gelatin free giveaway!

here we go. myblogspark sweetly (and quickly) set me up with a secondary non-gelatin laden giveaway after the great bathrobe meltdown of 2010. kind thanks to them for providing me with something i feel good about pimping.  i present to you: free stuff from jolly green giant. apparently, they’ve been gearing up for a promotion with the nature conservancy and have been tooting their own green horn (heh) about the progress they’ve made toward more sustainable farming over the course of their century-long existence.

here is what they had to say about what they’ve been doing to make a difference:

reducing the amount of land and water needed to grow vegetables.

packing vegetables in smaller, lighter cans, so it takes less fuel to deliver them to supermarket shelves.

utilizing traditional seed breeding methods over the last 35 years to double the amount of sweet corn grown on an acre of land.

teaming up with growers to install a more efficient irrigation system that can reduce water use by more than a million gallons a year.

switching to more earth-friendly paperboard to package frozen vegetables, saving approximately 54,000 trees annually in the process.

well, i wasn’t really sure what to make about all those high and mighty claims. so, i decided to consult my friend michelle, who is one of the most environmentally conscious and sustainability minded people i know. here is what she had to say:

“I definitely get suspicious whenever big companies like this make environmental claims, but I also don’t want to criticize them for trying. Most of the steps they are taking are self-serving… getting more production/acre, increased water efficiency, etc. But I trust the Nature Conservancy’s judgment in who they choose to team up with. I don’t have a problem with genetically modified crops- they decrease the need for land, water and fertilizer so it’s a trade off.”

and the survey says… PASSABLE! i’m totally with michelle on this one. not everyone (especially big companies)  is ready, willing, or able to make big environmentally impactful changes. even if they’re only doing it because it’s fashionable to be green right now, changes are changes no matter how small. also, the nature conservancy is a kick ass cause, so it’s nice to know that they’ll be getting 200 Gs out of the deal.

but regardless of your feelings about sustainable farming, how about some free stuff? looks like there’s a reusable shopping bag (a little imagination green giant please!), a tiny grow-your-own herb garden, some bamboo utensils, and a coupon for free veggies. all expressed mailed to your house in a perfect brown box that will make you squee and feel important.

i’m feeling uncreative today, so i think in order to enter, i would like you to leave a comment about what you plan to do with your free vegetables (or other swag, whatever does it for you). for example: “i’m thinking about making a green bean casserole, but in reality i will probably just let them migrate to the back of my freezer until a time of dinner desperation.”

step #1: leave stupid comment about vegetables. (the quality of your comment will not affect your chances of winning).

step #2: wait until contest ends on april 30th.

step #3: at said contest end, i will then pick an entry at random to be the winner (i hear random.org is good, but a hat might be easier to operate).

step #4: wait for me to announce the winner within 24 hours of the end of the contest.

step #5: be excited about winning or depressed about losing.

oh, and p.s. jolly green giant via myblogspark gave me the same free stuff that you might be getting, just in case you were concerned about my opinion being colored by swag. as you can see, it’s not. i can also say that there is a significant likelihood that they will not ask me to do another sponsored giveaway after this…