Art of Growing Food
From Art to the Kitchen Garden
Welcome to the Art of Growing Food, a newsletter with fresh ideas for cooks who garden. Each week I’ll share a personal essay, a design or a recipe, an interview with a savvy cook or gardener, all with the goal to bring you fresh ideas to inspire your own kitchen garden.
A kitchen garden may be a fancy name for a vegetable garden, typically located near the kitchen door filled with tender greens, aromatic herbs, and select fruits that are harvested on a daily basis. A successful kitchen garden engages all the senses through a rich tapestry of colors, fragrance, textures and ultimately flavors. It is a place to grow food that goes beyond simply growing food, as a sanctuary for outdoor living.
I planted my first garden with four sticks and a ball of twine. I was fresh out of art school and thought it would be a good way to support myself. After digging up the rocky soil, removing the turf, and planting seeds, I walked away. The garden hose did not quite reach, so the plants were thirsty. I had not yet learned the difference between weeds and edible plants, so it was quickly overrun.
The following year, I started with a design on paper, which led to organizing my garden in an artful way, based on European styled potager. With just enough success, that I began writing books on kitchen garden designs with recipes, for cooks, just like me, who love to garden!
I’ve noticed that many vegetable gardeners grow a garden in long straight rows, or a boxy raised bed. I hope to change all that. BY introducing you the the Art of Growing Food, you’ll learn new ways to have more fun in the garden, and turn ‘work’ into ‘play.
When you cultivate a kitchen garden, and actively engage with your source of food it will far surpasses the experience of purchasing food at the market. It can be a tiny pot of greens on your balcony or a whiskey barrel full of culinary herbs, growing your own food garden truly matters as a way to support good health for yourself, your family, and the environment.
Setting by example is one of the best ways we can effect positive change. When we bring our families together around the table to share our love for homegrown food, we are cultivating a healthy choice that spreads beyond our own backyard. Teaching basic skills such as how to build a compost pile to keep waster out of the landfills, how to encourage natural pollinators like bees, birds and even flies.
It’s key that we all learn how to cook simple, whole food harvested seasonally, which may seem like small steps, but when we learn to become responsible consumers, we also reclaim our health as a nation.
Follow me into the garden and into the kitchen, to plant and harvest every week of the year. I’ll take you on a journey to the land of seasonal salads with bitter greens, winter soups and savory tarts. Along the way, I’ll share ways to simplify your garden design, to edit out what you grow so you can focus on only the best-tasting vegetables, and most unique edible flours and herbs.
Join a community of other gardeners and cooks, and anyone who loves good food to celebrate and honors the good earth.