About OVG

Established in 2010 in my Vermont kitchen and garden, Open View Gardens LLC seeks to expand our sense of what we grow and eat locally, and to encourage community building by exploring our culinary diversity. Growing food grounds us in the relationships between earth and nourishment; preparing food brings us into relationship with our culture and community; sharing meals brings us into close contact with those gathered at the table with us.   What better way to build healthy inclusive communities than through growing locally and cooking globally?

As a grower of herbs, vegetables and fruits that feature in cuisines from around the world and as a passionate adventurer in the kitchen, I aim to open up our notion of what is local to Vermont and to help build inter-cultural understanding through food adventures. It’s difficult to get a hold of many ingredients in this small state, or to find fresh sources of ingredients used commonly elsewhere but not yet here.   Many things thought “exotic” here grow well in northern gardens–hot peppers, paprika peppers, tomatillos and a host of vegetables and herbs. I offer seedlings in the spring, fresh vegetables and herbs in the summer, and through the long months of fall and winter, foods and recipes from my garden and kitchen, cooking classes, feast-making for groups, and evenings combining cooking, eating and storytelling.

Subscribers to the Around-the-World-in-a-Vermont-Kitchen Club (I see it as a CSK, a community-supported kitchen, inspired by such groups as Three Stone Hearth) receive a semi-monthly assortment of ingredients and recipes between October and April as well as background on a particular culture’s cuisine.  For example, September might bring two Moroccan menus, October might follow with Mexican.  I supply subscribers with most of what they need to cook a dinner for four.  Additional ingredients, those easy to access locally, such as meat, dairy and grains, are not supplied, but a list of local sources is included with each delivery. Check out the Ordering and Subscribing Page for more information and a printable brochure of my offerings, classes and services.

For more background on Open View Gardens, read here, and on  my journey to Open View Gardens, read here.  For more on my storytelling work, travel over to Community Expressions, a sister LLC.  And to read my education-based blog (rarely updated now but filled with conversation with some great thinkers on 21st-century learning), turn to my old blog, bgblogging.

Email me with questions and requests at openviewgardens@gmail.com