November 30, 2011
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Published

Easy Growing: Coming Soon

Black and white galley copies of my new book, Easy Growing: Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces arrived on my doorstep late last week, signalling that we are one step closer to the publication date in early February 2012. If you’re a long-lead publication that would like to write a review or do an interview with me, please get in touch with my Publicist at Clarkson Potter/Random House, Anna Mintz, 212-572-6186.

I am also in the process of scheduling appearances/workshops/presentations for the 2012 growing season. If you’d like to have me come out to your event, shop, etc next year please do get in touch via the contact form with any pertinent information.

The book is currently on sale as a pre-order through several online vendors, but will not be shipped or hit bookstore shelves before February. Since this idea went over so nicely with the last book, I’ve gone ahead and made hi-res promissory notes that you can print out and slip into a card to let friends know that you’ve pre-ordered a copy for them as a holiday or birthday gift.

The full book website is not available yet, but we’re working on it!

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November 30, 2011
47 Comments
Winter

Winter Rears Its Beautiful, Horrible Ass Face

I’ve had to interrupt my previously scheduled post to bring you this breaking news: Holy shit, it is snowing!

I have tried over the years to come to appreciate winter more. I really have. I know there are lots of reasons to appreciate and even enjoy this time of year; I just don’t care about those reasons in the face of months and months of permanently frozen extremities. Intellectually, I understand the importance of winter in this region as it pertains to the ecosystem. Wild life rely on it. Plants need it. We need it. I get it. Winter is good. Snow is good.

Aesthetically, a newly fallen snow is a very beautiful site to behold. Snowflakes are magical. I am fascinated by all of the plants that stay green and thriving underneath a thick blanket of snow. You can make snow angels, although I must warn you that this requires laying down in the horribleness. Sledding is fun at any age; however, I would advise against it if you have hip or knee problems. I like the way things look through my camera when you can see the bones of the trees. I appreciate the simplified image I can capture when a blanket of white cuts out the details and lays the world bare.

Why, just the other day I came up with a new benefit. You see? I am always brainstorming for the good side. I am a beacon of hopeful positivity! The frozen ground and snow coverage prevents the squirrels from digging up my freshly planted bulbs. Score one point for me. I think that makes it Me: 2 — Squirrels: Still winning. Oh, but I am making headway.

I have lived my entire 38 years in this part of Canada. I have experienced winter, frozen earth, light snowfall, slush, icy sidewalks, sprained wrists caused by falling over on icy sidewalks, blizzards, being snowed in, digging out the family car, having to walk to the grocery store through snow up to my waist… I am no stranger to winter weather. I want to be a glowing, earth mother goddess type who welcomes the changing of all seasons with open arms and lush, poetic prose. I want to make you sick with my positive outlook and super-refined, harmonious connection to all of Gaia’s rhythms.

Alas, it just isn’t in my blood. My people come from the tropics and my genetic makeup refuses to let it go. I absolutely abhor the sound of certain type of snow as it crunches underfoot. It causes a physical, cringing sensation akin to nails on a chalkboard that goes right through my whole body. I am physically happier, healthier, and more comfortable overall when I am warm. I really like the sun and the feeling of that warmth on my face. I prefer the chaos of thick greenery to the silence of a white field. I am not contented with a shortened growing season. I miss spending time outdoors, mucking about like a kid in a sandbox through the months when digging the frozen ground calls for the services of nothing less than a flame thrower and a backhoe.

In other words, try as I might, I am not a fan of the winter. But we do have socialized health care and a nice quality of life here so for those reasons I am very grateful to have been born in Canada, despite three or so months of OMG WHEN WILL THIS CRUCIFIXION BE OVER!

Tell me, how do you feel about winter and snow?

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November 28, 2011
8 Comments
Stuff

Storing My Preserves & Cookbooks

In our new(ish) home, I am fortunate to have a cold storage room in the basement where I can keep my canning overflow. This is such a big change from my last place, where canning was stored wherever I could fit it: out of reach in high closets and cupboards, in boxes shoved underneath the couch and the bed. Over the years I became very adept at finding places to stuff jars of food. Of course, these were less than ideal conditions for storing canning long-term as the temperatures were a bit too warm, and it was extremely difficult keeping track of stock.

Now where are the pickles again? Underneath the bed, or at the back of my closet behind the socks?

