Grow Great Grub

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Photo by Gayla Trail All Rights Reserved

As I mentioned earlier today it’s been a L O N G year. Actually, it’s been a long year and a half. Or two years. Where am I?

I’ve mentioned it briefly here and there but was finally given the go-ahead today to speak freely(ish) about the main project that has been taking up so much time over the last… very long while.

A NEW BOOK!

I’ve been busy making a new book and this time it is all about my biggest gardening love, growing food in small spaces. The book is called “Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces” and is published by Random House/Clarkson Potter.

I’m really excited about this one. Not just because the topic is so specifically near to my heart and where I most find joy in my own small garden spaces, but because I’ve changed and grown in the years since I made “You Grow Girl” and I think this book reflects that.

This new book has lots of pictures, most especially lots of BIG pictures, all taken by me with a few exceptions. It also has a much more gender-neutral design, which I think will take away the small embarrassment some felt in carrying book number one out with them in public. HA! As a funny aside, when the first book came out many people asked if that was me illustrated on the cover. I replied many times that while the woman sort of looks like me back when I had long hair, it wasn’t really meant to be me.

Besides, I would never garden in a crop top. EVER. The end.

This time it really is me on the cover. And my real plants. And my pickles. Delicious pickles. I can’t wait for you to make those pickles. Why is this suddenly reading like a euphemism? I swear, sometimes pickles are just pickles.

Unfortunately, the wait is long. Grow Great Grub will be officially released in February 2, 2010 (I keep joking that the aliens will have arrived by the time this thing sees the light of day), but it is available for pre-order from several online booksellers (and at sale prices too!) in the meantime. Once I’ve had some time to decompress from the long and harried writing/making portion of this endeavor, we’ll begin work on rolling out the details. My sweet, patient, and also very exhausted partner Davin (also my partner in designing and illustrating the book) has put together a quick micro-site and will be helping me build a bigger site soon.

Serendipitously, the book launch will coincide with You Grow Girl’s 10th anniversary so I’ve also got some fun events and whatnot in the works for next spring. Stay tuned and thanks for riding it out with me!

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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39 thoughts on “Grow Great Grub”

  2. Yahoooo! So super excited for the next installment. YGG (and this site) have been instrumental in my growing (ha ha) obsession with growing all manner of organic, interesting food. Can’t wait!

  3. Congratulations! It must be so thrilling to complete such an in-depth project. I’m looking forward to reading it when it comes out! Enjoy decompressing, too. Now is a great time of year to breathe deeply.

  7. Oh Gayla — this is WONDERFUL news! It will be my birthday present next Spring! Pssst… the cover is BEAUTIFUL. I can’t wait to pour through the book and enjoy your photos (which, to me, always seem like poems).

  8. That is great news Gayla! It must feel so good to have completed the project. Can’t wait to see the book.

    :-D

  12. Yippppie!!!!

    I’m going to go pre-order! I hope they send all the way to India.

    All the best for the release!

  14. Congratulations, Gayla! I’m really looking forward to getting a copy of the book to add to my gardening library. Also, let’s make August the month we somehow manage to get into the same room together, okay?!

  15. Oh Gayla! Congratulations! And thanks so much for writing another book! Your first is currently on my shelf of books “most often referred to”. And since I prefer to grow grub I know this one will be joining it! I’ll be counting the days!

  16. Congratulations to you and Davin! We’re so proud of you, cara. Now, maybe you can take a breath and enjoy the best part of the summer.

  18. Thanks! The wait until publication is long but I’m also really grateful for it this time around. It was manic last time and I really need the space to do all of the setup work before it launches. That and spend ample time doing as little as possible!

  20. great…can’t wait! i just stumbled onto your site a couple of days ago, and girl, am i glad i did! i am a beginner gardener in florida and have grown (no pun intended:) passionate about it. florida is a special case i have found. i look forward to reading more.

  21. Dana: Yes, Florida is VERY sandy seemingly everywhere. I noticed there was sand underneath lawns… and that was in Central Florida, nowhere near the coast.

  22. What? I have to wait until February? Jeepers. Ah, it looks like it’ll be worth the wait. Can’t wait to get my grubby hands on your new book! Congrats.

  24. How lovely and thank you for all your hard work! I share your first book with everyone that stops by and sees our little urban garden and I can’t wait to tell them about your new one!

  25. Yay! Congrats on the upcoming arrival!

    I bought seedlings of a plant called Bush Pickle this year, just because I could not resist the name. Sometimes a pickle just is… except when it’s a BUSH pickle. Now *there’s* a euphemism just waiting to be claimed!

  30. (((Gayla)))
    Recently I found your website in the August issue of BHG. I immediately put down the magazine and went right to the site and glad that I did! I then ordered your book “You Grow Girl from B & N and it should be here tomorrow. And now this book….YIPEEEEEE! February will come quicker than you think :) And yes, I added it to my wish list on Amazon. Do you know if it will be available later at Barnes and Noble?
    I’m just so excited.
    I also went to Facebook and posted my pics from this years urban garden in our ‘little’ backyard here in Las Vegas. I learned a lot this year! ha ha
    Congratulations on the book….good job!

    Gayla
    Las Vegas

  32. Love “You Grow Girl” and I can’t wait to get this one too! We just bought a house and this is my first year gardening and you book helped boost my confidence.

  37. February will be the perfect time to curl up with a new gardening book- just pre-ordered at Amazon. Congratulations and hope the final few months of putting it together still leave you enough time for dirt manicures!

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