Description

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Christine Allen and Michael Kluckner's portrayal of life on Killara Farm moves thoughtfully through a year of gardening with a rich, detailed narrative that evokes the many pleasures of life in rural Southwestern BC.

Allen, a master gardener, is also a lyrical writer, expressing the tiny details of life on the farm--the "winter jasmine, doggedly flowering on the fence by the chicken house," the excitement of snowdrops opening at the end of January and strategies for ensuring a balance of colour in the foxgloves. Her twelve essays are illuminated by Kluckner's masterful watercolours and interspersed with a delightful scattering of pressed flowers, gardening tips and seasonal recipes.

Part memoir, part illustrated garden journal, part cookbook, A Year at Killara Farm truly celebrates a way of life that is intimately tied to the natural world and the rhythm of the seasons. The result is a charming book sure to inspire any gardener.

About the Author

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Christine Allen lived and worked on Killara Farm in Langley, BC, from 1993 to 2006. Since then she and her husband, Michael Kluckner, have lived in Australia, returning to Vancouver in 2010. Allen is a regular contributor to GardenWise and other magazines, and has written a number of books, including Gardens of Vancouver (Raincoast, 2000) and Roses for the Pacific Northwest (Steller, 1999). Michael Kluckner lived and worked on Killara Farm in Langley, BC, from 1993 to 2006. Since then he and his wife, Christine Allen, have lived in Australia, returning to Vancouver in 2010. In addition to being an accomplished artist, Kluckner is the author of more than a dozen books, including A Pullet Surprise: A Year on an Urban Farm (Raincoast, 1997) and Vanishing British Columbia (UBC Press/University of Washington Press, 2005).