The winners of the Easy Growing give-away are: If this is you please check your inbox or junk mail folder as you should have an email from me. Assorted and Sundry:
My pup Molly in the garden. Thankfully she seems to enjoy relaxing on bark mulch just as much as this remaining patch of “grass” as we will be digging it out very soon.
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Yesterday I posted about the Cyclamen coum I was gifted by my friend Barry, and later that day I visited his cold greenhouse where his were in bloom along with many other botanical delights, including these Crocus biflorus ssp. isauricus ‘Spring Beauty’ (aka snow crocus) that he grew in a pot. The dark purple underside really makes them. I planted 20 in the ground last fall and can’t wait for my own to make an appearance.
Assorted and Sundry:
Tomorrow is the big day! Tuesday, Feb 7 is the official release date of my new book Easy Growing: Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces. It’s the day that the book shows up on store shelves, pre-orders are shipped, and the online ordering button is switched from “Pre-Order” to “Order.” I’m not yet aware of all of the stores that will be carrying it, but we have made a list of the major online sellers here. Electronic versions of the book will be released in the near future.
In case you’re wondering about its contents, a “Look Inside” feature has been added to the Amazon ordering page, we have made a short Show and Tell video (seen above), and sample pages have been added to the book’s website.
In anticipation of its release, we have also added a number of printable downloads to the website that are related to projects contained within the book. For fun, I made a bonus pdf of a recipe (Spicy Blue Basil Vinegar) that had to be cut from the final print due to space considerations. I know that handfuls of fresh garden basil is a distant dream unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, but I do urge you to make herb vinegars (any herbs will work) when you get the chance. They’re a good way to add some fresh herbal flavour to winter meals. We’re currently enjoying the medley of vinegars I made last fall.
I’m going to be on Martha Stewart Radio tomorrow morning, Tuesday, February 7 at 10:30am EST to talk about growing herbs as well as some of the recipes in the book. If you have satellite radio, you can tune in to hear it at Sirius XM 110.
While I am on the topic of book releases, here’s a peek at the German translation of Grow Great Grub. I can’t wait to see it printed.
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I loved school as a kid. It got me away from the stresses of the house and into a place where I was free to indulge in my love for reading and learning. While the social dynamics of the playground are rarely easy for any of us to navigate, school opened my mind to possibilities, to a world I couldn’t have imagined from within the fear-filled confinement of a dysfunctional family. What I loved most, more than free time in the library or the hours we spent huddled on the floor as the teacher read aloud, was Show and Tell. While, I know that giving presentations was a part of all grades, I remember Show and Tell in grade one best.
Mine was an open-concept school, wherein the grade one class was an amalgamation of two classrooms and two teachers. We sat at tables of six students rather than individual desks, and you had to wait patiently for the weekly Show and Tell presentations to come around to your table. The wait was gruelling and I would spend the weeks and days before my turn came up assessing the contents of my room, searching for the perfect thing — the thing I loved most — full of the hopeful anticipation of the moment when I would have the opportunity to share it with the class. There was so much that I couldn’t share and say as a kid, so many silences that needed to be observed carefully; pain and joyfulness that I could not reveal. Show and Tell was sometimes fraught with fear and anxiety, but overall it was a safe context in which I could reveal myself.
Jump ahead, oh, a few decades or so, and here I am doing a job that in many ways feels a lot like Show and Tell. The only difference being that instead of holding up an item of someone else’s making and proclaiming, “Here I am. This is me. This is what I love.” I have encapsulated it (me) within a creation that came from my own heart, mind, eyes, and hands. All of the hopeful joy, excitement, anxiety and fear is still a part of it.
In order to keep making things I need them to sell. Unfortunately, I am not the world’s greatest self-promoter. I may have loved presenting things in grade school, but as an adult, I find no joy or comfort in showing off my own work. Talking about it makes me sweat. It makes me feel slimy and narcissistic. I pretty much hate it.
So here I am, less than two weeks left until my third book, “Easy Growing: Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces” goes out into the world and I am feeling the usual mix of emotions: excitement meets nausea. The trick I’ve found, and the one I am struggling to employ again is to focus on the making part of the process. I think back to the good times I had while I was imagining what this book would be. I recall in my mind the times I spent in the garden planting, taking pictures, harvesting, and testing recipes. I try to tap into my child brain and ask myself how she would feel and what she would say while standing up in front of the class with this book in hand.
I think she would like it very much. I think she would say, “Here I am. This is me. This is what I love.”
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My publisher, Clarkson Potter, has agreed to do a prelaunch giveaway of two copies of the book. I thought that in the spirit of my story it would be fun to make it a Show and Tell of sorts.
To Enter:
Simply post a comment via the box below. Please be sure to use a valid email address as I will be using that to contact the winners.
Please include a comment or link to a photo or post online of a plan or plans that you have this year that include herbs or edible flowers. It can be a picture or post about your garden from the last season, your garden as it is right now, or a garden grown by someone else. Garden season is underway for some and on the horizon for the rest of us. Let’s inspire each other and get excited about the forthcoming growing season!
If you’re feeling uninspired or uncomfortable sharing, you can always just type in, “Count me in” or something similar and that will work as your entry.
I will choose 2 winners at random on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 6pm EST.
Please note that this contest is only open to addresses in Canada and the Continental USA. (Sorry.)
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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