“This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”

― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

Like many of you, I've been sitting quietly, listening to silence. It's hard to know what to say, or what to write, but I'm going to try my best. The one thing that keeps me getting through each day are routines, such as yoga and walking, the phone calls from friends. But I am also seeing more poetry, music sharing of books to read and shows to watch, all are enriching my daily life.

Grateful to the returning songbirds, the occasional distant dog bark in my otherwise quiet neighborhood, every sound has a new resonance. The soothing voice of Margaret Dulaney in her Listen Well podcast is calming, and I am also reading her book To Hear the Forest Sing: musings on the divine.

Thank you to everyone who booked me for a lecture this spring, and greatly appreciate all the rescheduling. For those of you who would still like to hear my kitchen garden design lecture, I've started a Wednesday on-line class during the lunch hour. The goal is to be helpful to new gardeners beginning to learn about growing a vegetable garden, and to those experienced gardeners seeking new ways to add more style to their kitchen garden.

Each month, this newsletter allows me to share my thoughts with you, and links that might bring you inspiration. Let's continue to build a community of food gardeners and celebrate the start of another year in the kitchen garden. Stay well. Send me a note, tell me how you are doing.

Grow beautiful food,
Ellen Ecker Ogden
Author, Designer and Lecturer

The Complete Kitchen Garden and The New Heirloom Garden plus other books for cooks who love to garden.

“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches us to trust.”— Gertrude Jekyll

Growing food is more important ever, and I am here to help you design your kitchen garden to be both productive and beautiful. In my books and on-line classes, I focus on starting with a plan. When you get the design right from the start, it is guaranteed to bring you long lasting pleasure, plus a more productive garden. Turn "work" into "play" and join me on-line:

1. Design On-line

One Hour Class via Zoom. Wednesdays 12pm- 1pm Click here for details.

2. Individual Garden Consultation

Send me photos and your list of edible, and I'll send you back a sketch and planting plan. Click here for details

3. Designing Elegant Edible Gardens - Video

Follow me around the garden to learn how to start with a basic design plan. Seven classes. No time limits, so take it at your own pace.Click here for details

4. The Kitchen Garden Club

If you are a gardener who loves to cook, this is your tribe. All of the above included in monthly fee. Click here for details.

RECIPES FOR SPRING

A friend wrote last week, " Would you please post recipes for ways to prepare meals if you are missing an ingredient." I admit that I often cook recipes that are a bit, shall we say, improvised. It's the only way when you are cooking from the garden. In my Vermont garden, the rhubarb, sorrel and chives are ready, and soon lettuce and salad greens. If you love to forage, you might enjoy the fiddlehead tart paired with wild ramps, mushrooms and watercress. Click on the photos for recipes. Grow what you love to eat! Bon Appetit!