A Time to… Blog Again (finally)!

I’m sure for all of you, life turns a corner and you realize whilst turning said corner, you actually are falling headlong down some chasm with no idea as to where you will land, if you will land, or if you’ll fall splat-flat on the canyon floor. You may just turn the corner and keep striding down the street but for this Farmer, the former more so than the latter has been my life since May. So many good things but it has been a whirlwind, a chasm fall, a wild time, whatever you wish to call it…

I want to fill all of ya’ll in on the fun, wild, crazy and exciting things that have happened since my last post… that last post being when the corn was knee high and now it is sky high and peaches are brimming on the trees and the tomatoes keep coming in and in and in… and the heat has settled down and we think, “man, has it ever been this hot?” because we’ve forgotten since last summer just how brutal a deep down summer in Dixie is. But the glorious cadence of the heat and our good soil is the aforementioned produce – Summer is here and I am thrilled! Yet, since the last post was truly last season, here are all things this Farmer has been up to…

I.                    Sip and Savor and Porch Living, both were released this Spring… I call them my fraternal twins since they do not resemble one another but they do have the same parent and were born on the same day. The release of a couple new books lead to a whirlwind tour across my fair state and into a couple of our neighbor states too. From Place on the Pointe in Albany, Georgia, to At Home in Tifton to The Mansion on Forsyth in Savannah to Williams Sanoma Lenox, Boxwoods and The Swan Coach House in ATL, to Springhouse at Lake Martin and all kinds of places in between, the month of May and spilling into June was a wild little book tour!

 

II.                  While on the subject of books, Wreaths for all Seasons will be out early fall, ya’ll! I just got the proof from my editor and it is lovely… My sister Maggie did a fabulous job with the photographs and we honestly have too much fun working together. And now that Maggie is expecting – yes, this Farmer is going to be an uncle – our fun times are now focused on a little bundle of joy due in January! William Napp Yelton (named for Zach’s Pappy “William” and our Granddaddy “Napp”)

III.                Continuing the subject of books and expecting, another upcoming cookbook was photographed – you guessed it! A Time to Cook! This ode to Southern cuisine will be out early 2013 and I feel as happy as an expectant parent – growing belly and all! You see, when you photograph a cookbook in a week, you HAVE to eat all that food in a week… wowza… it was a delicious week! So with a nephew and book due in January, I am about to pop!

The ultra talented and too much fun Helen Norman got to be my photographer for this book and we had an absolute blast cooking and photographing, touring farms and markets and eating way too much! Helen and I had worked together for my Porch Living book and the Southern Living story on the Farmhouse in Warner Robins, so this was our third venture. One of the true highlights was getting to photograph Mrs. Mary making biscuits – they came out of the oven absolutely gorgeous, got their glamour shot and were quickly devoured!!! All three pans of them!!!!

                       So, I can empathize with sister Maggie on expecting in January – a house to be built, a book to be released, new year and new fun!

IV.                My baby sister, Meredith, is leaving us in Kathleen for Georgia Southern!! Ahhh!!! When did they start letting babies go to Statesboro and live with three fun girls and have too much fun in the ‘Boro?) She and my baby cousin Sally Kathryn (aka Kasi) have a precious, dear friend who got married, and I had the privilege and honor of making her bouquet. Garden roses, light pink and deeper pink peonies, rosemary and fern all wrapped with a monogrammed ribbon made up Sami’s bouquet… it was the sweetest wedding and I loved having a peony or two and those fabulous roses leftover for my own little arrangement  to add spicy, sweet fragrance the house!

(Meredith's college digs)

V.                  The house! Ahhh! On that note… I sold my house in Kathleen and have moved out to our family land in Perry! Don’t worry, I kept a Kathleen PO Box because, well, I HAVE to HAVE a Kathleen address… some people have to have their certain zip codes… mine just happens to be 31047. I’ll start building my house soon and just cannot wait!!! I asked myself, “Self, where did all this stuff in this house come from?” I had to answer myself and say, “Well, you brought it in one bag at a time over the last few years.” Moving is terrible when you’re a hoarding designer like me, but there is something very cathartic too about organizing, purging, rearranging etc… this new house adventure will surely be an adventure for sure!

VI.                XXX… in the midst of all this, I had to go and turn 30… So far the XXX decade is off to a wild start but I’m excited for the changes – new home to be built, new books to come, a baby in family – this new decade is out the gate fast and headlong down the track! The Cashiers Designer Show House is coming up (opens August 18) too so the latter part of summer will be enjoyable up in the mountains. The fabulous and uber talented Maggie Griffin will be joining me again to make our porch at the Cashiers Designer Showhouse marvelous! Can’t wait to show ya’ll!

(big 3-0 celebration)

VII.              Summertime fruits and flowers – hydrangeas, sunflowers, watermelon, radishes, strawberries at Lane’s (and trifle too!) the Cordele farmer’s market billowing with plums, peaches and potatoes and boiled peanuts – summertime in Georgia is here! Pairing sunflowers and hydrangeas together just might be an all time fave… nothing says summer like that duo!

I hope your lives are not as crazy as mine but if they are, I hope they are full of fulfillment and joy. Without the joy of loving these fast times, it would be difficult to get through them – it’s all about the joy of the journey. All things this Farmer has been up to are truly steps on a journey and I’m thrilled to share some of them with ya’ll! Happy summer!