Winter Gardening back in print, just in time for spring planting

Binda just gave me a cabbage as beautiful as this.

 My friend Binda Colebrook and I spent a couple of months this summer researching and editing the revisions to her classic book, Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest. In the 1970s when I returned to Western Washington following my collegiate sojourn in California, this is the book that taught me how to retool my gardening for Pacific Northwest realities. When I moved to Whatcom County in 1980, she was one of the first people I met. I edited the 2nd edition of Winter Gardening and it has been a treat to revisit our collaboration nearly 30 years later. Over that timespan seed companies have come and gone, genetically modified plants have become a battleground, and organic agriculture has gone mainstream, as have the kales and endives and leeks that were exotic to many readers when Binda first began to explain them.

This is the 5th edition of Winter Gardening. It covers--among other things--winter hardy varieties and their freeze-out temperatures, cold frames and other do-it-yourself weather protection, making the most of your specific site and soil, an invaluable introduction to integrated pest management, crop-rotation for smaller spaces, a well-annotated resource list for quality seed companies and organic farming activism, and poetry. One of Binda's gifts, honed through decades of work and thought, is to combine the specificity and the spirituality of life in the garden in a way that does justice to both.

Winter Gardening will be available in April. You can pre-order it now from the publisher, New Society, or through your favorite online bookseller. It's none too soon to start planning and planting for fresh produce next January.

http://www.newsociety.com/Books/W/Winter-Gardening-in-the-Maritime-Northwest

Onward and ForeWord with Winter Harvest

My good news of the morning: 

ForeWord Reviews is pleased to announce the 2010 Book of the Year Awards list of finalists. Representing more than 350 publishers, the finalists were selected from 1400 entries in 56 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its finest.
The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from our readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans this June.

Keeping in mind the standard used by booksellers and librarians for purchases/acquisitions, judges will take note of the following:

• Editorial excellence
• Intent of book met by author
• Originality of subject matter
• Accuracy
• Author credentials
• Professional packaging

I’m getting the impression this is sort of like Sundance for independent publishers, except -–as we would have to expect of a contest run by librarians--without the designer dresses, tabloid coverage, big money, and Robert Redford (though I’m sure Redford has the greatest respect for librarians).

Anyway, I’m thrilled that Winter Harvest is a finalist in the cooking category, and that gives me another chance to thank New Society Publishers and to say that Celeste Enriquez is the surely the world’s best illustrator of gnarly root vegetables. She can make celeriac and Jerusalem artichokes both recognizable and glamorous, and that is no easy feat.

Here's the list:

• America's Little Italys by Sheryl Bellman
• Bis on Main by Joe Vilardi & James O. Fraioli
• Brothers Cuisine by Matt & Jeff Nichols with James O. Fraioli
• Flavors of Friuli by Elisabeth Antoine Crawford
• French Cooking by Foreword by Paul Bocuse, Written by Hubert Delorme and Vincent Boue
• From Terra's Table by Jeff Rossman
• Greek Revival by Patricia Moore-Pastides
• Sarabeth's Bakery by Sarabeth Levine, Rick Rodgers, Foreword by Mimi Sheraton
• The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook by Tomi Marsh, Kiyo Marsh, Laura Cooper
• The Turkish Cookbook by Nur Ilkin and Sheilah Kaufman
• Warm Bread and Honey Cake by Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra, photography by Vanessa Courtier
• Winter Harvest Cookbook by Lane Morgan