorite thing about gardening is that it is like good therapy and then you have vegetables for dinner as well 😉

  654. My favorite think about gardening is growing nutritious food for my family but also having the peace while weeding/harvesting. It’s almost like cheap therapy. It’s a quiet calming activity to admire Gods amazing work.

  655. My favorite thing about gardening is watching things grow and flower. Then finally being able to pick something off the vine and eat it right there in the garden.

  657. Knowing where my food comes from. Not having to go to the store when I want fresh fruit & veggies (and they taste better too).

  659. My favorite thing about gardening is the miracle of planting a little seed, watering it, and then, BAM! Tomatoes! Monster zucchinis! All that from such a little thing!

  663. Those gloves! The books! What a fun giveaway! My favorite thing about gardening – well, it’s too hard to pick just one! I love the clmness & peace that comes in the mornings and evenings. I love finding out what critters are living in my gardens. i love that it’s something I can share with my boys, and that my love of gardening is something I inherited from my grandmothers & that it makes me feel connected to them, especially since I have many of their plants in my garden. I love that I can feed my family. So much to love.

    Your blog is one of my fave reads, though I rarely comment. Thanks for this fun giveaway! xo

  665. I love many things about gardening, but most of all I love to serve my kids, grandkids and other family and friends safe, healthy vegetables and fruits. 🙂

  667. I like being outside. Digging in the dirt is therapeutic.

    (I enjoy and appreciate reading all your tips, recipes, etc.)

  668. Focused concentration on a task that gets my hands in good dirt, lets me create habitat for a new growing plant, & lets me block out everything else but what I’m doing at the moment.

  669. My favorite thing about gardening is KNOWING WHAT’S IN/ON MY FOOD! Other faves: my children know where food comes from and learn all kinds of sciency things! Also, the workout.

  670. I love being able to know there are fresh tomatoes or onions right there when they are needed. I’m really looking forward to fresh tangelos this fall. My son gave me a tree last year for Christmas and there’s more than a dozen green fruit on it:) The tree is still small, but obviously it’s prepared to show it’s stuff!

  671. My favorite thing about gardening is getting to spend time out doors with my granddaughter, she loves to see each new produce and always has lots of questions about what is growing, My favorite one is “nana have I ever eat that before and did I like it”?
    Fun times

  673. Wowed! My favorite thing about gardening is enjoying the harvest! Knowing exactly where it came from, what was put on it, what wasn’t and eating it with satisfaction! Makes us feel really good about our meals! Thanks!

  674. It’s hard to pick one favorite thing about gardening. I love the smell of dirt, the neat rows, and of course the produce.

  677. I love the peacefulness of the garden and being able to help to bring something to life. Always something new!

  681. My favorite thing about gardening is being able to provide food for my family without any pesticides. Being able to just go out to your garden and picking things out for lunch and supper and know that they are fresh.

  683. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing my children learn to grow and harvest and cook with the seeds that they sow.

  684. My favorite thing about gardening is feeling like I had a hand in influencing at a very basic level how we eat as a family and how our children eat. They LOVE going out into the garden and seeing how everything is growing, and are fascinated (at least my 5 yo is) that we can EAT what we pick and it didn’t come from the store. You started a movement Mavis, as this garden wasn’t created until after reading your blog, and then my husband and I decided we could do it!

  685. There are too many things to list that I love about gardening but if I had to name just one thing I would say it provides good food for my family to eat all year round!!!

  686. I enjoy gardening because I love to eat all the interesting fruits and vegetables that are cost prohibitive or hard to find at the grocery store. I also love knowing that at least some of my food has been grown naturally.

  687. I think everyone has a creative light in them, and gardening helps that to shine brighter. To take a piece of ground and make it beautiful, a plot of earth and make it productive, a packet of dry seeds and watch them transform into fresh and healthy food – that nurtures the creative light of gardening and that is what I love to do. The smell of freshly turned dirt is the best perfume!

  688. One of the most exciting things for me is buying an organic piece of produce like sweet red peppers or butternut squash and drying the seeds myself and planting them and seeing a crop come up! Amazing…free and delicious food!

