Meeting:

July 14, 2011

Guest Presenters:

Jimmy Williams and Susan Heeger

Program:

From Seed to Skillet

For our July meeting, authors Jimmy Williams and Susan Heeger gave an illustrated talk about their garden-and-cook book, From Seed to Skillet: A Guide to Growing,Tending, Harvesting, and Cooking Up Fresh, Healthful Food to Share With People You Love. Beginning with Jimmy’s early gardening education at the hands of his Gullah grandmother Eloise, the talk included many of the basics he learned from her as well as tips and information from his own lifetime of organic vegetable growing. From soil-building to seed preparation, planting and saving, from composting to picking and preparing garden-fresh meals, their program told you all you need to know to become a successful edible gardener – or to improve your existing skills. At the end of their talk, they answered questions and signed copies of their book.

From Seed to Skillet, A Guide to Growing, Tending, Harvesting, and Cooking Up Fresh, Healthful Food to Share With People You Love, by Jimmy Williams and Susan Heeger, is a nationally focused edible growing book, with recipes and extensive color photography by photographer Eric Staudenmaier. Named one of Amazon’s “Best Books of 2010” in the Home & Garden category, it provides a strong rationale and a simple, encouraging approach to this natural, human endeavor that brings us together in rewarding ways.

Jimmy Williams

Urban farmer and landscape designer Jimmy Williams grew up in a family of 12 children in eastern Long Island, NY. He learned to garden from his Gullah grandmother Eloise, a descendant of Caribbean slaves who believed that working the soil fed the soul as well as the body. After his first career as a New York sportswear designer, Williams moved to California in the 1980s and planted his own garden in the spirit of hers. This tiny city lot quickly spawned an heirloom seedling business and then a design operation that sidelined sportswear forever. He grows and sells heirloom tomatoes from seeds that have been passed down from his great-great-grandmother, who brought them to South Carolina on a slave ship in her apron pocket. These days, when he's not overseeing his growing grounds or planting edible gardens for clients, Williams, along with his son Logan, dispenses cultivation and cooking tips, plus vegetable, herb, and fruit seedlings, at three Los Angeles farmers’ markets.

Susan Heeger

Susan Heeger, a California native and graduate of Harvard University, is a longtime magazine and newspaper feature writer with a specialty in garden, design, home, lifestyle, and food stories. A contributing editor for Coastal Living and Martha Stewart Living, where she served as staff writer for several years, she also co-wrote The Gardens of California, which was published by Clarkson Potter. She has written extensively on edible gardening for publications ranging from The Los Angeles Times Magazine to Country Living and Whole Living. With the support of their son Simon, she and her husband Rob Steiner, a landscape architect, grow their own vegetables year-round in Los Angeles.