My friend, Jean Ann Van Krevelen, is the author of Grocery Gardening.  Her book has been at #5 on the Amazon gardening list — with a bullet!  She did a commercial for the book that was shot here at Westwind.  Enjoy!

JeanAnn talks about Grocery Gardening for Coolsprings Press

Jean Ann VanKrevelen very kindly included Yogacowgirls and Bridget Pilloud (listen to her earlier podcast with us!) on her latest installment of the Good Enough Gardening podcast.  We talked about psychic connections with animals (@petsaretalking’s line of work), including birds and insects in our gardens.  Find out what a walking stick insect said to Bridget. Determine the answers to more questions, like “what is a funion?”

We talked about the upcoming plant sale on September 19 at Westwind Farm Studio and had a lot of laughs about lots of various topics.  Catch the podcast here!

Yesterday I had lunch with some of my favorite women.  Liz Leach, Holiday Johnson, JeanAnn Van Krevelen, and Peraim Khalsa came out for lunch at the Nines (do all my blogs deal with the Nines these days?) in its restaurant, the Urban Farmer.

The setting was really fun, since we got to sit on the “cow hide” bench tables that fit up to 8 people.  It’s easier to hug someone or lovingly lean on them when you sit on a bench than in chairs. The restaurant sections are split by “grasses” blooming on a low wall. This got a big thumbs down from the garden savvy JeanAnn and art sensitive Liz as being too fake looking and cheesy.

The menu was pretty good. We had the beet and quinoa salad (considered very filling), mushroom terrine, salad with sliced pears (dressing was a little too oily for me), onion soup made with true beef broth and poured from a cast iron tea kettle, and chicken thigh sandwich, which was on buttered/grilled bread (again, a little too oily).  We finished with butterscotch brownies served with ice and whipped cream and doused with broken toffee bits. These were served in canning jars with gaskets, which the group considered fun and quaint.

It was cool to see all the jars of canned fruits and vegetables lining the wall shelves in one of the rooms near our table.  Occasionally, a chef would walk out to the shelves and pull down a selection to take to the kitchen, so those decorative items are actually used!

Conversation proved most interesting, however.  We discussed Holiday’s experiences with Ayengar, the founder of Ayengar yoga, who still persists in his teachings today at his advanced age.  His dogmatism about yoga practiced was discussed in a particularly non-judgemental way, just examining his determination about process and how Angela Farmer broke away when he couldn’t accept new practices or approaches to “his” yoga.

Another conversation revolved around the experience of group meditation.  When does group meditation become a religious practice? When does it become too structured?  This group of distinctly un-religious or even anti-religious folks had ideas across the board.  If the group doesn’t have a program, and they just sit together quietly, that’s not religious.  If folks come together weekly and have structured programs, it is religious.  The entire group agreed that blindly following dogma or practices stunts the growth of the soul.

We spent a lot of time discussing the art work at the Nines, since 4 pieces were commissioned to artists that Liz represents.  Melody Owen’s glass chandelier that stretches from the 8th floor down a staircase to the 6th floor got a lot of commentary.  The shapes of her glass tubes represent sound waves of bird songs.  If you stand near the piece, you can hear birds over the stereo system.

Synchronistically, Sean Healy, also represented by Liz, began installation of a piece where the odd mannequins are currently standing near the front desk.  All we caught was his drilling of holes in the ceiling to hang it, so we didn’t get to see the piece.  I love Sean’s sense of whimsy, humor and child-like artworks.  They often have a lovely innocence to them, and I can’t wait to see the piece.

We all agreed to have another ladies lunch, since the positive level and quality of the conversation was invigorating, loving, and empowering.  Go us!