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Continue Shopping24 Days of Giveaways - Day 6 Grow and Gather
Our Day 6 of 24 Days of Giveaways brings you a terrific book on all the things that happen in a year of gardening, our favourite snips and some wondrous seeds…
Gardening is an inherently paradoxical activity. It means existing at the point of tension between being and doing - Grace Alexander
Grace Alexander has been growing flowers for ten years now. And she has poured herself into her latest work of art, Grow and Gather, a Gardener’s Guide to a Year of Cut Flowers. Grace admits gardening is a compulsion and “a way of distilling my essence”. What a wonderfully romantic way of describing how soulful growing can be.
Grow and Gather even turns gardening mistakes into celebrations of sorts. A full list of what not to do, shows Grace’s humility and encouragement all in the same breath. You’ll find yourself flipping back and forth just to catch the amazing photography too!
Reading Grace’s book is like being entranced in a documentary, peering over her shoulder for a full season, collecting tips, and how-to’s, listening intently to the explanations and figuring out how to replicate her wisdom. And then all too quickly, the 200 pages come to an end. You knew it would, but imagined that if you just wished hard enough maybe it would continue...
If you or the gardener in your life wants a companion for the field this is it. Our giveaway on Day 6 of Stems Flower Farm 24 Days of Giveaways is Grace Alexander’s Grow and Gather. And because we know how well it will capture your desires, we will include a pair of ARS snips, plant tags, a Pentel permanent marker and six carefully selected seed packs from Stems Flower Farm. Who knows, maybe we will give away YOUR book next year!
For a chance to win leave a comment below. In your message, share an author who makes you want to keep reading long after it’s over, or a good book recommendation for our off-season reading, anything really, as long as it puts a smile on everybody’s face. EASY. This giveaway is open to anyone with a Canadian shipping address. This Giveaway is open until Sunday night December 12th at Midnight PT.
UPDATE: Congratulations to our winner, Sarah K
Learn more and connect with Stems Flower Farm
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Learn more and connect with Grace Alexander Flowers
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Kelley Liebzeit
Dec 12, 2021
I like to read the Outlander series. There are 8 books and the 9th is now available. Although I have watched the series on TV,the books are much better. You can use your imagination and many details that you may not understand are explained so much better.
Julie Matchett
Dec 12, 2021
Every night, I read to my 12-year old son – I’ve been reading to him since the day he was born. It’s our cozy little bedtime ritual. The latest book we’re reading is James Herriot’s “All Creatures Great and Small” and the adventures of this famous Yorkshire, England vet. I don’t think he was overly keen on that choice at first, but after getting a few chapters in, I can tell he’s enjoying it. I’ve told him he needs to trust my book choices! Some of his favourite characters include Tricki Woo, the pampered Pekingese and his owner, Mrs. Pumphrey.
Kelsey
Dec 12, 2021
I love going back and re-reading Harry Potter. It brings back lots of happy memories of reading them as a kid with my mom
Meg Walker
Dec 12, 2021
Last week I finished reading Richard Van Camp’s latest, “Gather: On the Joy of Storytelling.” The overall premise is: sharing stories is a meaningful, surprising, and often surprisingly deep way to connect. So set the stage for it by gathering: cooking a good meal, building a backyard fire, being curious about people you visit.
His writing is conversational, hilarious, and warm. He talks about how to be a good host and how to be a good guest (basically: share. bring simple gifts of time, food, or helping out. yes, there’s a lot about food!).
I thought of it here because hanging out in a garden is another wonderful place to visit and connect. Small-scale chats over weeding sometimes turn into trust conversations about longtime dreams or childhood memories.
Or talking about where a flower or seed came from teaches me, as listener, something I didn’t know about a friend or about how to care for the plant.
Or, similarly, I get to tell someone about how my partner and I chose that birch tree from the side of a mining road and planted it here for shade.
So I recommend Van Camp’s “Gather” because it’s generous and entertaining, and because it touches on that part of us that wants to tell stories and just “be” together.
Thanks for providing that lovely writing/thinking prompt.