The Fourth Annual Plum Jam Giveaway

Good morning sparrows and starshines!
It’s my complete and utter delight to announce the fourth annual plum jam give away here at The Noisy Plume.  I can’t believe I’ve done this four years in a row now!  It’s something I look forward to every fall.  The truth of the matter is that I simply love being able to give away a little piece of my property here in Idaho.  And let’s just be bare bones honest for a moment, this is some of the best jam on the planet Earth.  I make a big deal about it, true, but whenever people have their first taste, they’re eyeballs get big as a bullfrogs and they nod their heads yes and affirm the truth of my bragging.

So. 
Without further delay,
here are the details!
________________________

Last year, we did a fantastic golden ticket contest with the plum jam, as you may recall.  We sold nearly 100 jars of the stuff over in the Etsy shop — one lucky person won a pretty little necklace with their jam purchase and it was fun and a wonderful gamble.  Sadly, packing and shipping nearly 100 jars of jam nearly killed us and while we’d have loved to do it all again, we are a bit busier than usual this fall, here at The Gables, and a simple blog giveaway will have to suffice.  Forgive us for not going above and beyond this year.

As always, I love to give you a quick run down about the plums we use in this jam.  Plume Gables boasts a beautiful little, creaky old, 104 year old farm house on an original stone foundation on a piece of property that formerly spanned the entire street.  It was originally a fruit orchard!  We are the fourth family to ever own and love this property (though the first two families were the first and second generation of the same family).  Deeded with the land is a charming set of water rights to one of the spring creeks that flows down off the mountains on the West side of the Portneuf Valley.  With this water, we irrigate all of our ancient grapevines, rose gardens and fruit trees.  It’s a romantic and historical detail about our home since when this little chunk of land was originally homesteaded, the same creek water was used to feed an entire orchard, and more.

We do not spray our fruit trees with any pesticides.  
Plums are hand picked when they turn a ripe, 
deep purple on the trees.
These beautiful gems are organic as can be,
watered with holy water from a spring that wells up out of the mountains we see from the front windows of our home, and they are filled with the nutrients that only a sun ripened fruit can hold.
We hand pit these plums with old fashioned paring knives,
quarter them and then turn them into jam with the help of a low sugar recipe.
The flavor is unbelievable,
tart and sweet.
The color is like magenta rubies,
as you can see modeled on this delicious little
fluffy, hot-from-the-oven buttermilk biscuit:
I’m giving away five jars of the stuff.  
Since I couldn’t muster the golden ticket contest this fall, I am including these jars of jam in sweet little packages that will include:
 My favorite loose leaf herbal tea.
Hand picked and bound sage bundles, beautiful for sniffing and smudging…
and a few other items that will remain a surprise!

If you’d like to enter your name in this giveaway, please leave me a comment on this post.  
Tell me anything you’d like, but I’m especially interested in hearing about how autumn makes you feel and what you love most about it — if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, tell me about the shifts you’re seeing as your world moves into summer!
If you’re shy or thin on time, just say hi.


Please leave only ONE COMMENT, if you can.
And please include your email address 
so I can contact you 
if you should win.

Everyone is welcome and
I will ship internationally.
Contest closes on Wednesday at 10PM, MST.

As always, thank you so much for being part of my world and for being some of the most incredible, kind, supportive, gracious and loving people I’ve ever brushed up against.  
Happy autumn!

Love,
The Plume

Winners Winners Chicken Dinners:

Thanks to you all for your incredible comment contributions to the “I Love Your Soul” giveaway.
I generated some random numbers over on the interwebular random number generator and these are the winners and their comments!
Congrats ladies (and Nathan).
If you gave me an email address, I’ll contact you in mere moments!
If you didn’t, please email me at:
thenoisyplume@gmail.com
Thanks and love,
The Plume


Comment #103:
Comment #7:
Comment #105:
Comment #82
Comment #37
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
I am officially SOLD OUT of these tote bags.  Do any of you still want one?  Should I print a second run of these bags?  Please let me know!

Give Give Give(away)

To love the soul of another is to love the most unique, most delicate, most strong, most beautiful part of a person.  When I say, I LOVE YOUR SOUL, I mean it.  I’m not a master of soul loving, I’m human.  Sometimes I let myself get in the way of myself…and I fail to love.

I love your soul is something I say fairly frequently.
I hallmark my work with the phrase,
I believe in the actions and thoughts that make the phrase true.
And now I’ve put those words on a tote bag — 
something common, something every day.

You’ll use this bag to carry fresh carrots and rhubarb from your local farmer’s market.
You’ll put your library books in it.
You’ll use it to carry your latest knitting project.
You’ll give one to a friend.
You’ll gift one to a daughter or a mother or a brother.
You’ll carry it onto an airplane and shove it under the seat in front of you.

No matter where you carry it or how you use it, you’ll be reminding yourself to love the souls of others, and you’ll be reminding others that you love their souls.

What a beautiful thing!

I’ll be listing these tote bags in my shop but I’m also
giving five of these bags away
here on my blog.

To enter the drawing for them, please simply: 
leave a comment at the bottom of this post and let me know 
what you think is the very best way to love the soul of another (if you are shy with your words, just say whatever you want).
Please include your email address so I can contact you if you win!
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
As always, I can never say it enough, thank you for your utterly incredible support, now and always.
x
The Plume

:::CONTEST CLOSES ON MONDAY AT MIDNIGHT:::

Dear Kokie

 Dear Kokie,
You won a necklace.
I’ll contact you in a jiffy.
Love,
The Plume


Thank you all, so much for being such wonderful, inspiring people.
Your comments telling the stories of gifts given and gifts received, for no reason at all, were utterly moving and you changed me with your sharing of them.
THANK YOU.
For everything.
xx

Give Give Giveaway

Forgive me if I’ve shared this story with you in past posts:
My Great Aunt Eileen wore a beautiful diamond ring.  I asked her one day if it was her wedding band or engagement ring, simply wondering what the story was behind the piece.
She told me, “This ring was a gift from your uncle, he gave it to me for no reason at all, which is the very best reason to give or receive a gift.”
She passed away a few years ago and this might be the greatest portion of her that I carry with me always…

To give for no reason at all,
except to give.
I’m giving this necklace away.
For no reason at all, except to say thank you for being here and being part of my life.
I realized, early this morning, that I haven’t offered you a giveaway piece for ages — forgive me!
The entry rules are VERY simple!  
To have your name entered in this drawing please:

1.  Leave one comment below!  Say hi, tell me about the very best no-reason-at-all-gift you’ve ever received or let me know your favorite tulip color.  Whatever!  It all goes!
2.  Include your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Happy spring!
Happy happy!
Happy for no reason at all!
xx

CONTEST CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON SATURDAY!!!