I do love me a road trip!

iPhone loaded with fresh Podcasts, a tank full of gas, coffee-d up and pointed towards Portland, this Friday I’m headed to Junk Salvation taking place February 3-4th at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Hillsboro, Oregon. This unique gathering – produced by the Funky Junk Sisters - is chock full of vendors selling vintage goods, fab junk, and stuff you had NO IDEA you needed is sure to tempt this girl’s heart (and budget)

I’ll be signing my new book Handmade Garden Projects: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creative Garden Features, Containers, Lighting & More at Friday evening’s Breast Cancer Fundraiser, an early buy event that runs from 6-9pm. Get a jump on the good stuff, support a beautiful cause, and say hello!  Tickets for this special event are here.

here's a couple of container projects from my book - you CAN do it

If you’ll be shopping on Saturday
I’ll be signing books and
kibitzing about garden projects at 11am and 1pm.

Hope to see you there!!!

… I’ve killed more plants than you have. Really!  As I write this my garden is encased in snow and ice.  Unfortunately, so are the many succulents and the world’s most-beleaguered lemon tree.  Not a day has gone by in the past 2 months that I haven’t told myself to move said plants indoors.  Alas.

The best way to build your body of gardening knowledge is to dig in and grow something. Sure – some things are going to die. That’s why we’re in horticulture and not medicine.  Every learned gardener has more than their fair share of bodies… er, plastic nursery pots, buried away.   (my apologies to the lemon tree above…again!)

But when it’s too cold to linger long in the landscape and too wet to plant, ambitious gardeners from around the West – and beyond – head for the Washington State Convention & Trade center in downtown Seattle for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.

In addition to glorious display gardens and a tempting marketplace this years show is positively thick with “Experts”. The Seminar series at the Northwest Flower and Garden show is unparalleled. 116 FREE seminars presented throughout all 5 days of the show offer insight, inspiration, and instruction on everything from sustainability and chic, comfortable outdoor living to growing groceries, building a better bouquet, and cultivating chickens.

For an early peak at some of this year’s featured “Horticultural Celebrities” go here and here. From the world famous to the fabulously funny, I can’t think of a better way to grow your backyard skill set than learning from this gaggle of “Gardening Gurus” which I am honored to be among.  Believe me when I tell you, among the lot of us, we’ve killed more plants than you have!

Smart shoppers, you can purchase Early bird tickets online or go here to find the nearest ticket outlet near you.  Bookmark The GardenShow Blog and follow along as the sweet anticipation build toward a precocious spring.

Catch up with me at one (or both!) of the following speaking events:

My new book!

Thursday, 2/9 at 2pm for an interactive workshop entitled Operating Instructions for DIY Gardeners, crafting a personal landscape on the DIY stage.

Friday, 2/10 at 4pm for The Handmade Garden, an inspirational profile of “hands-on” gardeners in the Rainier Room with photos and stories from my new book Handmade Garden Projects from Timber Press.

Change is constant

Oops, the amarylis that didn't get planted

Time sort of got away from me last month. When calendar pages shift not just from month to month but over to a brand new year it’s easy to feel even more behind than you really are.

Fortunately, we only have to tackle this life day by day. Tidy, finite chunks of daylight and dark, bracketed by rest, punctuated with lovely meals and if we’re lucky, shared with those we love.

Some might say a calendar is a simple construct that allows us to divide and conquer.  But I prefer to think of each little numbered square as the reminder to bite off only what I can chew and savor.  Baby steps my friend, baby steps.

Change is a sign of life

My new book!

Handmade Garden Projects
has dropped– FINALLY!   With a life of its own on bookshelves, blogs and reviewers desks my latest book is out in the real world.  *Gulp*

I believe in this book. I believe in handmade, just as I believe garden making can be a form of personal and creative expression; outdoor play as opposed to “yard work.” Now it’s time to put my back into promoting and selling this fledgling title, only one of the estimated 200,000-300,000 books published each year. That’s a LOT of book-life crowding people’s already busy real lives.

Change is never comfortable

If it’s Tuesday this must be Boise… or Tacoma… or downtown Seattle. I’m excited to tackle my busy travel schedule beginning next week when I’ll be in Boise for the Idaho Horticulture Expo. The following week you’ll find me at the Tacoma Home & Garden Show and early next month I’ll be speaking at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show – always a hometown favorite and the opening shot across the bow of another growing season here in our beautiful PNW.

