New Soap, New Giveaway!

Help me celebrate my newest soap creation---and win some for yourself!

My new Farmstead Deluxe Cream Soap is very special, not only because it is so very creamy and luxurious, but also because it is so pure and natural.  It features:

• Icelandic sheep's milk:  hand milked (by me) from my own flock of Icelandic sheep
• Guernsey cream:  hand milked and hand skimmed (by me) from my own Guernsey cow
• Home-rendered lard:  hand cut, rendered, and filtered (by me) from my own pastured heritage breed pigs.

The only ingredients in the soap that were not raised and hand-processed right here on the farm are the lye and the pure essential oils that give the soap it's bright, crisp lemon-herb scent.

Would you like to win some of this luscious soap for yourself?  If you enter my holiday giveaway, you'll have at least seven chances to win a variety pack of my hand made soaps, including:

• 1 bar of the Farmstead Deluxe Cream Soap
• 1 bar of the Amber Scented Sheep's Milk Soap
• 1 bar of the Unscented Pure Castile Soap

To enter, you must:

1. "Like" (or already have liked) our Ingleside Farm Facebook page
2. Get a friend to also "Like" our Facebook page.
3. Leave a comment here on this blog post telling me YOUR NAME as well as YOUR FRIEND'S NAME.  (Make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win.)

You will get one entry for each friend who "Likes"our Facebook page thanks to your recommendation.  There is no limit to how many entries you can earn this way.  Your friend(s) will also be automatically entered in the giveaway. 

Seven winners will be chosen randomly from all the entries, one winner per day, for the entire week of December 18 through 24.  Winners will be notified by email and announced here on this blog.

Let the giveaway begin!

WINNERS:

December 18:  Barbara Beard
December 19:  Kristi Elmore
December 20:  Christian Burchett
December 21:  Judy Russi
December 22:  Sarah Hart
December 23:  Jenny Brown
December 24:  Cyndi Howard

And We Have a Winner!

The winner of today's Sheep's Milk Soap Balls Giveaway is:

Andrea?  Or Morgan?  You didn't leave me a way to contact you directly, but back on January 16th you entered the giveaway by leaving the following comment:

ANDREA said...

I love the idea of giving away extras. I have a small farm in Tacoma and I give away my extra eggs. People try to give me money, but I am raising chickens for fun and it makes me smile to give something away. Maybe some day I will sell my eggs. Keep up the good work. I also follow you on Facebook. Morgan

So, Andrea/Morgan, if you're out there, email me at inglesidesheep@aol.com and give me your contact info so I know where to send your soap!

Thanks for playing, everybody.  Don't forget, there will be another giveaway when our Facebook page reaches 1,200 fans.

Another Soap Ball Giveaway

Hey!  While I wasn't looking, we reached another of the milestones I set out to trigger another giveaway:  This blog now has 100 followers.  Thanks everybody!

I'm going to give everybody until noon on Monday to enter to win, then I'm going to randomly pick a winner.  If you've already entered to win before, you don't need to enter again.  If you do need to enter, go to this blog post and leave a comment.

Don't forget:  I'll do another giveaway when my farm's Facebook page reaches 1,200 fans.  That's the place to hear all the daily details about what's going on here at Ingleside Farm, so join us, and recommend us to your friends too!

First Soap Giveaway Winners

Yesterday, we reached TWO of the four "milestones" I'd set for my latest soap giveaway, so today I'm giving away two sets of hand-rolled Sheep's Milk Soap balls.

The winners are... (drum roll, please!)

(1)  Justine---You didn't leave an email address Justine, so I hope you're reading this!  Email me at inglesidesheep@aol.com to tell me your shipping address so that I can send you your soap.

(2)  Yarnabees.  I've already sent you an email, all I need now is your shipping address

Congratulations to our two winners!

There are still 2 more giveaways waiting to happen, so don't forget to enter.  All you have to do is comment on the giveaway's blog post for your chance to win.

New Giveaway: Sheep's Milk Soap Balls

Time for a new giveaway, and this time it's something new:  handmade sheep's milk soap balls!

