S.M.R. Saia is a gardener, a writer, and an aspiring suburban homesteader. She began gardening in 2007 as an alternative to hoarding number ten cans of freeze-dried food in her cellar. From mid-spring until late fall, she now eats produce primarily from her own garden. She prefers vegetables that grow like weeds, and weeds that can’t outpace them. Her yields are always less than she hopes that they will be, but once she did grow a sweet potato the size of a football.

S.M.R. Saia received her B.A. in English from the University of Maryland, and her M.A.L.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Her first two novels, Big Work and The Best Laid Plans, were both published in 2012.

Her book of humorous essays, Confessions of a Vegetable Lover, chronicle her triumph and heartbreak in her own work-in-progress garden. To learn about her garden and her suburban homesteading aspirations, visit her blog for Grit magazine called A Long Time Coming (www.grit.com/blogs.com).

Website: http://www.smrsaia.com
Blog: http://www.smrsaia.com

art and growing up    art and teenagers    art life balance    artist philosophy    artist with a day job    artistic philosophy    backyard garden    backyard homestead    becoming an artist    career romance    developing an philosophy of art    estranged father    estranged parent    family crime    family drama    fathers and sons    food independence    garden guide    garden humor    garden tips    gardening    gardening tips    grow food    grow vegetables    grow your own food    growing guide    growing plants    home garden    how to grow    humor    male and female pov    male pov    mothers and sons    office love story    office lover    parenting an artistic child    personal essay    suburban homesteading    urban homesteader    urban homesteading   

• The Philosophy of Slow Vegetable Gardening on May 12, 2012
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  When I first started gardening like I mean it, about five years ago, I did not expect to start to enjoy reading gardening books. The ones I like best are the ones that tell the most personal stories of trial and error, triumph and perseverance, while at the same time offering up some practical advice, which is exactly what I found in this little gem. Mr. Hadley gardens in Australia, which is interesting enough in and of itself. I found his ideas of acheiving self-sufficiency one vegetable at a time to be both encouraging and inspirational, plus I picked up a few tips that were so exciting to me that I had to put the Kindle to sleep and trot on out to my own garden to make it happen. Well worth the read.
  
• Life in Fiction on July 08, 2012
  
  M Cathering Berg is a promising new voice in detective fiction. Gracie Wentworth is a PI to love - smart and savvy with an interesting past. I am definitely putting Berg's forthcoming novel on my "to read" list!