S. Smith's Blog, page 4
May 25, 2020
Dream Cast Picks for Seed Savers
Sometimes people ask when my books are going to be made into movies. I think this is something most authors like to hear, but we can only smile wistfully. If only…
I was thinking the other morning about my dream cast. You know, during this never-ending pandemic, we sometimes have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. The old Groundhog Day effect. Same same. It’s in these moments we might do the wishful thinking of character casting for our novels. 
May 5, 2020
Book Discussion Questions for Seed Savers-Heirloom
The discussion questions for Seed Savers-Heirloom are finished! These questions are perfect for book clubs or classroom use. All currently available discussion questions for the series are also available at Flying Books House. On this blog, the questions for Lily are here and for Treasure here.
I hope you enjoy reading Seed Savers-Heirloom, a series set in a future where gardening is illegal and real food unknown by a majority of the population. Heirloom is my personal favorite!
Topics and themes in Heirloom are family, journey, friendship, discovery, gardening and politics. Click here to read additional posts about Heirloom.
Following are the discussion questions for Seed Savers-Heirloom.
Book Club Discussion Questions for Seed Savers-Heirloom
Clare and Dante are considered “gardening refugees.” Explain what you think this means.
Why does Lily say “That summer, the one when it all began, was when Lily Gardener finally knew her name”?
When Lily first enters Florida, it isn’t what she expects. She muses “I felt a little foolish but was grateful for the reminder that there were a lot of things to learn in the world. That we need to seek out information on our own because the kind that comes to us easily might be incomplete and biased.” Can you think of an example of this?
When Clare questions why it’s important to save seeds if you can buy them from a catalogue, one of things Marissa says is that saved seeds are better because they are local to one’s particular area. Had you ever thought of that? Have you ever saved seeds and planted them the next year?
When Lily visits Meg and Aaron she learns that the rich and powerful are able to buy and eat fresh food. This makes her angry. Then she shows contempt that Aaron and Meg would be a part of such an unjust system. What is your opinion?
Discuss Lily’s journey to find her father from the time she left her home. Which parts made you afraid for her? Which parts made you smile?
Besides learning about gardening, Clare spends a lot of time learning the history of U.S. food politics. The historical part is actually true. What did you learn about farming in this country that you didn’t know before? Less than 1% of the population are farmers. Do you know a farmer?
In Heirloom, we meet a new character named Jason. What is the relationship between Clare and Jason like? What is your opinion of Jason?
Clare has a poetry assignment from school and finds inspiration in her garden. Where do you find inspiration for your creative endeavors?
Why do you think the author named this book Heirloom?
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
May 1, 2020
12 Suggestions for First Gardens
Are you new to gardening? Here are my suggestions if you are planting a garden for the first time. Always use planting recommendations for your local area.
Instant Gratification: Radishes. Radishes can germinate in as little as 3 or 4 days!
A sense of accomplishment: Tomatoes. Tomatoes are so easy to start from seed and grow to be mighty plants full of luxurious gems of so many sizes, colors, and shapes! They can be made into sauce, salsa, juice, sun-dried tomatoes or used raw!
3. Wow factor: Beans. I love the way beans germinate, slowly showing a bent u-shaped back, then rising and standing, at last opening out large, green leaves.
4. It just keeps giving: Asparagus, rhubarb, artichokes. Back year after year after year…
5.Edible landscaping: Blueberries. If you can grow them in your area, blueberries are beautiful all year long. There are some that never lose their leaves. Leaves are red in fall, green in spring, and the blossoms are tiny white bell-shaped marvels. The berries aren’t bad either!
6. Practicality: Lettuce, basil, green onions. Easy to grow, small space, container friendly. Why not gather your dinner salad fresh from your garden?
7. Underground wonders: Potatoes, carrots, ground cherries.
8. Ease & reward: Peppers. Like tomatoes, pepper seed is easy to save and if it warm enough, peppers grow and produce easily. I grow almost all my peppers in pots and freeze what I can’t eat fresh, using them all year long on pizzas, in stir-fry, etc. Also, if you grow your own tomatoes, you’ll want peppers for salsa-making.
9. For the trellis or fence: Cucumbers & Scarlet Runner Beans. If you love cucumbers, go ahead and teach them to climb up! You won’t have to look as hard to find them and they’ll always be clean! I love scarlet runner beans because of the beautiful red blossoms that hummingbirds love.