As I’ve written before, promotion and selling do not come naturally to this somewhat shy person.  However, I dearly love to speak to audiences about the ever changing world of gardens in all their myriad forms and delicious flavors. I can talk all day and into the night.

would that all books could be signed in my living room!

Book signings, on the other hand,  can be a heady and uplifting mash up where I get to trade stories and share with like-minded folks — or a soul-sapping test of ego as I sit at a forlorn desk trying to keep my game-face on as strangers ask me for directions to the women’s room, the cash desk, or where they can find the latest copy of a Swedish crime novel, XXX for Dummies, or other gardening titles by bestselling authors. S*gh…

Change is good

Bottom line?  I’m a lucky gal. Bolstered by the beautiful photographs of Allan Mandell, inspired by the very heartfelt and handmade vision of the gardeners profiled in the book, kept (mostly) sane by the love of my friends and family, and with much gratitude for the wise editorial guidance of everyone at Timber Press, Handmade Garden Projects is launched into the new year.

And I finally got that lonely Amarylis bulb potted up and into a bright windowsill where I can watch its progress as it unfolds and blooms.  Happy New Years!

let the blooming begin

Happy Thanksgiving all!

These handsome birds are (permanent) residents of Old Goat Farm where they lead a very good and pampered life.  Although if memory serves me correctly, their names are Thanksgiving and Christmas… a third – Easter – is not in this picture.  Rest assured they will live long and prosper under the care of my friends Greg & Gary who, while they might have a quirky sense for naming, have a huge heart for birds.

Previous plans have shifted at the last moment and apparently I’m making  Thanksgiving dinner for four tomorrow.  I’ve said it before – (or was it Ferris Bueller?) – life moves pretty fast.

A quick trip to the market last night secured a suitably small bird for our feast; and I’m trying out this recipe… a dry brine boosted by smoked paprika, allepo pepper and fresh bay. Fortunately, our fancy grocer also offers pre-made stuffing and gravy that I know to be utterly delicious.  I’ve got potatoes to mash and glaze on the stove top (even an 11# bird fills my tiny oven!) and some last minute fresh green beans sauteed with thyme. Old school pitted black olives and 2 cans of jellied cranberries (don’t hate me!) round out our feast.  Our favorite pie will crown the day with memories of my Nana (and lots of butter).

It will definitely be a modest affair; no elaborate floral centerpiece or fancy china.  Thank goodness it gets dark at 4:30 as candlelight will hide my decided lack of holiday decor!  I think I’ll brave the epic wind and rain storm that’s raged for the past 24 hours and clip bouquets of fresh bay for each guest. This ancient herb signifies honor, victory and prosperity; pretty weighty concepts for what is really just a family dinner – complete with the much anticipated inaugural holiday viewing of “Step Brothers” and “Elf“.  (Maybe I should set a plate for Will Ferrell!)

On the other hand, honoring our daily struggle, hoping for victorious resolutions to life’s incredibly difficult challenges and recognizing our wealth beyond finances is something we could all benefit from everyday.  I’m lucky to have a bay in the backyard.

I’m counting my blessings and loved ones; both those around my table and those that are not, and especially those with their plates filled with way more than dark meat and stuffing, yams and cranberries.

I can’t pass up the chance to add another recipe.  This is my take on glazed sweet potatoes from a version that first appeared in Bon Appetit in 1999 and presently lives on Epicurious.com here.

Fruit Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries

The beauty part of this recipe is it can be completed on the stove top which, given the enormous power but tiny oven of my domestic little Wolf, is a good thing. Don’t overlook the addition of the chopped fresh cranberries and green onions; they add colorful contrast and a refreshingly bright taste to what is basically a rich dessert dressed up as a dinnertime side!

3 1/2  pounds garnet yams, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of a blend of orange juice and spiced apple cider (whatever’s in the Holiday fridge – cranberry or pomegranate would probably be good too!)
1/3 cup brown sugar (or a mix or maple syrup and brown sugar… or agave… you get the drift – a sweetener with FLAVOR)
5 T. butter
large pinch of kosher salt
another pinch of ground allspice (that spice that only gets hauled out at this time of the year but deserves more exploration throughout the other 10 months of the calendar!)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries

Cook yams in a large pot of boiling salted water until halfway tender and a knife inserted into the chunks meets considerable resistance. Drain and cool.  (you can do this 1 day ahead of time… cover and refrigerate)

In a heavy, large skillet combine fruit juices, brown sugar, butter, salt and allspice over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring often.  Add yams to boiling syrup and cook for 5 minutes; add dried cranberries and continue cooking until liquid is reduced to a syrupy glaze and yams are completely tender, about 10 more minutes. Gently fold in chopped fresh cranberries, season with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving bowl garnishing the top with the chopped green onions.

