We’re thrilled to bring your our first Citizen Farmers profile on Amy Pennington! 

Amy and I met years ago at a mutual friend’s wedding, and with our two green thumbs, we immediately hit it off. She is a good friend and an amazing leader of the farm to table movement in the Pacific Northwest. 

Amy Pennington is a cook, author, and urban farmer. She is the author of Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen, Apartment Gardening, Apples from Harvest to Table & Fresh Pantry – Learn to Love Your Vegetables, One Month at a Time. Pennington has been named one of Seattle Magazine’s 2013 Top 50 most powerful players in Seattle’s food scene and as a 2012 Bon Appetit Tastemaker.  She has been featured in Bon Appetit, Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, GOOP.com, and Apartment Therapy. She runs GoGo Green Garden, an urban farming service specializing in organic edible gardens for homes and businesses and created Urban Garden Share – a national online resource matching gardeners to unused garden space. Pennington lives in Seattle.

What do you love to grow and recommend to others?

LETTUCE! Whether you opt for butterhead, romaine, crisphead, or loose-leaf, lettuce is one of the quickest and easiest plants to grow. Little Gem (a romaine variety), Rouge d’Hiver (a cross between romaine and butterhead), and Oak Leaf (a loose-leaf lettuce) are all great choices. If you’d like a summer lettuce, be sure to choose a heat-tolerant variety, while if planting in fall, a cool-season lettuce is in order. 

How are you growing community through agriculture?

Urban Garden Share! Not everyone has land to grow food on. Even homeowners struggle with poor light and yards that are not suitable to farming. For those folks, apartment dwellers, condo living green thumbs and more, I started urbangardenshare.org – a national online resource connecting gardeners to unused garden space. With Urban Garden Share, we’ve made many matches over the years and I’m happy to offer a solution for people dying to get their hands dirty. Have a yard? Sign up! Need a plot? Cruise the listings. Want to launch in your city???? Email me (amy at amy-pennington.com)!

What do you think about Daron’s book Citizen Farmers?

Daron Joffe, Farmer D, is a living, breathing encyclopedia for green living and sustainable farming. He has traveled all over the US (and the world!) and learned every step of the way. With Citizen Farmers, this fabulous resource is shared amongst pages full of great information, inspiration and wellness. This book has the rare and genuine focus of one soul doing his best to live peacefully on and with Mother Nature. Inspiring? Hell yes. A must read for anyone interested in growing food, living fully and going green.

Learn more about Amy Pennington at www.amy-pennington.com.

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