"Give a Piece a Chance." — Books. Blog. Pie Classes. And a Pinch of Activism.
Meg and Me, From pleated plaid skirts to pie T-shirts My friend Meg asked me if I would teach a pie class as an auction prize donated for her kids’ Catholic school. I could have considered the cons — that I nearly got kicked out of Catholic high school and no longer consider myself a … Read more
My friend Jo Brown works for Kohler and when she found out I lived in the American Gothic House she suggested I might want an old-fashioned cast iron farm sink, a brand new top-of-the-line one made by Kohler. “Good for all your pie baking,” she said. “Yes, but only if you come down to see … Read more
One of my guest pie bakers, Marcia Mermelstein(left), was an whiz at rolling dough. I just wish she could have stayed all summer! Today was my last day of pie baking for the summer. By “pie baking” I mean mass production of pies for the Pitchfork Pie Stand. Running a humble little weekend pie stand … Read more
I am rushing out the door to the Iowa State Fair this morning. Seems I am always rushing these days between the demands of the Pitchfork Pie Stand, my ongoing book edits (one more round to go), entertaining a steady stream of house guests, and caring for my two dogs. How I’ve managed to create … Read more
My friends Sam and Lisa and their two kids (ages 8 and 12) visited from San Francisco last week. I gave them what has become the standard Southeast Iowa tour for all my house guests (and, oh, I have had many this summer). As we drove from place to place, through the wide open fields … Read more
The Beast: Happy in its new role as American Gothic House privacy screen/fence. “What happened to The Beast?” some of you have been asking. The Beast is the nickname I gave the RV that Marcus left behind, the 24-foot-long camper that I was originally terrified to drive but proved not only a cinch to drive but … Read more
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
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
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