Serves 8

Some people have cutworms.  I hate cutworms.

Although once I was complaining about cutworms making backyard mayhem and my friend Rick shot me down with a story about bugling moose trampling his garden.  Yeah, you’re right, moose are bigger and badder than disgusting cutworms.  But this week I can top that!

The weedlot next door has sold.  Goodbye blackberries, nettles, rodents and bamboo!  Hello earth moving equipment and lots of noise.

The land deal closed on Wednesday and Thursday morning this showed up in our backyard:

I gotta get me one of these...

Never say “done” when referring to a landscape. Someday they’ll put that on my headstone.  Those snazzy new agricultural trough and with giant Thujas in them? The ones that were doing a serviceable job screening the neighbors garage and broken down cars?  Yep… they had to be moved.  Very heavy lifting.  More dragging, gouging and smashing.  Its best to keep a scorched earth attitude and look ahead to planning my new fence.

With my book’s manuscript due at the end of this month I’m in my office pretty much 24/7 banging away. NOTE TO SELF:  it’s pure crazy to sign on to produce another book before the other one comes out.  A cartoon me would clearly show my head going one direction and my body another.  Distracted already?  Uh, YEAH!  I’m trying to work through the noise and the vibrations that cause our whole house to rattle but there a part of me that’s  enjoying the entertainment from my front row seat on the action. This is the view out my office window:

Check out the world's cutest pug dog riding shotgun with the driver!

Here’s a view of the clearing on the second day:  Hello neighbor!  There’s a big house behind the GIANT stand of black bamboo.

The "little" guy at the right of the screen gives you an idea of the scale of the stand of bamboo - we're talking BIG

I’d like to say I’ll never complain about cutworms again… but I know I probably will. But it’s head down and back to work. Never a dull moment here at Planted at Home!

It’s cold, rainy and blustery and I’m stuck at home banging away on a deadline. My husband is in Boise visiting our son and my darling daughter is hopefully having a ball on a girlfriends weekend in San Francisco.  Still struggling with the remains of a nasty cold, and, maybe I mentioned it –  banging away on a deadline – a girl could feel pretty sorry for herself.

But I don’t!  I’m right (write?) where I’m supposed to be to welcome my NEW BOOK, Handmade Garden Projects: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creative Garden Features, Containers, Lighting & More into the world!  Thank goodness I was here to rescue it from a weekend spent in a soggy mailbox.  So, like a goofball prancing around with the new phonebook… not that I’m prancing, I plan to spend a quiet evening celebrating this moment.

There’s a ton of work I still need to do to prepare to launch this baby out into the real world of bookstores, blogs, and READERS, not to mention finishing the work on my desk!  But tonight the wind can blow and the rain pound, it’s just me and 224 pages, 2 years of work made manifest in real live ink and paper.

I’ve got a great big smile on my face.  Cheers!!!

Handmade Garden Projects, Step-by-Step Instructions for Creative Garden Features, Containers, Lighting & More By Lorene Edwards Forkner (That's ME!) from Timber Press

This month of giving thanks begins with honoring the dead and ends with a feast that just about kills us, or at the very least puts us into a turkey-induced stupor.

“What a long strange trip it’s been” (sly homage to the Dead)

pumpkin harvest totem

My harvest this year was an unexpected one that I’m still learning to appreciate.

Cool weather produced the typical mountains of kale, sweet lettuce greens and the best crop of sugar peas I’ve ever tasted. Thank you, more please!

Tomatoes? Not so much.

Late July – high season for garden tours this year, 3!!! – found the sweet peas still pumping out daily bouquets of fragrant blossoms.

Sunflowers? Uh, hardly even in bloom by early October and immediately toppled by wind, rain and squirrels intent on putting away stores for the winter.

Brilliant red, juicy strawberries were incredible throughout June and July… too bad I only have a few paltry plants in containers.

Blackberries? Non-existent.  I don’t think I picked a one except in passing a hedgerow on a walk.  I know I never made pie, or cobbler, or pork chops with sage and blackberry sauce.

In the heat – or lack thereof – of summer it’s easy to focus on what’s missing (see tomatoes, sunflowers and blackberries, above!) It’s only after October, and the growing realization that that WAS the growing season of 2011, that I’ve come to value what was offered up… and abundantly so.

