Introduction I grew up on the West Coast and spent many years on the ocean, commercial fishing with my father and enjoying boating holidays with my family. I sport-fished, dug for clams, and visited indigenous villages where I learned about the ways indigenous communities learned to harvest and preserve food to last them the whole year. The West Coast is a temperate rainforest that provides ideal conditions for growing food nearly year-round. It also provides generous sustenance with wild seafood, fruits, mushrooms, and other foraged foods. I learned early on how to make the most of the bounty on our doorstep. My mother and grandmother taught me to can fruit and salmon, and my dad taught me how to sun-dry and smoke fish. My great-grandparents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine when my paternal grandmother was just five, and out of necessity, they turned their back yard into a kitchen garden. They grew heaps of potatoes, beets, and horseradish, pickled fish, and made whiskey.

My great-grandfather loved gardening, and he even started a successful community garden at the seniors home where he went to live in his 90s. His smile in the garden was the same one I saw as my grandmother showed me around her garden in the last weeks of her life, and I like to believe it''s the same smile on my face when I step out into my own garden. I''m sure the resurgence in growing a kitchen garden would make them smile as well. I have had many gardens during my life. My first one was an old orchard with lots of mature fruit trees and a few small beds close to my house; the next three were established perennial gardens. I added a kitchen garden element to them by digging a few small vegetable beds and growing herbs and tomatoes in containers. My most recent garden, the one that inspired this book, was a fully grassed yard when I first encountered it 16 years ago. Set alongside a highway on Vancouver Island, the front yard was unused because of the noise.

I painstakingly dug up hundreds of square feet of grass over the course of four years to convert it to an urban kitchen garden. I envisioned a place that my children could explore, somewhere they could learn about growing food. A garden to nourish my family and my soul. In addition to four zones of planting beds (so I can rotate my crops each year), I now have trees and a concrete fence to reduce the noise and add privacy. A yard that was once used only for mowing is now my oasis. Gardens are great teachers, and I am still learning every year. Weather, unwanted rodents, a new understanding of the importance of pollinators, and unexpected interruptions--including city work and a car careening off the road and mowing down my fig tree--have all required me to adapt my gardening plans. Over the years, I''ve added more flowers.

Initially I wanted to grow only food, but over time I realized flowers are important because they attract and feed birds and bees and other crucial pollinators. And of course, I''ve also come to appreciate their beauty both outside, in the garden, and inside, displayed in vases as cut flowers. From early hellebores and cheery spring bulbs that emerge when it is still cold and rainy, to trailing edible nasturtiums and beautiful roses that garnish many a drink and salad to dahlias and hollyhocks for bouquets, a few of my favourite flowers are almost always in bloom. More recently, I have added more raised beds to make weeding easier (I''m getting older) and more easy-care pathways that better resist unwelcome visitors in the form of grass and weeds. At time of writing I am creating a new sitting area because I love to relax and enjoy the garden after working in it. Things that continue working well in the garden are my other fruit trees, woody herbs including lavender that remain green through the winter and the rock pathway that winds around the garden. These provide structure to the garden when everything else is dormant. I also love the greenhouse and three-bin compost system my husband built for me.

I have had my share of disappointments in the garden, too. I learned the hard way that potatoes and carrots don''t like to grow in dirt that used to grow grass (it''s a breeding ground for wireworms). Now they grow in raised beds with fresh soil. I also learned to read plant tags thoroughly after excitedly planting kiwi vines only to end up with kiwis that are the size of a grape instead of the full-sized fruits I was anticipating. Getting Started If you''re already a gardener, you probably have a healthy herb or vegetable patch. If you''re just starting out, I recommend beginning with a herb garden, rather than diving straight into vegetable-growing. Herbs tend to be very easy to grow, and they add tons of flavour and freshness to everything you cook. Planted in a somewhat sheltered spot, rosemary, thyme and sage can remain green all winter on the West Coast, making your Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners extra special.

You can also use them to make fragrant wreaths and decorative place settings. See page xxx for tips on how to grow and preserve herbs. You can grow almost any vegetable on the West Coast, but some are easier than others. Peas, radishes, and salad greens are among the easiest, followed by bush beans, zucchini and kale. Root vegetables like carrots, beets, and potatoes work well if you have somewhat loose soil that''s at least a foot (30 cm) deep. In large gardens, squash and pumpkins are fun for kids to grow because of their big leaves, fruit, and fast growth. Rhubarb is a sweet treat in early spring and tends to be very easy to grow. Strawberries are another easy-care crop that can be grown in a garden or a container.

Try to have four separate growing areas so that you can rotate your crops every year and give the soil a chance to recover from the previous year''s crop. Native species of fruit and berry bushes and perennials are a great choice. Planting species natural to your area, wherever you live, will increase your chances of success. They tend to be easy to care for and are great food sources for pollinators. A fruit tree or two is wonderful if you have the space. When you''re buying them, be sure to ask if they are self-pollinating or if they need a partner for cross-pollination. Fruit trees come in a range of sizes, and depending on their cold hardiness and space requirements, some can be planted in a pot if you think a move is in your near future. Before you plant them in the ground, decide whether you want them to provide some shade or to leave your lower gardens exposed to the sun.

About This Book I want to show how truly seasonally we can eat here by using our own local foods, so I''m sharing my favourite kitchen garden recipes as seasonal menus based on West Coast growing seasons. Of course, you can mix and match them depending on what you''ve grown, foraged, or bought that week, or what you''ve preserved in the preceding months. Some menus are designed to feed four people, and others are designed to feed six. They are all designed to help you enjoy the best of the West Coast. The opening page of each chapter has a list of what will be growing that season to help you plan not only your menus but also what you might want to preserve. Many ingredients will grow through two or even three seasons--you''ll see some ingredients crop up in more than one chapter--but others are available for only fleeting moments. Seize those moments. Head to your garden, the fisherman''s wharf, the forest or your local farmers'' market to get them while you can.

I also want to inspire you to reflect on sustainability and the value of the slower pace of growing and gathering some of your own food. World events since 2020 have brought food security to the forefront again, making teaching the next generation how to grow food even more important. The West Coast is now home to many independent producers of wine, cider, beer, sea salt, vinegar, milled grains, and much more. It makes me so happy to find these products being made practically in my own backyard. There may be other places in the world as bountiful as the Pacific Northwest, but there''s nowhere I''d rather be. This is my love letter to the land, the seasons, and those who came before me and taught me what they know. I hope this book inspires you to grow some food, shop locally at farms and markets, and enjoy cooking these deliciously simple recipes. Cheers, Friends! Sabrina --excerpted from West Coast Kitchen Garden.