About
A former cookbook editor, I am a writer keenly interested in food from garden to table, in culinary history, and in the cuisines of the world. My most recent books, published in 2025, are The Curious Kitchen Gardener (Timber Press) and First Fruits: The Lewellings and the Birth of the Pacific Coast Fruit Industry (Oregon State University Press). I have published three cookbooks: The Joy of Pickling, now in its third edition; The Joy of Jams, Jellies and Other Sweet Preserves; and Cold Soups. I have also revised the USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning (which was republished as The Canning and Preserving Handbook), co-authored a book on breastfeeding, and written articles about food for magazines. I blog about my gardening and cooking adventures at “A Gardener’s Table” (agardenerstable.com).
Besides writing about food, I develop recipes, teach preserving classes, judge preserves at fairs, and volunteer for various civic organizations.
Featured Work
First Fruits: The Lewellings and the Birth of the Pacific Coast Fruit Industry
First Fruits tell the story of Henderson, John, and Seth Lewelling, co-founders of the Pacific coast fruit industry. Best known among the brothers is Henderson, who hauled a wagonload of fruit trees from Iowa in 1847 and planted the first grafted-fruit orchard in the Oregon Country. Seth kept the nursery going for more than forty years and won his own fame by originating the Bing and Black Republican cherries. John, after helping to establish the Oregon fruit business, founded a nursery and orchards in California and led in the development of the Napa Valley wine industry. But the brothers were much more than horticulturists; they were also abolitionists, gold miners, and Quakers turned Spiritualists. One attempted to found a utopian colony in Honduras, another helped grow the Grange in California, and the third fought for democratic reforms in Oregon. Spanning the continent and nearly a century, the brothers’ lives provide fresh perspectives on nineteenth-century westward expansion.
