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 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

"Name That Lamb" Contest

Our first lambs of the year will start arriving here in less than a month. And this year, I'm having a contest because I want YOU to help me name them!


Here's why: All of my sheep are registered. The sheep registry assigns one letter of the alphabet to each year, and all lambs born in that year get that letter tattooed in their ears. Because of that, I decided I would name all my sheep with names that start with the letter of their year of birth. It's an easy way to help me remember how old each sheep is.

But it's not always easy to come up with that many names that start with the same letter. This year is going to be the hardest of all. It's the year of "X". I need your help to come up with dozens and dozens of lamb names that all start with the letter X!


So here's how the contest is going to work:

NAMING REQUIREMENTS

1. All names must start with the letter X.
2. All names must be reasonably easy to pronounce.
   
3. I need both girl's names and boy's names. Semi-matching names for twins are also good. (For example, in previous years I've had Urban & Urbana, Ulysses & Ulyssia, etc.)
4. Either "real" or made-up names are acceptable.

JUDGING, WINNING, & PRIZES

1. I will collect all the name suggestions in a list, which I'll keep with me in the lambing barn.
2. As each lamb is born, I'll choose a name from the list that I think fits that lamb. That's all there is to the judging: whether I like the name, and whether a lamb is born who seems to fit it.
3. After each lamb is born, I'll post his or her photo and the winning name here on my blog.
4. If your name is chosen, I will post a link to your website or blog, to give you a little free publicity.
5. If more than one person suggests the same winning name, I'll post each person's link.
6. Each winner will also be entered in a random drawing for a special grand prize at the end of lambing season.

HOW TO ENTER

1. Email your name suggestions to me at keepingthefarm@aol.com.
2. Put "Name That Lamb Contest" in your subject line.
3. Include your name and web site or blog address so that I can post your link if you're one of the winners.
4. You may suggest as many names as you like, for more chances to win.
5. Lambing season runs from late March through late May. You may enter any time before the last lamb is born, but the earlier you enter, the better your chances of winning.
   

Have fun! I'm looking forward to seeing all your name suggestions!

Ingleside Farm Felted Soap Giveaway!

Today is my birthday, and I want to give YOU a present!

Starting today, I am accepting entries for our big Felted Soap Giveaway. On March 15, I'll choose one winner at random. The winner will receive his or her choice of the following prizes:

(1) Deluxe Felted Sheep's Milk Soap Collection: Five bars of our fabulous felted sheep's milk soap, one in each of our five natural colors. Click the link above for details.


or (2) Deluxe Soap Felting Kit: Everything you need to felt your own soap. You get five bars of our fabulous sheep's milk soap, five 1-oz. bags of pure Icelandic sheep's wool, and a set of instructions. All you need to provide is a bowl of hot water and a few minutes of your time. Click the link above for details.


There are multiple ways to enter:

1. Become our fan on Facebook (If you're already a fan, that still counts).

2. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, with a link to this page.

3. Write a relevant post about this giveaway to an appropriate online forum or group (Please don't spam your forums with inappropriate posts!)

4. Write about this giveaway on your blog, with a link to this page (you may use any of the photos above, if you like).

5. Post a link to this giveaway on your web site (you may use any of the photos above, if you like).

By doing more than one of the above activities, you can earn multiple entries, but only one entry per URL, please.

You must send an email to keepingthefarm@aol.com with details of your entries. Put "Felted Soap Giveaway" in your subject line.

Don't forget to include your name and an accurate email address, so I can let you know if you win!

Did You Notice Our Redesign?

If you look at this blog regularly, it's probably pretty obvious: I gave the blog a bit of a redesign today.

Since we finally sold our last horse, I exchanged the horse photo at the top of the page for a sheep photo, and removed a couple of references to "raising horses" from the site.

I also updated our list of websites (on the right side of the page) to include our Etsy store, our CafePress store, and our brand-new Facebook page, which will be featuring some promos and giveaways in the coming weeks.

I've introduced several new products to the farm in the past year. Now it's time to figure out how to market them!