You Grow Girl™

You may know fellow garden addict, writer, and general all-around badass Margaret Roach through her well-loved books, via the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine (she was the first garden editor there), or through her superlative website, A Way to Garden. Today, I am thrilled to announce that Margaret and I are in the process of creating a marketplace of green friendly and relevant products and services that will appear on both of our sites simultaneously.

Last month marked 12 years since I launched YouGrowGirl.com. Throughout that time I have tried a variety of advertising options and platforms as a way to help support the work and out-of-pocket costs incurred in keeping the site going. Doing that without selling products, companies, or services that go against the values that I espouse has been nothing short of difficult and last year I severed the last service I was using out of frustration. Since then it has become apparent that in order to find balance and navigate the lines between my own personal integrity, the real demands of running this site, and my commitment to you to create an environment that is transparent and uncluttered with garbage, I would need to take matters into my own hands.

I have a ton of respect for Margaret and the work she does. She’s a wonderful writer and a really cool woman that I am proud to have as a friend and colleague. We are very in tune in regards to our views on gardening, green living, and the environment, so teaming up together in this way to help support each other professionally makes perfect sense. I am so thrilled to be doing this with her!

What this means:

• Small ads will appear simultaneously in the right-hand sidebar on both of our sites.
• All ads are vetted by us collectively.
• We promise to do our best to only feature products and services that we either use ourselves in our home gardens and homes and that are in keeping with our values. No Big Chemical sponsorship or unconscionable ads have ever appeared on this site, and never will.
• The revenue generated by these ads will help to cover the operating costs associated with the running of our sites and allow us to grow the content we can create and publish.

There are some events and so forth coming down the pipeline that I thought I should mention.

Interviews and Such:

• “Garden Guru Gayla Trail Talks Small-Space Gardening, Herbs, and Edible Flowers” (Treehugger): An interview with Colleen Vanderlinden on my new book and growing herbs and edible flowers.
• “Q&A With Garden Writer Gayla Trail” (Flower Forums): I completely forgot that I mentioned the marijuana… and out of context. I have to say it is liberating to be able to mention that now as a part of my garden story.
• New Tee Shirt Designs: We have them! “Plant Lover” and Plant Geek” in a variety of colours and sizes for men and women. Eventually we hope to roll out all of our old designs as well. I’ve got a few “Gardening for the People” shirts for sale on Etsy as well as a signed copy of Grow Great Grub.

Up and Coming Events and Appearances:

• Wednesday, February 22, 2012
  Seed Chat
  I’ll be hosting an hour of herbs and edible flower madness. They will also be giving away one free copy of my new book, Easy Growing: Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces
  Twitter
  8pm EST
• Monday, February 27, 2012
  Parkdale Horticultural Society
  I’ll be giving a presentation on herbs and edible flowers.
  Toronto, Canada
  6pm
• Saturday, March 3, 2012
  Seedy Saturday (Scadding Court)
  I’ll be selling and signing my books.
  Toronto, Canada
  12-5pm
• Note: I may also be doing the Brick Works Seedy Saturday on March 10. To be confirmed…
• Saturday, March 16, 2012
  Rochester Flower Show
  I’ll be speaking on growing food in small spaces, with a book signing afterward.
  Rochester, NY, USA
  6pm