On a recent warm and pleasant, sunny weekend—read too little, too late—I harvested all that was left in the garden, loading up my colorful trugs with the last peppers, carrots, beets, kale, tomatoes, and… well, that was pretty much it.  It all fit neatly into a bushel… so neatly, that my “harvest” only filled the container about half full. UGH.  Not much to show for months of tending, staking, watering, and fussing.

On the other hand.  Our pumpkin lode was impressive.  Pumpkins were a complete after thought; transplants poked into big 15 gallon pots set back in no-man’s land at the end of the drive.  Yep, we got lots. Gorgeous, plump glowing squash and pumpkins piled up on our front steps a generous return from very little effort.  Thank you, more please!

And APPLES!  I’m no orchardist and I’m afraid you’ll never find me tying little stockings over the baby fruit to fend off pests. Even though I tell myself otherwise as I’m paring around worm-holes with a knife…and gagging.  My two columnar and one (oft-transplanted-and-about-to-be-moved-again) espaliered apple trees produced easily two colorful bushels-full.

The ‘Sunshine Blue’ blueberries were gorgeously productive and my husband made blueberry pancakes most Saturday mornings with plenty left over for freezing. (Thank you! More pancakes please, honey!)  ‘Sunshine Blue’ is a big fat beautiful berry with the bright spritely flavor of a teeny tiny wild huckleberry.  Buy some.  Plant them.  See if you don’t agree.

autumn raspberries ripe for picking

And the raspberries…  Oh. My. Goodness. The RASPBERRIES!  Raspberries make me feel rich.  Perhaps it’s because I only purchase them at the market when I’m feeling particularly flush. I usually try and stretch my stingy $6 pint for more than one meal – only to have the highly perishable (& stupidly expensive) fruit mold before I eat them. Extravagance and waste… I hate that.

My raspberries are pass-along plants. Divisions generously shared from friends.   I don’t know the variety, simply their habit—everbearing.  Meaning they produce an early crop in June on overwintered canes, followed by a second crop on new growth in late summer… or September/October in a sucky season.  We got a ton of raspberries.  Our freezer is full and I didn’t waste a red cent.  I still had plenty of moldy fruit, but at least I didn’t buy it.  Thank you, more please!

It was only when I stopped whining about what the season didn’t produce and took stock of what it did that I recognized my garden’s generosity in an otherwise disappointing year.  Probably the best argument yet for including perennial edibles and fruit trees and shrubs rather than giving the whole plot over to heat-loving subtropicals (I didn’t get a single eggplant, not ONE! Cucumbers: 3)

In the end, I set a dozen or so green tomatoes out on a platter to ripen to red on the kitchen counter. Sliced thinly and sprinkled with a lovely vanilla finishing salt they were divine. Unfortunately, I ended up treating them like market raspberries… in an effort to “make them last” I’ve produced a mound of rotten fruit and an impressive crop of fruit flies. Fruit flies in November – yet another vestige of a wonky summer.

All the same, I’m celebrating another year in the garden and already looking forward to the next.  I’m moving the strawberries into a bigger bed and hoping they multiply. And I plan to develop a close relationship with some Eastern Washington farmers so I can gorge myself on their vine-ripened tomatoes next year; honoring them for what they do so very well.

Meanwhile, like the Good Book says: “comfort me with apples…”  I think my Brown Butter & Sage Applesauce will be outrageous with turkey! Proving life is still good and delicious in a NW garden; even an especially cool one.

The following recipe is adapted from a recipe found in Canning, a Better Homes & Garden SIP publication from last summer.

a generous harvest from my espaliered apple tree

Brown Butter & Sage Applesauce
Browned butter lends a richness and depth of flavor that turns humble baby food into a delicious accompaniment for savory meats and strong cheeses.

Season: fall
Yield: about 6 pints or so
Store: 2 weeks in the fridge or freeze

a large bowl of (carefully pared) apples from the backyard –about 6-8 pounds
2 cups water
1 cup butter
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh sage, snipped into small bits
Juice from 1/2 lemon
salt, optional

Core, quarter (and de-worm) apples. In a large 8-10 quart heavy pot combine apples and water and place over medium heat.  Slowly bring to boiling, stirring the apples to make sure they cook evenly.  Reduce heat and simmer for about a half an hour or until all the fruit is very tender.

