About Nicki (under construction, but enjoy what’s here now and come back for the updates…coming very soon!)
Grandma’s Kitchen
Grandma Chris (center back) in her kitchen with my mom (right) and aunt (left).
Gardening, food, and cooking have been a part of my family history and early memories. I remember playing lawn darts with my grandpa while my Grandma Betty held a cigarette in one hand and pruned her plants with the other. My memories of my Grandma Chris include her in one of her many aprons, a layer of flour dusting her kitchen, and the smell of her gooey cinnamon rolls coming from the oven.
Friday evenings my dad and I would bake cookies while the rest of the family finished the game that I always managed to be the first one to lose and get out. Saturdays were filled with visiting nurseries with my mom and dining in the garden cafes or helping to landscape my parents’ backyard. This “landscaping” was also known to me and my siblings as labor in exchange for money for the movies, and although I dreaded it at the time it taught me skills I now use in my own garden. The first time I pulled a carrot from the dirt was in my dad’s vegetable garden and I fell in love with the fragrance of roses from my mom’s garden that was just outside my bedroom window.
My interest in cooking began one summer while my siblings were at camp and my parents at work. Discovering a Better Homes & Garden cookbook and an apple pie recipe and I worked toward creating a perfect pie crust. This interest stayed with me into college where I considered dropping out in order to go to culinary school, but it turned out that those cooking classes are really expensive. So instead I spent my money on ingredients and kitchen tools. Several years ago, my sister discovered some food allergies and in wanting to find some ways to cook for her I began baking again. I started experimenting with alternative flours and slowly started to create a collection of ingredients to take up real estate on our kitchen shelves. A stumble upon a book about the Paleo diet threw me into an exploration of foods, flavors, and recipes I couldn’t stop experimenting with.
Mom’s Perennial Garden
My dad by the pond in my parents’ perennial garden.
Condo Garden
Our dog, Bodhi, napping in front of our zucchini and corn we grew in our condo’s little yard.
In the meantime, I was attempting to grow an herb and vegetable garden in the small yard of our condo. It was a strange community, but stranger yet were the looks we received from neighbors when cornstalks started to poke above the fence (eventually rotting from rain and becoming squirrel food), smoke from roasting coffee beans billowed out the gate, and I walked past the pool with bags of compost in my arms.
After moving into our first house I decided that I was going to attempt to grow all of our food and that we would never grocery shop again. I grabbed a shovel, bought some wood and seeds, and went to work to build my first garden beds. That summer we ate zucchini everything, and even the neighbors were turning down our overstock of squash.
Somewhere between growing corn and scraping flour out of kitchen tiles I realized I had a pretty big crush on food and cooking, and even bigger one on gardening. I now own more aprons than I need, and instead of a cigarette I am often found holding a beer in one hand while pruning my plants with my other. I am still working to create a perfect pie crust and own more kitchen tools than I have time to use.
Gardening has been a source of connection for me; it has connected me to my health, healing, food, and community. I have a Master’s in Education and am an Associated Certified Coach (ACC) and this passion for learning inspires me to keep growing as a person, gardener, sister, wife, friend, and community member. It is my desire to design and create edible gardens that are both beautiful and nourishing. And, it is my vision to create connections through gardening, food, and learning and to share my adventures (and misadventures) along the way. Let’s grow together!
Dad’s Vegetable Garden
My sister (left) and me (right) in front of my parent’s garden at our first house.
Garden Happiest Hours
My husband always finds the best ways to pair our love for craft beer with the garden.
Acknowledgements
I am extremely grateful for the support of my husband, family, and friends! In their own way each one of them is a part of my gardening experience and this site. My husband is patient, encouraging, and supportive with each one of my gardening adventures and I appreciate his partnership in this work and life! My family continues to be my biggest cheerleaders and are willing to try my crazy recipes and listen for hours as I explore ideas. My friends and family are incredible supports from editing, to garden tips and recipe sharing, to visiting nurseries, to letting me play around with ideas for their yards. I truly believe that life is not traveled alone and I am grateful for those that I get to share life, food, and gardening with!