10. For storage and decoration: Storage onions. I like to get a variety of onions and then braid them and hang them in my kitchen all winter, cutting off what I need as I go.
11. To attract good bugs or lure bad ones away from other plants: Dill and nasturtium. I have watched ladybugs hatch on my dill plants. The nasturtium always seem to collect aphids after a while and then I just pull them up and toss them.
12. Challenge: Anything you’re curious about! I’ve often tried things that just don’t work for my climate, or just to see if I could grow it. Have fun and try new things!
Comments and other recommendations welcome in the comments below!
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
April 22, 2020
Gardening Around the Edges
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Today is the 50th Earth Day!
Although most of us can’t go out in nature to appreciate our planet this year, we can go out and garden. Even if it’s just containers on your balcony or herbs in your window.
As most of you know, I live on a lot and a half in a city of about 174,000. I garden around the edges.
Our soil is damp and claylike, so it takes some time in the spring for the ground to dry properly for tilling or amending. I have just a couple raised beds and numerous large barrel-width containers to get around this. I also have a south-facing sunroom, so I’m able to start seed easily inside. You can browse through my blog posts to see various photos of my garden over the years. (Like this one, for example.)
Since it’s early yet, my garden is just at its beginning stages. Today, for Earth Day, I’m sharing my progress.
Enjoy!
Click to view slideshow.
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Bonus pic of the hens!
Happy Earth Day! Happy Gardening!
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
Special: Easter through Earth Day Sale on all 5 Ebooks! Regularly $5.99 each, all books now on sale through Earth Day for just $3.99 each.
April 16, 2020
Earth Day Sale on All Seed Savers Books
Before I forget to mention it, don’t miss my biggest sale of the year, the Earth Day sale.
In 2014 I actually did an Earth Day tour in Texas. At that time only the first three books in the series were out. It was an amazing time and I enjoyed meeting many wonderful people. So I always think of the the Seed Savers books and Earth Day fondly together.
In fact, in the fourth Seed Savers book, Earth Day is the catalyst for the “food revolution” beginning in book 4 and ending with the series finale in book 5 on Independence Day.
Here’s a brief excerpt from Seed Savers-Keeper:
Chapter 13– Earth Day Demonstrations
Clare squatted and pulled the tiny weeds competing for space and nutrients among the newly sprouted peas.
“Hey there.”
She was pleased to hear Jason’s deep voice. She’d been thinking about him a lot and about how she’d miss him after graduation when they went their separate ways.
“Hi.” She stood and smiled up at him.
He glanced around furtively. “Have you heard about the demonstrations?”
“No,” she replied. “What demonstrations?”
“On account of Earth Day. Canadian news is full of the story. Four days ago was the one hundred and eighth Earth Day. There are protests all across the U.S. This could be it.”
A couple of classmates walked by. Jason smiled at them. “Hi, how are you?” When they had passed, he continued. “This is just what I’ve been waiting for. A revolution.”
“What are you talking about?” Clare asked.
Jason put his hand on Clare’s shoulder, steering her down as he knelt and joined in pulling the weeds. “Peaceful demonstrations. But people gathering nonetheless. They started as Earth Day marches, celebratory, marking the day. But they’ve turned into nonviolent protests against the government’s food and environmental policies. A lot of people are out in the streets. Some are carrying signs: Free the Seeds, Send GRIM Packing, Gardener in 2080. Stuff like that.”
Clare gasped.
Jason’s eyes shot to her face. “Whatsamatter, Clare? It’s what we want, isn’t it?”
Clare nodded, but said nothing.
“I can’t believe it’s happening before Monroe and I—” he stopped abruptly.
“What?” Clare asked.
“We have plans,” Jason said. “But apparently we’re not the only ones. All the better.”
Before Clare could speak, he hopped up. “I gotta go. So much to do.” He sprinted off toward the classrooms.
Now through Earth Day (April 22) all five of the Seed Savers ebooks are discounted to just $3.99 each, a savings of ten dollars! The sale won’t last long and they are rarely all discounted at the same time, so grab the whole series now!
Seed Savers is a great series for this time of year when everyone is thinking about gardening. To read more about the series click here.
Happy reading and gardening!
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
April 13, 2020
Book Discussion Questions for Seed Savers-Lily!
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Recently I posted discussion questions for Seed Savers-Treasure.Today I am adding questions for the second book in the series, Seed Savers-Lily. The questions can be downloaded by the link at the bottom and are also available under Resources on the publisher website here.
