tuscan white bean stew

PLUS all my winter book recs & our January giveaway winner!

Well friends, we’re more than halfway through the first month of 2023. How we feelin?

I’m not one for big resolutions, but a major intention for me this year is less time scrolling on screens, more time reading books. I don’t want to get cocky considering we’re only three weeks into the new year… but so far I’ve actually been sticking to that goal. Honestly, the only thing that helps is setting strict time limits on my phone – so every night at 8:30pm, I’m locked out of all the apps that I would otherwise spend way too much time mindlessly scrolling. It makes me feel a bit like a 6-year old child being put in “time out” – but you know what? It’s working and I’m sticking with it.

Keep reading for my recommendations for gardening-focused books and my all-time favorite cookbook (which I’m giving away to a lucky paid subscriber today!), but in case you also want some non-food related book recs… there are two titles that I absolutely devoured this month: Demon Copperhead, a novel + modern take on David Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver; and Solito, a wildly captivating (and heart wrenching) memoir by Javier Zamora.

It was a pretty dreary week over here, but I did get some good time in the dirt weeding and clearing out the beds in our tunnels, which we’ll start planting in next month. I’ve also been working at my computer putting together our crop plan for this season – in the next week or two, I’ll be sharing all my garden planning templates and strategies with y’all, so stay tuned!

Beds in our caterpillar tunnels (ie where we’ll grow our first spring greens) getting prepped and ready to GROW. :)

So while it’s still pretty quiet outside on the farm, I’ve been using this time to dig into all the books that have been piling up on my bedside table. There’s no question that the best way to get experience with farming/gardening is to just get in the dirt and learn by DOING… but it definitely helps to establish a baseline of knowledge by reading some of the great resources out there.

In case y’all are looking to cozy up with some good farming/gardening-focused books this winter, below are a few curated lists of titles that I personally recommend (a note that I’m sharing Amazon links for these books, but if you can shop at your local bookstore, even better):

FOR THE BEGINNING GARDENER

• Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

• How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons

• Vegetable Gardening for Beginners by Jill McSheehy

• Raised Bed Gardening by Tammy Wylie

FOR FLOWER LOVERS

• Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein

• The Flower Gardener’s Bible by Lewis & Nancy Hill

• Growing Flowers by Niki Irving

FOR HERB ENTHUSIASTS

• Medicinal Herbs by Rosemary Gladstar

• Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hartung

FOR THE ASPIRING MARKET GARDENER / FARMER

• The Market Gardener by JM Fortier

• The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman

• The No-Till Organic Vegetable Farm by Daniel Mays

• The Living Soil Handbook by Jesse Frost

Now I want to know.. do you have any favorite farm/garden books? Share them in the comments!

Noticing a theme today? We’re still talking BOOKS y’all.

If you take a walk through our house, it’s pretty obvious which cookbooks I actually use, out of the *many* dozens of titles that line our shelves and tables and basically every free surface. I have a bad habit of getting very excited about the newest cookbook that gets released, and then I barely make time to flip through it (let alone cook from it).

But there are a few cookbooks that I return to again and again, and they’re easy to spot by their ripped, worn covers and the dog-eared, sauce-splattered pages.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is one of those books. This cookbook is totally unique, as it walks you through four essential culinary elements – salt, fat, acid, and heat – and helps you understand the basic principles of cooking, so you can take pretty much any combination of ingredients and transform them into delicious, well-balanced dishes. I love that this book has ZERO photos – just beautiful illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton – which frees us from the expectation that our meals should look identical to the *very highly staged* photographs found in most cookbooks. PS – If you love this cookbook, then you’ll adore the 4-part series with Samin on Netflix!

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat & Illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton

It’s giveaway time!

As a paid subscriber to this newsletter, you’re automatically entered in a randomly-chosen monthly giveaway, where I love sharing some of my favorite tools, books, etc with this rad community. You don’t have to do anything extra to enter – it’s just my way to thank you for being here and your continued support. This month, I’m stoked to give away a new copy of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat… CONGRATS Adrienne Apple, you’re our giveaway recipient for January! I’ll be in touch separately to coordinate the delivery of your new cookbook. :)

Now let’s get cookin…

Okay, are you hungry yet? Keep reading for an instant classic recipe for Tuscan White Bean & Kale soup, adapted from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.

This recipe is a great example of how good cooking isn’t complicated – but it often requires a bit patience, as you gradually and intentionally build flavor throughout the cooking process. There aren’t many ingredients in this recipe (and I bet you already have most/all of them in your fridge/pantry), but by the end you’ll be amazed at the depth of flavor you’ve achieved from such humble beginnings. Don’t forget the splash of red wine vinegar at the end – it really helps brighten the soup and kicks all the other flavors up a notch.

See below for the full recipe, and you’ll also find a one-page PDF version for easy printing. :) And if you make this soup this week, let me know how it goes + share some pics and tag me on insta.

Tuscan White Bean & Kale Soup

Serves 6-8