Excited to announce

Next month Agriculture in the Classroom will hold its annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island. June Jo Lee and I will be sharing the keynote speaker’s role. This conference brims with the enthusiasm of teachers who are excited about what they are doing and eager to share. I have attended several times and always come away inspired.

Since this is the International Year of the Woman Farmer I will have the chance to mention one of my favorite woman farmers–Eva Sommaripa. I hope to also talk about the joys of sharing stories with children and the added benefit of all that I learn from every book I write.

 

 

 

 

I’m also excited to announce that Phyllis Root, Liza Ketchum, and I hope to have a new book out in 2027–Greenheart Tiny Forest (University of Minnesota Press). It is a non-fiction book about a relatively new way of planting forests. It is called the Miyawaki method. In the Miyawaki way native trees are planted very close together in soil amended with compost. These forests grow ten times faster than forests planted in the traditional method. And after 20 years the soil in a Miyawaki forest looks the same as the soil in a 200 year old forest. I was pleased to hear this report on Miyawaki forests on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”  More details to come on this book. 

And of course, before Greenheart Tiny Forest there’s tacos! Kimchi Taco Time  (Readers to Eaters), written by June Jo Lee and me, this rollicking book will be out in October. Working on this book always made me want to eat tacos. This was a fun book to work on and will be such fun to read. It’s not too early to pre-order at your favorite bookstore.