"Give a Piece a Chance." — Books. Blog. Pie Classes. And a Pinch of Activism.
Two months is all it took for my garden to go from seed to full bloom. What I expected to be a gradual process, one that would require a test of patience (a quality I’ve been known to lack), turned out to be more instantaneous. Almost freakishly so. I was especially blown away by the … Read more
Hi. My name is Jack Iken. I’m seven years old. I’m half Jack Russell terrier, half Yorkshire terrier. I like playing stick, I like belly rubs, and I really like grilled meat, especially filet mignon. I’m blogging for my mom today because she doesn’t feel good. She was going to take the weekend off and … Read more
Seeds planted, May 18 I am almost 50 years old and I have never planted a garden. Until now. I must feel in my bones that I will be staying put in Iowa for a while because I didn’t hesitate to make the investment – not only the financial one, but the psychological one. As … Read more
The new American Gothic pose? Bob, Don, the Hoe and the Snake I was on the phone last night with a reporter from ABC News in San Francisco, Wayne Freedman. A friend of mine works at the TV station and when she heard Wayne was looking for stories about life in rural America, she told … Read more
Hello pie fans. You may have read the article in the May/June issue of Midwest Living touting my Pitchfork Pie Stand. Well, good news. The pie stand is finally opening for the season on Friday, May 20. So far summer hours will include Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays coinciding with the American Gothic House Center hours, … Read more
No sooner did I finish the first draft of my manuscript for MAKING PIECE, I looked up from my laptop and realized three months had passed. Spring had arrived. The snow had melted, buds were popping out on the trees, the grass had turned vibrant green and my nice neighbor Don Eakins had come over … Read more
One snowy January day a television crew from BETTER TV showed up at the American Gothic House and wanted to film me making pie. Since I love making pie — even better, teaching others how to make it — I said, “Sure.” I showed them a few of my shortcuts, the ones I learned from … Read more
On Saturday, March 19 — one week from today — from 1 to 5 PM, I will take a day off from working on my book, clear my laptop off my kitchen table, and open the doors of my house for people to come inside. The occasion is an art exhibit, to showcase the paintings … Read more
I have been writing all my life and while my byline has frequently appeared in some of the country’s top magazines, I always dreamed of writing a book, of being a published author. On Friday, February 18, 2011, four days ago–sixteen months before I turn 50, and eighteen months after my husband Marcus died–the Elusive Book Deal finally … Read more
One week ago today I drove to Chicago, to spend the weekend participating in National Pie Day activities. Even though this “pie holiday” should have been as exciting to me as, say, Thanksgiving—after all, pie is “my thing”—it was hard to get enthused about extracting myself from the comfort of my house to make the … Read more