Garden & Gun

garden & gun

David DiBenedetto Senior Vice President & Editor in Chief Executive Managing Editor Phillip Rhodes / Creative Director Marshall McKinney Photography and Visuals Director Maggie Brett Kennedy / Deputy Editors Amanda Heckert, David Mezz Style Director Haskell Harris / Art Director Julia Knetzer / Photo Editor Margaret Houston Senior Editor CJ Lotz / Copy Chief Donna Levine Editorial Assistant Caroline Sanders / Art Production Assistant Jacqueline Stofsick Editorial Intern Holly Roberts Chief Digital Officer Chris Kraft Digital Director Kim Alexander / Digital Editor Dacey Orr Sivewright / Social Media Editor Olivia Dello Buono Digital Projects Manager Emily Deal / Digital Intern Jessica Giles Contributing Editors Roy Blount Jr., Rick Bragg, Dominique Browning, Monte Burke, Marshall Chapman, John Currence, John T. Edge, Clyde Edgerton, Charles Gaines, Allison Glock, Winston Groom, Mike Grudowski, Jessica B. Harris, Matt…

field days

One of the many delights of this job is getting reader mail. Whether you’re voicing opinions about our coverage (yes, I know it’s heresy to boil blue crabs around the Chesapeake Bay; nothing but steam for you all) or sharing a treasured family recipe, it’s a privilege to hear from folks who embrace this magazine with such passion. Over the past year, I’ve especially enjoyed swapping stories with a Garden & Gun reader named Sybil from Chester, Maryland. Our correspondence began when Sybil wrote, with good old-fashioned pen and paper, to tell me about the dogs she’d been fortunate to own in her life. There was a spitz who nipped the mailman, a German shorthaired pointer who won a best of show, and a bloodhound with “long droopy ears” named Stoney.…

check out our new book!

My daughter, Rose, is lucky to have a number of strong women in her life. From her mom to her grandmothers, she doesn’t have to look far for role models. It doesn’t hurt that she’s also growing up in a region known for the original steel magnolias. Available October 29, our latest book, Southern Women, edited by deputy editor Amanda Heckert, includes more than a hundred inspiring stories of triumph, grit, and grace, featuring both icons and overlooked visionaries from around the region. It’s an incredible portrait of Southern women today, and I plan to make sure Rose has a copy on her shelf for years to come.…

“bless his heart, pat loved rich anything, even if a recipe didn’t call for it”

Andrew Kornylak PHOTOGRAPHER He can handle dogs. He wrangled three of them for the April/May 2017 tenth-anniversary cover of Garden & Gun. But the Chapel Hill, North Carolina–based lensman Andrew Kornylak faced a new challenge when he photographed three different mammals—dog, horse, and man—on the plains near Isabel, South Dakota, for this issue’s cover. “I grew up riding horses, but ones built to work are another thing,” he says. “Patrón is a beautiful but rugged horse, and you could feel the energy coming off him. He radiates this sense of power.” Kornylak needed to channel that energy while also capturing the dog’s focus and the trainer’s calm confidence—all in one shot. After accomplishing his mission in the golden light of dawn, he and the crew retreated to a lodge in Pierre to…

“as we say here in the south, ‘he was raised right, not jerked up’”

PLENTY TO GO AROUND Reading the August/September 2019 issue, I marveled at a couple who collect buildings, laughed out loud at the naming of a dog, snickered at Elvis and creative cussin’, cried at the saving of a sea turtle, and got hungry from all the delicious food and drinks. All that before 8:00 a.m. Suzanne Perry Wright Bradenton, Florida Friends were coming over for dinner and I wanted to make something that celebrated the South. I love your magazine and really appreciate your online content, so I went to your website and did that thing great hosts advise against: tried a new recipe on guests. I went with the sheet cake recipe that includes Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola. Diets be damned, everyone had seconds. Victoria Cherry Pittsford, New York IT’S JUST TOO MUCH Really? A dog story…

social chatter

WE ASKED... What’s your best Thanksgiving tip? On Facebook and Instagram, we asked what makes your Turkey Day perfect. Give each sibling a task. It’s less work for Mama. Lesa L. Tatum Follow the Alton Brown turkey recipe. It takes a couple of days but works like a charm. Roger Davis You can never have enough Sister Schubert’s rolls. Anna Robertson All cell phones turned off and in a basket. @kyleeper123 Get fresh spices. They’ve lost their flavor after a year. Robert Hughes Football game on mute. @hsc_southbound Publix Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers. @juliemerendino A three-well slow cooker for keeping several sides warm. @johnetteh Polish grandmother’s antique silver. Cindy Lawson DeVore Cajun fried turkey. Beverly O’Hanlon Bourbon. Casey Armanino Reservations. Sarah Hunter…