Book Publication Update

I received news recently to say that the book is taking longer to get to printing stage, which means publishing date has been set back, which means that my planned book launch is also put back! I was hoping to do a launch here at Gympie and another in Central Queensland - both before Christmas, but now I’m just not sure whether I can fit the CQ one in before Christmas. So…..I’ll have to think about that. The book should still be available for purchase and delivery before Christmas though, so if you’re already thinking about buying it for someone, it should be okay!

The other change that has happened, is to change the cover of the book. We weren’t !00% sold on the cover and after the formatter started working on the book, she thought a different cover might suit the book better, keeping in mind what is in the book. So…… this is it!

The local Book Launch will be held on the 12th December (previously planned for 28th November). I haven’t really talked much about the launches on here, because I was still planning them. I’ve also held off because I don’t have a price for the book yet. Self Publishing is an interesting endeavour. The publishers had previously given me an indication of what the cost will be, but because it’s got a lot of recipes, it’s hard to get a final page count until it’s all formatted correctly, which is what they are currently doing now. I won’t know what the final printing cost will be and therefore what I can charge for the book until next week. I will also have more details on how to pre-order it and all the other details for buying the book then too (I hope).

What I do now know, is that it’s a big book! I have put my heart and soul into this book and it has so much information. This was one of the stresses that I had yesterday morning - there was talk that I may need to cull some sections. I really didn’t want to do that, as it’s a reflection of my life and how I live and cook and eat. I couldn’t imagine leaving bits out! There’s also sections that will suit some people and other sections that will suit others more.

There’s information and recipes on a broad range of topics:

• In the Dairy - cheese, yoghurt, butter, dairy desserts

• Starchy Staples - bread, crackers, pasta, pastry

• In the Garden - gardening info, chickens, salad and veg recipes

• In the Paddock - how we manage our livestock, recipes for meat dishes

• Desserts and Baking - random sweet things, inculding my mums lamingtons!

• Preserving and Fermenting - water bath, fowlers method, pressure canning - pickling with vinegar and fermenting, jam recipes, ways to preserve vegetables and fruits

• Preserving Meat - fresh and cured meats

• Fermented drinks and wine/mead

• Wild food and unconventional - bunya nut, mushrooms, Corn and how to nixtamalise, miso making, tallow and soap.

  
  

These recipes are all the ones I make on a regular basis and I know it’s going to be a book that I will use all the time. It’s about how we farm to produce healthy and nutritious food. There are stories mixed in with the recipes, and I share some of our early years and how we came to learn and become passionate about farming for health and wellness.

Veg from the Garden - October 2026