Meanwhile, as the apples cook, in a small saucepan over low heat, carefully brown butter.  Watch carefully as the sputtering butter deepens from foamy yellow to golden brown and nutty.  I believe Heaven smells like browned butter!  Remove from heat.

Put fully softened and cooked apples through the coarse setting on a food mill to a smooth consistency.

Return applesauce to the heavy pan over low heat and add sugar, melted browned butter, and sage.  Stir well adding 1/2 cup water or so to bring the applesauce to your desired consistency.  Taste, adding sugar if needed.  Remove from heat.

Stir lemon juice into finished applesauce.  Because I was shooting for a savory condiment I choose to add a pinch of salt at this point. Taste to make sure you’re happy with the final sweet, savory balance.

Ladle hot applesauce into jars and cool before storing in the refrigerator.  Or pack into plastic storage containers for freezing.

Fall is here and as sure as the days begin to shorten, this girl’s thoughts turn to… ice cream?

Maybe it’s the brown sugar aroma wafting from the heart-shaped, apricot leaves of the Katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) as they flutter to the ground and drift about in the front drive. I love my katsuras with a passion generally relegated to things like a cup of strong coffee, fresh juicy peaches and an uninterrupted afternoon nap.

My moody mini copse of katsuras

The Katsura would have to be my desert (or would that be dessert?) island plant.  Of course my island would have to be decidedly non desert-like as these beauties do not tolerate drought. In fact, this year’s chilly wet summer may not have been good for the tomatoes (or the cucumber, eggplant, peppers…) but my mini-copse of katuras is having its best year yet.

Molina 'Skyracer'

Or maybe it’s the butterscotch light slanting through the garden in the late afternoon gilding the grasses and glossing over the season’s disappointments (see tomatoes, eggplants, etc. above).

Yep.  I just can’t stop making ice cream.

So far, the consensus seems to be (I’m suddenly very popular) that Salty Caramel with Smoked Almonds is a winner, and very autumnal in its own way.   I found Toasted Rice with Jasmine Tea very intriguing.  And tell me – just what’s not to love about The World Darkest Chocolate with Toasted Marshmallows (best part: I got to play with a propane torch in the kitchen on that one!)

I really can’t take any credit here – although the kitchen toasted marshmallows were a personal touch. The recipes and the easy-peasy method behind my ice cream madness is from the brilliant mind of Jeni Britton Bauer, she of Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream in Ohio and, more pertinent to our discussion here, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, my new favorite cook book.

buy. this. book.

This week’s batch is a more personal mash up of several Jeni recipes: Bourbon Pecan with Praline Sauce topped with Salted Pretzels!  Over the top too much, or hitting the culinary equivalent of autumn’s sweet spot?  I’ll let you know.

The date for the SDDA Summer Sidewalk Sale is September 17th not the 19th as I first stated (but have since corrected) here.

ACK!  I’m really not trying to get all the good stuff before you, I just sometimes struggle with managing the complexities of a calendar. Which explains a lot about my social life…

This month always brings out the ambitious in me.

It must be that back-to-school vibe imprinted so long ago.  Whatever the reason, in the midst of a basement blasting clean up (ACHOO!!!!), yet another office sweep, and (really, REALLY this time) our long overdue kitchen freshen, I’m making time for several events that will get me out of the house.

Even more than my dusty basement, cluttered office, or tired kitchen, my mind could use some mental and visual refreshment.

September 2 – TONIGHT!!!  “A Night in Treme” at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley.  A celebration of the indomitable music and culture of New Orleans.  Can you say “Lively”!!!!  I. AM. SO. THERE…

September 10 – 2nd Saturdayz.  A once-a-month finely curated flea market  featuring visionary junkers and repurposing geniuses, held at Magnuson Park.  Oh YEAH!  Maybe I’ll find just the treasure for my freshened kitchen – or maybe just refill all that freshly emptied space in the basement!

Lynden B Miller, noted public garden designer

September 15 – The Pendleton & Elisabeth C. Miller Charitable Foundation presents the 17th Annual Elisabeth C. Miller Memorial Lecture .  Lynden B. Miller will be speaking on “Parks, Plants & People”.  7pm Meany Hall on the University of Washington Campus.   Email info@millergarden.org to get your FREE ticket.

September 17 - Seattle Design District Association (SDDA) Summer Sidewalk Sale at 6th & Orcas in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Oh my.  Deals galore on collectibles, furnishings, accessories and the like.  A portion of the day’s proceeds will go to benefit the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden, one of my favorite places on the planet!!!