I've had a really happy week. These last few days have brought unexpected and much appreciated surprises in the form of an award, a giveaway prize, a parcel of books and a winning entry in a photo competition. I'm not sure what I've done to deserve such abundance but it's certainly brought a smile to my face and given me a huge boost.
First, very warm thanks to Jo of
The Good Life blog for including the Urban Veg Patch in her Liebster Award list. It's rather lovely to have this award as, even after a couple of years of blogging, I'm never sure if what I write is of sufficient interest beyond being a record for myself. Jo regularly takes the time to leave appropriate comments on my posts which is lovely to read and very reassuring. I've been reading Jo's blog now for over a year - and very good it is too.
As other bloggers have said, it's really nice when readers leave comments; it strengthens the online community and friendships are developed. I've met some lovely people through blogging, this year has been especially rewarding in that respect and awards such as this are a lovely way of introducing the blogs I enjoy to a wider audience. In order to accept the award, I have to follow a few simple rules:
Copy and paste the award on your blog - (check!)
Thank the giver and link back to them - (done with pleasure!)
Choose five blogs (with less than 200 followers) that you'd like to pass the award on to and leave a comment for them on their blog.
This last rule is where I thought I'd run into problems as many of the blogs I enjoy have already been chosen for the award by Jo's other blog nominees. But after carefully checking that I wasn't duplicating anyone's choices, these are the five that I would recommend:
Suburban Veg Plot
A Life Less Simple
Lovely Greens
Erin's Urban Organic Gardening in Sidney
Charlotte's Plot
These are all new to me this year and I've really enjoyed reading them and getting to know their authors a little bit and hope that others will find the time to pop over and take a look. (I would have added
A Woman of the Soil,
Wellywoman,
Little Green Fingers and
FlightPlot to this list but that would be flaunting the rules and we wouldn't want that.)
And what about my other luck? Well, it appears that
one of my photos has earned me the first prize in the
UK Veg Gardeners photo competition and I'm going to be the very lucky recipient of a pair of Felco No 7 secateurs! Obviously I'm over the moon at this but can't quite believe it as there were some stunning entries from other members. Congratulations to Mark at
Mark's Veg Plot and Karen at
The Garden Smallholder whose photos were also, very deservedly, chosen.
Unbelievably, shortly after the above news came my way, so did another email from Jo saying that I'd won the giveaway that she was hosting on her other blog,
Through the Keyhole. My two childhood obsessions were with reading and making things, whether by sewing, knitting, drawing or building, so I'm really looking forward to the arrival of Jo's very generous parcel as I've won a copy of Cath Kidston's book 'Make!' (as well as other lovely things such as a tin of fudge - mmm, yum! - and a book of Victorian niceties.) Perfect timing as, with a few days off over Christmas, I intend to indulge in a spot of
sofa flying (as Flighty would say).
But I did say parcels, didn't I? More than one? Yes. Because I've taught children's art clubs, gardened with children and our newly formed
Transition Town will be hosting children's crafting workshops, CICO Books have sent me two rather lovely books to review. These are
Green Crafts for Children(35 projects using natural, recycled and found materials) and
My First Sewing Book. Both are beautifully photographed with some very interesting projects to make - perfect for ages 7 and up and just in time for Christmas. I have a weekend ahead of me and an enormous stash of crafting supplies so I'll be back with a review tomorrow.
The sun is shining here in London; I hope that each of you has some sunshine in your day too!
Caro xx