Slow Food Portland, Whitney Art Works and Creative Material Group present:  Kenneth Helphand, author of Defiant Gardens, Making Gardens in Wartime. A reading and booksigning.On Saturday, January 30th at 8:15 pm, author Kenneth Helphand will give a 30 minute presentation, reading and book signing for his book Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens In Wartime, at Whitney Art Works, 492 Congress Street.  Helphand remarks that even in the midst of war one can still find gardens: defiant gardens. Illustrated with ninety-five photographs of gardens from such locations as the trenches of the First World War,  the internment camps of the Second World War, and the Gulf Wars.

This fascinating book documents the triumph of the gardening spirit over the horrors of war.Defiant Gardens was named one of the New Statesman ‘Books of the Year’ for 2007, received an American Horticultural Society book award and the John Brinkerhoff Jackson Book Prize.

There will be 20 seats available and a $5 donation will be requested.  For more details go to the Whitney Art Works website.

Our friends Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway, of Ten Apple Farm in Gray, are hosting an apple tree pruning workshop at the farm this Sunday, January 24, from 1-4pm, which they’re doing in conjunction with the Lakes Region Permaculture group. Dave Homa, who has pruned trees professionally, will be showing us how to prune our apple trees while they are in their winter dormancy in order to improve their ongoing health and productivity. The event will include discussion of techniques, common mistakes and suggested tools. Handouts will be provided. The session is expected to run about 3 hours, including an hour outside pruning (so dress warm and in layers), and will be followed by the sharing of a potluck meal (please bring a dish to share). There is a $5 fee that covers the Permaculture group’s Meetup costs. Bring pruners or loppers if you have them. There is a limit of 15 people, and there are 7 spots still available. Email or call if interested or if you have any questions.

What: Winter Tree Pruning Workshop

When: January 24, 1-4pm

Where:  Ten Apple Farm

241 Yarmouth Road

Gray, Maine

207-657-7880

http://www.tenapplefarm.com

Cost: $5

Bring: Potluck dish to share, pruners or loppers if you have them.

The next selection for the Slow Food Book Group is American Fried, Calvin Trillin’s first food book, which is now collected with the other two works in The Tummy Trilogy, and available in paperback. Trillin has long written humorously about his travels in search of good food, travels which usually take him far from the fancy restaurants, and more likely into ethnic,  neighborhood joints. The book group will meet Thursday, February 18th, 6-8pm. The meeting is free and open to everyone. Usually 8 to 20 people participate in each. We talk about the book in question, which is chosen by the group from amongst books on food politics, farming, memoir, or literature. Conversation frequently moves to what we’re eating or cooking, or what’s going on with food in other ways.

So it’s January and Writer’s Night should be rolling around just about now, right? Well this year we’ve moved Writer’s Night to March, partially in an effort to give us all a break after the holidays, and also to be able to reach out to more writer who might be reluctant to travel in January. So save the date: Wednesday, March 10th, at Space Gallery as usual.  So far, writer’s appearing include: Greg Marley, author of Mushrooms for Health: Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi, John Bunker, author of The Apples of Palermo, Maine, and Max Watman, author of Chasing the White Dog, An American Outlaw’s Adventures in Moonshine, and more to be announced. We’re pleased that this year we’ll be discussing three topics we have yet to include in Writer’s Night: mushrooms, apples and craft distilling, all of which have lively proponents in Maine.This new date will also mean that Writer’s Night is overlapping with Maine Restaurant Week, and will follow right on the heels of Judith Jones’ appearance for the Portland Museum of Art. Stay tuned for more  info about Writer’s Night!