The new storage room is fabulous, but it is in a difficult to access part of the basement. I have to climb over a hazardous mountain of bikes and bike parts to reach it, and since there is no light, I must also fumble in the dark in a spooky, cobwebbed room with a flashlight or make sure that I only traverse down there before night fall. I’m pretty sure this is where the former occupants kept their pet monster.

Since moving in, I’ve been keeping some of my most popular canning stock in the kitchen so as to avoid THAT ROOM. So when we finally got around to setting up our dining room properly a few months back, I decided that it would be nice to dedicate some space to house a larger quantity of food in jars. The convenience was required, but I have to admit that vanity was also a major factor. Canning is handiwork that I take a lot of pride in and I wanted to be able to see and enjoy those beautiful jars of apocalyptic snack foods regularly, rather than keep it hidden down in a dark and dingy, nightmare-inspiring, cell-sized food prison.

My out-of-control cookbook collection is also kept in the kitchen. It seemed the most likely place to keep cookbooks at first, but to be honest, I tend to use cookbooks for the experience and pleasurable enjoyment of food culture than for the recipes. I think of them more as photobooks and prefer to pursue the pages at my leisure when I need inspiration or am suffering a bought of wanderlust. For that reason, they are better kept close to a comfy sitting spot than a busy kitchen. Furthermore, our new kitchen is awkward and does not have much cupboard space. My cookbook collection was quickly outgrowing its place, and I thought that the shelf space it was using up could be best put for storing pots and pans and the like. So it was in a moment of inspiration that we hauled our old, buckling from the weight of too many books, red (I think this colour is discontinued) mid90s Ikea Billy bookshelf down into the dining room as a place to display and enjoy both my canning and my cookbooks.

I love this new system. The dining room is just the right spot for both collections. Unfortunately, as you can see, the cookbooks are already outgrowing their new home.

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The above photo was originally taken with my cellphone and uploaded to my Instagram account (@yougrowgirl).

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November 24, 2011
6 Comments
Fall Recipes Veggies

A Bounty of Jerusalem Artichokes

Last weekend while preparing a medley of roasted root vegetables for lunch, I popped outside to collect fresh herbs, as I often do, a pair of scissors in hand.

Living in a place where I can see the garden from the kitchen and simply pop outside to pick herbs on a whim was the dream I had when we were looking for our next place to live. While there was a long list of criteria that superseded this small point, it was ultimately this vision that kept popping up in my mind as an ideal.

Prior to that there was always some barrier. In the apartment there was a separation between our living quarters and the rooftop garden. I was never able to look out at it fondly from indoors and popping out for herbs wasn’t really difficult, but it wasn’t accessible in the way our garden is now. Furthermore, a good portion of my herbs were grown in-ground at the community garden plot, which meant planning ahead and cooking with fresh herbs that weren’t minutes or even seconds off of the plant as they are now. It’s one of those small differences that makes me feel happy and grateful to have found this house, regardless of its many (MANY) faults. We’ve affectionately named it “Home of the Half-Assed” for a reason.

But I digress (as always). The real reason for this post wasn’t to tell you about the garden or my small dream. It was to say that while I was outside collecting herbs, I remembered the Jerusalem artichokes that have been waiting in the ground to be harvested. These chunky tubers taste best after they’ve been touched by the cold weather, but I will admit that the real reason I had put off harvesting them was that I was afraid to face the sheer quantity of tubers that are lurking below the surface, and the work I will need to do to preserve some of them. I’m still dealing with the tomatoes, believe it or not!
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November 22, 2011
13 Comments
Deep Thoughts

Crackling Open: On Fermenting Things

I want to tell you about my new-found obsession with fermenting. I have been unsuccessfully trying to tell it here for months now. Where to begin is daunting and the words are always lost before I can find them.

I have played at fermenting things in the past, but it was always an after-thought. No big thrill. But then this summer… wow! The whole microbial action phenomenon business whatnot really captured my imagination and caught fire inside my mind. One day I was minding my own business and the next I was imagining herbal mixes to try, and juggling bottles of this and that in various stages of bubble. Fermenting is an alchemy of sorts and it is this that has tapped into a fascination with weird and wonderful natural processes that seems to be at the root of a lot of my food- and garden-related hobbies/obsessions with a precision that caught me unawares.

I am hooked. And the house reeks of kimchi.
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