  690. my favorite thing about gardening… well im fairly new at this. got 4 tomatoes and 1 pepper this year. big improvement after last year. nothing grew but the weeds. year before that was good 12 ears of corn. no flowers grew either last 3 yrs. BUT, the thrill, the joy, the absolute amazement when even 1 thing grows is my favorite thing.

  692. My favorite thing is playing in the soil! I love it! I love the feel between my fingers and the all the possibility that it holds! You never know what results the soil may hold: veggies; beautiful flowers; or big earthworms (the sign of healthy soil)!

  693. My favorite thing about gardening is the feeling that I am closer to and more connected with the earth, which is what God originally intended for us.

  694. I love the whole garden experience. I can’t really pick out a favorite. We are blessed from above making food from the dark rich earth. The ability to use my muscles and brains to plan, plant, and share and eat delicious vegetables fresher than ever!

  695. Everything. I hate to exercise, but I love to garden, so I get exercise. I love to be outside with nature, birds, butterflies, bugs, what’s not to like? I’m far from self sufficient, but I have learned many things bc of my love of gardening. I have chickens, compost, vermicompost. We just moved to TN. Our new house has 2 pecan trees and 2 maples large enough to tap! I’m 52 and have only been without a dog 2 weeks out of my entire life. I think everyone able to have a pet should, be it a cat, fish, dog, etc…. They make life a little more special. I feel the same way about a garden.

  697. Teaching our 4 year old grandson to love to garden is the most amazing part of it for me. He is so cute out there pulling weeds. He loves to wash a tomato and take a big bite!

  698. Best thing for me about gardening is picking out all the cool seeds from the catalogs during January when we dream of summer produce!

  699. To me, the immense satisfaction of planting the seed, growing it, harvesting, preserving, and finally serving it, knowing what is in it, and how good it is for my family and myself, is totally beyond words. Incomparable!!!

  700. I love that my 7 year old daughter and I can connect with the earth in our garden while our surrounding world continues to be covered with pavement!

  701. My favorite thing about gardening is eating all the fresh veggies and crawling around in the dirt weeding. I just came in from harvesting my onions and picking my green beans and tomatoes. I planted a lot of veggies foe a fall garden already. Peas, collard greens, kale, beets, carrots, kohlrabi and onions. I hope they grow really fast!

  702. I HAVE RECENTLY MOVED TO VANCOUVER ISLAND AND I LOVE THAT HERE (VS NORTHERN BC) I CAN GARDEN ALL YEAR ROUND! THEREFORE I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO TAKE A LOOK THROUGH THE WINTER GARDENING BOOK, SOUNDS AWESOME. MY FAVORITE PART OF GARDENING IS BEING ABLE TO GIVE AWAY MY SURPLUS AND FEED MY SCRAPS TO MY CHICKENS. LOVE YOUR PUG PICTURES AND STORIES!!

  704. I’ve recently been researching and planning my own garden. I’m so excited to be able to both save money and control what goes on my family’s dinner plate. I love the satisfaction that it brings knowing that I grew it, that those tomatoes I’m eating wouldn’t be in my mouth without the labor I put into them 🙂

  705. My favorite thing about gardening is prepping in the Spring. Picking seeds, plotting out the garden, fresh dirt, oh my! I love it all.

  707. My favorite thing about gardening is my children being involved and getting excited to harvest. Thanks for the chance to win!

  710. I love the feel of freshly turned soil . The feel of triumph pulling up a difficult weed. Listening to my favorite podcasts all alone.

  711. My favorite thing about gardening is that I feel so passionate about the entire process of growing and sharing food with friends and family (food = love)! I enjoy learning about gardening, as each season brings something new to the table whether its learning how to grow something you’ve never tried, making compost, battling pests…and I’ve really enjoyed how gardening has connected me to a community of other gardeners. Its more rewarding than I ever thought it would be – I guess when I was a youngster playing in dirt and mud in the backyard, I was onto something, I just didn’t know what it was!

  714. There is something pretty darn cool about using simple items (a tiny seed, water and the earth) and being able to live off what comes from your efforts.