As many of you may know, thanks to the success of my Kickstarter soap making project, I've been able to start making all of our luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside person to do it for me.  I'm currently in the process of building up inventory, which takes a while because after the soaps are made, they have to cure for a few weeks before they're ready to be sold.

I have a small amount of soap that is ready to go now (contact me directly if you'd like to buy some), and a much larger amount that will be ready in early February.

But meanwhile, I'm giving some away. 

I make all of my soap in small batches, and pour it into molds that hold about 6 lbs. of soap at a time.  Sometimes after filling the molds, I have a little bit of soap left over.  That soap gets made into old-fashioned, hand-rolled soap balls.

They are decorative as well as practical, and are made with the exact same natural ingredients as my regular bar soap:  olive oil, sheep's milk from my own flock of Icelandic sheep, water, lye, and essential oils.  They are very mild to your skin, and they smell great.

I'm going to give away four sets of three soap balls.  These giveaways will happen at four different "milestones":

1.  I'll give away one set of soap balls when our next batch of piglets are born.  That could take place any time in the next few days, so enter soon!  If you click the link above, you can also enter our "Guess A Piglet" contest for a chance to name one of the piglets when they are born.

2.  I'll give away another set of soap balls when the number of "Likers" for the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,100.  As I type this, we need only 12 new likers, so this could happen almost immediately.  Feel free to use the "Suggest to Friends" feature (right under the ram photo in the upper left corner of the page) to help speed things along!

3.  Getting 12 new likers for our fan page is too easy a goal.  Let's make you work for the next one!  I'll give away another set of soap balls if you can push our number all the way up to 1,200.  Recommend us to your friends, and don't forget to let them know that they can enter to win some soap balls too.

4.  See that column on the right hand side of this blog page?  The one with my photo and the blog archive and all that?  Right below the blog archive is a listing of this blog's followers, with an easy button to click to become a follower.  When the number of followers listed there reaches 100, I'll give away the last set of soap balls.  If you're not a follower, please consider becoming one.  And if you have friends who like to read about farming, nature, and hand crafting, encourage them to follow as well.  That way, you'll all be first in line to get the news when I announce my NEXT giveaway!  :-)

Okay, I've told you the "What" and the "When" of the giveaway.  Now you need to know the "How," as in "How do I enter to win these marvelous soap balls?"

It's easy as can be:  Just post a comment on this blog entry. 

Make sure to include some way of contacting you if you win---If you comment anonymously, I may not be able to reach you to tell you you're a winner.  Winners will be selected at random from among all the people to comment on this post.  I'll contact winners by email to get their shipping address, and the winning names will be announced on this blog.  One entry per person, please. 

Now, go win yourself some soap!  :-)

Giveaway Winners!

Drum roll please!  Here are the winners for our three big giveaways.

 1 bar of sheep's milk soap goes to:

• Brooke
• Natural Garden
• Susie
• Ackermari
• Daneen

The Icelandic fleece goes to:

• Sleepypinesaz

And last but not least, the hand spun, hand knitted scarf goes to:

• Zoe

Many thanks to all who participated!  Winners---please email me your contact info so I can send you your prizes!

Don't Forget to Enter our THREE Free Giveaways!

Time is running out to enter our three big giveaways!  To enter, all you have to do is go to the appropriate blog post for the prize you want to win and comment on that post.  Only one entry per giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you want:

Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway  <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away free bars of sheep's milk soap to five people if my soap making project on Kickstarter met its funding goal.  The project met its goal in just over a week, so this giveaway is definitely happening.  I'll give everybody one more week to enter, then I'll announce the winners on November 1.

 

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away this lovely Icelandic sheep's fleece when my farm's Facebook page reached 1,000 fans.  We're at 990 fans now, so we only need 10 more to go before this giveaway happens.

Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway  <---Click on this link, then post a comment.
I said I'd give away this hand spun, hand knitted scarf when my farm's Facebook page reached 1,000 fans.  We're at 990 fans now, so we only need 10 more to go before this giveaway happens.

Don't miss your chance to win.  Enter today!

Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

Here's giveaway #3:

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I've launched a project with Kickstarter.com to raise funds to get the equipment and supplies necessary to start making all of my luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside crafter to make it for me. 

 
The Kickstarter projects work on an all-or-nothing funding scale.  Which means I have to meet my $500 funding goal by November 15th, or none of the funding goes through.

If you help fund this project, there are lots of great rewards, including selections of our soaps and even a 2-day sheep farm adventure where you and a friend can join us here on the farm for two days during lambing season in April.


To encourage people to help me spread the word about this project, I'm also offering a giveaway:

If the Kickstarter project meets its funding goal by the November 15th deadline, I will give away a free bar of our luscious handmade sheep's milk soap to FIVE different people. 

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post.

But remember, the giveaway only happens if If the Kickstarter project meets its funding goal.  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc.


One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three of our current giveaways if you like:


Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway (this page)

Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway

Here's giveaway #2:

When the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans, I'm also going to give away this handspun, hand knitted scarf.

The scarf is made of pure, undyed Icelandic sheep's wool from this beautiful ewe named Urbana:

The scarf is about 5" wide and 5' long, not counting the fringe.  It is 100% factory-free.  Every step of its creation, from the birth of the sheep to the shearing, washing, carding, and spinning of the wool into yarn, to the knitting of the finished scarf was all done by hand, by me, right here on the farm.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post! 


But remember, the giveaway happens once our farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans (as of this writing we have just 74 more to go to get there).  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc., and then the giveaway will happen sooner.

If you're the "crafty" sort and would love to make your own scarf (or sweater, or...)  make sure to check out our Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway too.

One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you like:


Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway (this page)
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway

Okay, so here's giveaway #1.

When the farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans, I'm going to give away this beautiful Icelandic fleece: 

 
It's an entire raw fleece, weighing 3 lbs. 5 oz.  Retail value, $40.  It came from this lovely spotted ewe named Mona, and is a mix of creamy white and chocolate brown wool.

The fleece is suitable for either felting or spinning.  You can separate the two colors for a brown and white project, or blend them together for a more "heathered" shade.  There's enough here to make an entire sweater, or other good-sized project.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on this blog post! 

But remember, the giveaway happens once our farm's Facebook page reaches 1,000 fans (as of this writing we have just 74 more to go to get there).  Help us reach our goal by forwarding this page to your friends and family, Tweeting about this giveaway, posting a link to this page on your own blog or Facebook wall, etc., and then the giveaway will happen sooner.

If you're not the "crafty" sort, don't worry, there's a giveaway for you too.  I'm also giving away a handspun, hand knitted scarf in my next blog post.

One entry per person for each giveaway, but you can enter all three giveaways if you like:

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway (this page)
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway

So Many New Projects!

Have you seen?  I've been a very, very busy girl lately, with several big projects to help promote the farm.

First, I finally finished doing a total redesign of the farm's web site.  Not only does it have a whole new look, it also has more than twice as much information about (and pretty pictures of) the farm.  The address is still the same:  http://inglesideicelandics.com/.

The redesign took me forever, and I'm very pleased with the results.  I think it gives a much fuller picture of who we are, what we're doing, and where we hope to go from here.

Second, I've launched a project with Kickstarter.com to raise funds to get the equipment and supplies necessary to start making all of my luscious sheep's milk soap right here on the farm instead of hiring an outside crafter to make it for me.  I'm pretty excited about this, especially since the soaps have become our most popular product.  I just shipped my first order of soaps to Japan, where the charming buyer pronounced them "very splendid."  Isn't that sweet?

I've also been working on increasing our fan base on the farm's Facebook page.  I'm so honored that more than 900 people count themselves among our fans already!  I have so much fun interacting with the people there and sharing bits of daily life from the farm .

To celebrate all these projects, and express my appreciation for all the fans and customers who help make it all possible, I've decided to do not one, not two, but THREE big giveaways.

To keep the entries for the giveaways separate, I'm going to give details of them in three separate blog posts, coming right up:

Free Icelandic Fleece Giveaway
Free Handspun Wool Scarf Giveaway
Free Sheep's Milk Soap Giveaway