I hope you enjoy reading Seed Savers-Lily, a story set in a future where gardening is illegal and real food unknown by a majority of the population. Topics and themes include gardening, friendship, trust & betrayal, difficult decisions. An introduction to Seed Savers-Lily is here and tips for using Lily in the classroom are here.
Following are the new discussion questions for Seed Savers-Lily.
Book Club Discussion Questions for Seed Savers-Lily
1.Seed Savers-Lily is written in a different POV than Seed Savers-Treasure. What is the point of view, and how does this affect you differently as a reader?
2. At the beginning of the story, Lily struggles with being left behind. Have you ever felt left behind when a friend moved away? How did you deal with it?
3. Lily hides her gardening activities from her mother. Why does she do this? Do you think she made the right decision in doing so?
4.What is your impression of Rose and how does it change throughout the book?
5. Learning about growing, cooking, and preserving food is an important theme in this story. Why is this important to the characters? Have you ever grown, cooked, or preserved fresh food?
6.One of the things Lily does to sort out her thoughts is write in a journal. Do you journal? What do you do to help you process things?
7.When Ana describes how to preserve through canning, Lily feels fearful. Ana responds, “Don’t be afraid, Lily. It isn’t so hard. It’s just a new thing to learn, like all new things.” What new thing have you considered doing that made you feel afraid?
8. What is your first impression of Arturo? What about Rose and Lily, how do their impressions of Arturo differ?
9.When Lily first sees Arturo’s yard/garden she is disappointed. Describe how her feelings about it change. Why do you think her impression of the yard changes?
10.Near the end of the book, Lily gets mad at Rose and refuses Rose’s plea for forgiveness. Do you think Lily made the right choice? What kind of repercussions might this have for the future?
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
Special: Easter through Earth Day Sale on all 5 Ebooks! Regularly $5.99 each, all books now on sale through Earth Day for just $3.99 each.
April 11, 2020
Happy Easter 2020!
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I’ve always loved Easter. This year with the pandemic bending the cultural traditions of many of us, I thought it more important than ever to keep the traditions I had control over.
So I dug deep in my cupboard, not knowing whether I had an egg dye kit or not. I figured I have food coloring one way or the other. It turns out I had two coloring kits. Our kids are grown and have been out of the house for years so I hadn’t actually dyed eggs in quite a while. My husband and I sat down and colored eggs together, just the two of us.
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I also baked a cherry pie, cleaned, and have a ham ready to go in the oven. Tomorrow I’ll do my best to cook many of the traditional foods we usually have on Easter, including the ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, home-made egg noodles, home-made buns, etc. I will miss my sister-in-law’s fried rice and my sister’s green fluffy stuff salad. I will also miss not having more than one kind of pie to choose from.
But most of all I’ll miss sharing the dinner and afternoon with a bunch of my relatives. I suppose later on we’ll drive out to see them, keeping our distance, of course.
We’ll still have church, but it will be on Zoom. The Easter breakfast at church I was supposed to help prepare won’t be happening. The wonderful Mennonite singing together doesn’t quite work out either.
But the weather is fine and we are all safe. We keep the traditions we have control over and have the hope inherent in the holiday for brighter days ahead.
May you have a blessed Easter.
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Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
Special: Easter through Earth Day Sale on all 5 Ebooks! Regularly $5.99 each, all books now on sale through Earth Day for just $3.99 each. (You may have to wait to see the price change if it isn’t showing yet.)
April 6, 2020
And Yet Another Tomato Blog Post
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Tomatoes are amazing. Or rather, tomato seeds are amazing. (Don’t get me wrong, tomatoes are amazing too.) I just finished replanting my pepper plant seeds (a lot of the hot peppers failed to germinate), but when I checked my tomatoes–every pot had someone in it. Amazing. It’s amazing because none of the seed was new. Terrific viability.
I got a text from a friend the other day that said “I had seed from 1998 that came up!”
Let me guess . . . “Was it a tomato?” I wrote back immediately.
“Yes!”
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And yet, I always overplant. Just in case. I mean, why lose the time starting over if the seeds are too old? And those seeds are so small. There are so many (one of the reasons I have so many old seeds!)
So I plant two or three of all the kinds I like to grow, plus those new ones someone gave me, plus. . . Before you know it I have 30 or 40 plants. Yes, I’ve posted about it before. I will say this: Last year I didn’t plant any from seed–I just bought a few plants at the local farmer’s market. See there, I’m not a total addict.