  715. I really dont have a favorite thing because i’m a wanabe gardener. I dont think i have a green thumb but i sure do envy all of you that do. If i win i will try 🙂

  716. I love the satisfaction of growing healthy food for my family, and the fun my kids have gardening with me (they’re 5 and 2). They are often found foraging for snacks in the garden, and I love the accessibility we have to yummy, healthy snacks.
    Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂

  721. I think my favorite thing about gardening would have to be piece of mind. There are so many things to study and learn and you can watch the world change before your very eyes. Going out each morning and looking at lush ripe fruit, imagining what it could end up as: A beautiful, rich sauce, a spicy salsa, warming soup, dried goods. A garden is something no one can take away from you and, if they do, you can find some squirreled off place on a back nine somewhere and dig a new one.

    Not… that I condone that sort of thing 😀

  722. My favorite thing is the tomatoes! Store bought tomatoes taste fake when compared to homegrown tomatoes.

  723. My favorite thing about gardening is watching seeds turn into full grown plants. It’s amazing every time.

  724. It’s a tie between being amazed at getting something to sprout and then watching it grow each day and the satisfaction of getting to eat something you grew

  727. My favorite thing about gardening is that I can share all the extra fruits and veggies with my friends. I love to trade gardening goodies and flower seeds with my friends!

  728. Gardening with my son. Especially seeing the magic sparkle & sense of wonder in his eyes as we pick vegetables from huge plants he sowed as little seeds.

  729. I love digging in the dirt, the smells, the wonder of watching plants come up and grow, the pleasures of being outdoors, creating a little order in a chaotic world, the changing tasks, the delicious and healthy harvests, reading about other’s experiences, and more.

  730. My favorite thing about gardening…My parents grew up in Indiana and were the children of farmers.
    They lived through the depression poor but they were never hungry. Gardening sustains us. Hard work, creativity,
    and then the fruits of our labor:) Everything seems to come full circle in the garden
    And that’s what I love most.

  731. For me, the best part of gardening is being able to just open the back door and walk,to whichever bed to harvest fresh, delicious fruit, veggies or herbs to add to our dinner. The very best is to pick a feverfew leaf (frond?) to treat my headache! Can’t get any fresher that that!

  733. I love to be able to grow my own food. And show my kids where things really come from and the process of growing.

  735. Fresh! I love how growing your own food means biting into something so fresh and delicious and you have to wait patiently for it to be in season, you appreciate just how great and fresh it is!

  736. My favorite thing about gardening is showing my little one how to pick the fresh vegetables and teach her what each vegetable is. She is only 16 months old but loves being outside in the garden. She always walks me to the door and points that she wants to go outside. So sweet 🙂

  738. My Favorite part of gardening is having healthy food at your fingertips. It allows our family eat more healthfully everyday! My son is also willing to try new veggies. And there is no comparison when it comes to flavor!

  739. I enjoy sitting in the garden looking at all the wonderful things that are growing-veggies, herbs, and flowers! I have favorite things
    about the garden in every season, spring-the first sprouts, summer-the beauty of a “weed free” garden after weeding, fall-shelves full of home canned food for my hungery family, winter-snow covered garden beds and meals made from the pantry.

  740. My favorite thing about gardening is seeing the results of my labor. In my day job, it sometimes takes months (if ever!) to see results – gardening gives me tangible results of the effort I put into my garden.

  741. I enjoy the satisfaction of watching things grow from seed to plant. I also enjoy eating the goods.

  742. With having Fibromyalgia and arthritis I literally have to decide what I am going to do that day and is it worth the “payback” of pain.
    Gardening is right up there with playing with the grandbabies and Christmas morning…there is something wonderful to show for it.

  743. My favorite thing about gardening is my excitement to see the vegetables grow, when they first sprout to when they are ready to be harvested. I know that we are eating healthy food and don’t have to be worried about chemicals. Also I love to work outdoors on sunny days and walk around barefoot without caring about getting dirty feet.

  744. I love watching the plants grow, knowing where my food comes from, it’s a stress reliever and most of all…it just makes me happy!

  745. I love the meditative, calming aspects of gardening. There is something about nurturing plants and having your fingers in the soil (even in gloves!) that is so soothing. And then it’s such a satisfying, little miracle each time a seed germinates and begins to grow.

  747. My favorite part of gardening is being able to provide food for my family and know exactly where it came from – that there are no chemicals or preservatives.

Mavis Butterfield Etsy