S. Smith's Blog, page 35

In Honor of Gardens

For the weekend, I’m posting a couple of poems in honor of gardens and gardeners everywhere.

Overheard

“Oregano will take over;

  keep it in a pot,” whispered the insidious Mint.

 “Sage advice,” agreed Rosemary, “though you’re one to talk.”

Basil threw in his two cents, “Parsley is very popular, and not in a hurry to seed off like

his cousin Cilantro.”

The gardener shook her head,

the wind in the herbs playing tricks

on her old ears.

“Too much Thyme on her hands,” someone snickered.

Backyard Meandering

I putter around the yard

between the carrots and the peas

talking to the animals

accusing the chickens

of being bored

and chastising the cat

for wanting to go back inside.

“Like children these days,” I scold.

And who are you, reader,

to say any different?

And finally. . .

Haiku for Spring

I sit.  I wait for

the sun.  Seeds planted in hope

summer’s bounty yield.

Maybe later I’ll add a photo of those whispering herbs.  The Oregano moves a foot to the left every year (political statement????):)  In other news, three things: (1) Local bookstore,  Escape Fiction, is now carrying Seed Savers:Treasure, (2) I will have a table at the Salem Public Library author fair on June 23, (3) read this great review of my book here.

Happy weekend!

Sorry, No Gardens Allowed

What if you thought strawberry was just the flavor of your favorite candy?  What if that’s all it was?

If you plug Senate Bill S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, into any search engine, you get a whole lot of people up in arms about the government not allowing people to home garden or save seeds.  True?  Maybe; maybe a stretch.  Maybe just the beginning. . .

This is the idea behind my new novel series, Seed Savers.  Today I’m posting a excerpt from chapter 6.

HOW LONG HAD IT BEEN, Ana thought to herself, since real food had appeared on store shelves? She counted the years and then thought of the children. She realized it had easily been gone for the entirety of their short lives. And the backyard gardens had disappeared even sooner—especially in cities. Why, urban gardens had been an oddity even when she was a child. It didn’t take much reflection to understand how the children had no concept of food coming from plants. The only function they understood about plants was purely ornamental; the only concept of food they had was something that was chopped, pressed, cut, wrapped tightly in plastic, and packed neatly in square boxes. Food so unlike the original source that it bore no resemblance at all to a plant and held very little of the original nutritional value. Of course, the current food was supposedly pumped full of vitamins and nutrients, but was it the same? And what else was it pumped full of to give it the “shelf-life” needed to be sold from Stores?

. . .Ana thought about the children. She knew she was putting them in danger by giving them seeds and teaching them, but what kind of a future was she passing on if she didn’t share her knowledge and her seeds? 

Summer is a great time to catch up on reading.  If you’d rather read about gardening than zombies, check out Seed Savers!  Or better yet, get a copy for those twelve-year-olds in your life and read and garden together!

Buy Seed Savers here: Createspace  or here: Amazon

I Can See June From Here

The empty jars on the basement shelves are outnumbering the full ones, the freezer shelves once stuffed  are now scant,  the bin potatoes are shriveled and spongy, but hope is on the way, I think that’s June I see around the corner.

Yes, the lettuce has been profuse and we’ve had our share of asparagus, but the fruit, the real whipped topping of the food world hasn’t truly arrived, greenhouses aside.  But the strawberries are turning and it won’t be long now…

I know, I know, it all depends on where you live.  Last month (mid-April), we drove north to south all the way through California (well, to San Diego); and they were in the fields picking strawberries!!!!  At the same time, people still had lemons and oranges hanging on trees in their backyards.  And we thought it was the gold rush enticed all those people to come out west.  Nah.

Growing up on a farm, for the most part I’ve always eaten seasonally.  So forgive me if I get all excited about a half-red strawberry only a third of the size as those in the store; it’s in my backyard!!!!  I’m excited!!!  Strawberries for me have always meant two things:  summer, and my birthday.

Now get out there and pick some strawberries.  :)

Seed Savers Photo

Today I have a photo from a scene in Seed Savers (Treasure).  This was the inspiration for the treehouse/playhouse where Dante and Clare spent a day eluding GRIM.

In other news, yesterday I harvested rhubarb and artichokes from my garden.  Perhaps just strange enough to be part of the covert edible landscaping of the future as portrayed in Seed Savers?  :)

Don’t forget, there are just a few more days to sign up to win a copy of Seed Savers: Treasure at Goodreads!

Fine Weather

With weather that is finally warm and dry, I’ve gotten much of my garden in during the last few days.  I put in the tomato plants I grew from seeds, more onions (these I started from seeds), put out the cabbage I started earlier, and planted seeds for two rows of corn.  I hope to get more in tomorrow.  The lettuce in containers is looking great, and we were able to have a salad made from it for Mother’s Day yesterday.  Today I also worked three hours in the Master Gardener garden, and met with a few other Master Gardeners at a junior high school to help plan a school/community garden.  It’s been a good day.  Now if I could find the energy to work on Seed Savers, book 2…

I started a book giveaway  for Seed Savers: Treasure (book 1) today on Goodreads.com that will run for the rest of the week.  Pop on over and enter to win!

How It All Started

 

Some people have asked what inspired me to write Seed Savers; how it all came about.  I actually wrote the first draft of Seed Savers in about four months in 2010.  A couple of things inspired me.  First, I watched the movie, Food, Inc.  In the movie, there was a story about Moe Parr,  a seed cleaner, being sued by Monsanto. I was struck by a couple of things. One, I never knew that such a job, a seed cleaner, existed.  What else didn’t I know?  The other thing that really broke my heart was that this guy, this seed cleaner  from the heartland,would most likely lose his job.  In fact, I wondered if the occupation of seed cleaner would become non-existent.  I think from there, the idea for Seed Savers germinated  and took root, pardon the pun.

The other half of the inspiration, the part about why it is focused toward middle grade, is easy.  I was teaching middle school at the time.  And the kids I taught weren’t the biggest readers.  I thought maybe if I wrote them a book, they would read it; okay, or something like that.  :)

Plant A Seed For the Future

My Amazon page for Seed Savers: Treasure is slowly becoming complete.  It took awhile for everything to get up there, but today the book description and author bio filled in.  The word is getting out about my book and it’s exciting.  The very best way people find out about books, however, is word of mouth; so if you know someone looking for a book about urban gardening or food rights, or just a nice adventure for kids age 9 to 12 or so, without violence, zombies, or love triangles, tell them about Seed Savers: Treasure.

In the meantime, book 2 is coming along nicely, as are the tomato plants I started from seed a couple of months back.  :)

Plant on.

 

Earth Day Book Release

Seed Savers (Book One: Treasure) is set for release on Earth Day (April 22, 2012).  A novel for middle grade readers, and appropriate for all ages, Seed Savers takes place in a future where growing gardens and saving seeds is against the law. Twelve-year-olds Clare and Lily, and seven-year-old Dante, secretly learn about gardening from an older woman belonging to the secret society known as Seed Savers. Things go awry, however, when GRIM, the government agency in control of the nation’s food source, threatens to stop the children.

Book Two: Lily will be available later this year; e-books coming soon.

Plant a seed for the future!

Available on Amazon and here: https://createspace.com/3832088

**Update:  Seed Savers is currently available at the createspace website listed above;  it may be available on Amazon by Earth Day.  If not, shortly thereafter.