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What does one do with so many tomato plants? Let’s see, six for me, six for mom, there’s my neighbor, the community garden. . . Yeah, you try your best to give them away. Kind of like the jokes about anonymous people leaving zucchini in your unlocked car.
What kinds of tomatoes do I like to grow? I like to grow really big tomatoes (Tiffen Mennonite is one). I just do, okay? No good reason. I’m not even a big fan of raw tomatoes. If it’s a big paste tomato, like Amish Paste, so much the better. I make my own salsa and spaghetti sauce. I prefer my freezer salsa recipe, but I also can some. When I really end up with too many tomatoes I just put them in a ziploc freezer bag and toss them in the freezer. I have a great chili recipe that I make in the winter and then I just add those frozen tomatoes right to the pot. Easy peasy.
Another thing I do if I have a bumper crop is dry them. They’re called “sun-dried” tomatoes but most people don’t actually do it out in the sun because then you have to deal with the possibility of flies. . . gross.
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Even though I have my favorites, I always try a new one if it comes my way. Like at a seed giveaway or exchange. I seriously don’t buy new tomato seeds since I have so many. A new one I got this year at an exchange is called azoychka tomato. I never heard of it before. Because it was most likely the freshest seed, those germinated first and are looking strong! Can’t wait to see how they turn out.
Do you have a favorite tomato to plant? (or eat?) Let me know in the comments below.
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
April 2, 2020
Seed Savers-Treasure Now has Book Club Questions!
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As people have become more interested than ever before in gardening due to Covid19, I’m hearing from more book clubs that they are reading Seed Savers! So I’ve finally gotten in gear and written some book discussion questions. So far I have them for book one, Seed Savers-Treasure, with questions for the other books to come.
The questions are listed here and also under Resources at my publisher, Flying Books House.
Enjoy, and let me know know how it goes. I always appreciate hearing from readers!
Seed Savers-Treasure Book Club Discussion Questions
(best for ages 8-12)
At the beginning of the story, Lily questions Clare about why they should make their own food when the Trucks and Stores have what they need. When Clare responds that not everyone is as healthy as others, Lily says, “But that’s the way things are.” Have you ever used this rationale even when you thought something was wrong?
What is Clare’s personality like? How about Dante? Do you see any change for either of them throughout the story?
The children are able to plant two kinds of seeds discreetly on their own. Have you ever planted seeds? What were they? Discuss that experience.
Do you think Clare and Dante make the right decision when they find their home broken into and their mother in jail? What could they have done differently?
Clare and Dante live in a big city. The first time they are out in the country feels overwhelming to them. Where do you live? Have you ever been to a place so opposite from what you are used to that you find it overwhelming?
Why does Gruff say he is allowed to grow vegetables out in the open? Do you find this a credible explanation?
In the second part of the book, Clare and Dante make another big decision. This time it is Dante’s reasoning that they follow. Have you ever been surprised at the knowledge or wisdom of someone younger than yourself?
During their journey Clare and Dante find strength to move forward through their religious faith. How do you find strength when you face something difficult or that frightens you?
If gardening were forbidden, would you secretly grow or save seeds? Why?
Why is this book called Treasure? What do you think the message is?
Will you read book two, Seed Savers-Lily, next?
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
March 30, 2020
Cherry Pie & the Pandemic Blog Post
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These are the tart “pie” cherries I stayed up late one night last summer pitting. It was too late in the evening when I picked them from my parents’ tree, and I sat up by myself past 10 pm pitting them one by one. It wasn’t fun.
Now, though, I’ll soon be enjoying a fresh-baked cherry pie here at home in the midst of this world-wide pandemic. Back then, who would have dreamt it?
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I love cherry pie. It’s my favorite pie. I’m not sure I realized how much I loved cherry pie until I was in college. Whenever Mom knew I was coming home for the weekend she always baked up a cherry pie just for me. Mom’s standard was berry pie (we were berry farmers), but she knew I had a sweet spot for cherry, so there it always was, waiting for me. Maybe that’s also when I realized how much my mom loved me.
Nah, I think I always knew that.
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These days have made me reflective. I write in my journal nearly every day now. So much so, that I’m working on my current WIP less than I should. I bet you’ve become more reflective too.
Care to share your thoughts in the comments below?
Sandra Smith is the author of the awesome and award-winning middle grade/YA series, Seed Savers. Visit her Facebook and Pinterest pages. Follow her on Twitter. Sign up for the newsletter!
