Hi there, and thanks for checking out The Growing Challenge!  Due to technical issues with this blog we’ve moved to a new blog.  So don’t delay!  The challenge continues over at our new blog.  Come join us!!

The original Post is below, but please sign up at our new blog!

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Yesterday I mentioned the word challenge.  Well, it has been suggested to me that I actually host a challenge.  Sounds like a plan!  I’m game if you are.

Here’s what a challenge will do for you:

1. it will push you harder,
   

2. it will keep you going when you run out of steam,
   

3. it will regularly remind you to keep up with what’s important to you,
   

4. it will give you a network for finding out more,
   

5. it will help you move toward a goal of becoming more frugal, sustainable, and self-sufficient,  and
   

6. it will make you feel like a part of a group of people all moving toward the same goal.
   

Here are the Rules of The Growing Challenge:

1. 1. For this challenge, you must grow one additional type of fruit or vegetable than you did last year, and grow it from seed.  If you’ve never grown anything, well, grow one thing!  Or if you’ve never grown beans or carrots or lettuce or strawberries, try one of those....  And if you don’t have a garden, you can grow it in a pot or on a window sill - see Gardening 101:  Ordering Seeds for links about how.  The goal is to push ourselves to grow a little more food than we have before.
   

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3. 2.  If rule #1 is not enough of a challenge for you, you may make your own rules.  For example, I’m going to grow two fruits and three veggies more than I did last year.
   

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5. 3.  You must post about gardening once each week.  This could be a post about researching different plants, ordering seeds, buying pots, digging beds, planting the seeds, pruning, adding compost, all the way to preparing a meal that includes the food you grew.  **Please include “Growing Challenge” in the name of the posts - and/or have a Growing Challenge tag in your sidebar - so I can find them!**
   

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7. 4.  Every week I will go to every participant’s website and check out what you’ve written, and write a summary on this blog. This will be a great way to see what everyone is up to and learn from one another.  If you don’t have a blog, you can email me a blurb about your gardening progress.
   

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9. 5.  Let me know in the comment section below if you’re joining in the fun!  And make sure to include your blog URL so I can find your posts.
   

1. 6. When signing up, make sure to include your zone and where you’re located.   Visit the Week #6 post for information about how to find your zone.
   

Why start now, in the dead of winter?

I want to make sure I catch you all before you make your seed purchases.  And I’m hoping that we can start to build momentum:  if some of us start now, hopefully we can get a few more people started growing food.  A sort of viral message to get the word out to more and more people.

The Button.

With that in mind, please post this doodad on your blog, so we can start a snowball rolling:

To add the button to your blog, copy and paste this code:

<a href="http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?page_id=41" ><img border="0" src=http://www.elementsintime.com/Blog2/Growing_Challenge_200x200.jpg /></a>

Or right-click on the image and save it to your desktop.  Then upload it to your blog as you would any other image, with a link to:

http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?page_id=41

(Make sure to check it once you’ve uploaded the image, to make sure the link works and the image loads correctly.)

Resources.

In my new “Gardening 101” series, I will take you through all the steps necessary to plant your own seeds, nurture them into healthy plants, and finally harvest them.

Make sure to subscribe to this blog so that you can keep up to date on the latest Gardening 101 articles and Growing Challenge posts!

Other great resources are fellow gardeners.  Check out what other gardeners are up to here.  Ask questions, leave suggestions, let’s communicate!

Other challenges to try.

This challenge can go hand in hand with FoodShed Planet’s Victory Garden Challenge, Path to Freedom’s 100 Foot Diet Challenge, Urban Hennery’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge (restarts Nov. 15), Eat Local Challenge (check the blog periodically for new challenges this summer),  or  Andrea’s Grow Your Own 2008.

Let’s have fun, learn from one another, and build a great community of food gardeners!