Garden & Gun April/May 2022

EDITOR’S LETTER Fifteen Years of G&G REMEMBERING WHERE WE’VE BEEN—AND LOOKING FORWARD TO WHERE WE’RE HEADED Maggie Braucher Cameron Wilder In 2007, a magazine with a bold name and a captivating cover image of Pat Conroy standing in a garden fountain arrived in a smattering of mailboxes around the South. The brainchild of Pierre Manigault, John Wilson, and Rebecca Wesson Darwin, Garden & Gun quickly gained a loyal following thanks to its lush photography, literary bent, sophisticated design, and unique mix of coverage—from style to sporting pursuits. It wasn’t the first magazine to put these qualities into play, but it was the first to bring them all to bear on the South. For a native Savannahian sitting in a New York City office building at the time, the…

A Good Dog Gone Saying goodbye to Pritchard If you’ve read these pages over the past decade or so, you’ve read about Pritchard, my family’s Boykin spaniel. Sadly, we lost her to cancer this past December, just shy of her thirteenth birthday. On her final afternoon, we gathered around and told her the reasons we loved her. The kids made cards and lined her favorite toys around her bed. (A few days later, on Christmas Eve, they stuffed Pritch’s stocking with more notes and a message for Santa: “Take this stocking to Pup Pup. She’s in heaven.”) I’m thankful for the outpouring of support, including the books that a few friends and colleagues sent to help our kids better navigate loss (Goodbye, Brecken; Sammy in the Sky; and Dog Heaven).…

15TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL LET’S CELEBRATE Garden & Gun through the Years THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM READERS, FACT-CHECKERS, AND A STAFFER WHO’S BEEN HERE SINCE THE BEGINNING To mark our anniversary, we asked readers to share their favorite articles, recipes, and covers, and many described their magazine rituals. Whether they wait by the mailbox for the latest issue, pick it up in line at the grocery store, or grab a copy at the airport, they have a happy routine for what comes next: a cup of coffee or a cold drink, a favorite seat, and some time to themselves. In Daphne, Alabama, Steve Goodrich says he turns the pages while “sitting in my leather recliner with a glass of pinot noir by the fireplace on those few days we…

STAT SHEET G&G by the Numbers FIFTEEN YEARS OF FACTS AND FIGURES 4 Pies have appeared on the cover (cherry, pecan, raspberry, and sweet potato) 2,671 Times the word bourbonappears on the website. Other popular food words include oyster (1,943 times), biscuit (1,571), bacon (1,002), and pimento cheese(367) Signed, Sealed, Delivered G&Greaders receive their subscriptions as far from the South as: Australia, Austria, Bermuda, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland 90 Issues published, which included readers’ favorite stories: everything by Julia Reed (we miss her too); Rick Bragg’s essays; “the one about the shotgun called Bo Whoop”; Latria Graham’s “A Dream Uprooted”; and “Wendell Berry’s Wild Spirit.” One…

A G&G ORIGINAL Maggie Brett Kennedy From left: Zoltan Katona/Shutterstock.com; Markus Mainka/Adobe Stock; Caleb Chancey “Those first few issues were put together on my tiny home computer,” says Photography and Visuals Director Maggie Brett Kennedy, one of G&G’s first editorial hires. Beginning with a shoot in 2006, when her “crazy English springer spaniel ‘modeled,’ and almost ended up gator bait in the Santee Delta,” Kennedy says she learned that “there’s no instruction manual” for a job where every day is an adventure. She’s forever inspired by the “guts and passion in everyone who writes, photographs, designs, or works on anything for Garden & Gun.”…

WE ASKED… How do you describe Garden & Gun to people who’ve never heard of it? The short and sweet version. Garden & Gun is like if you had a Southern relative whom you loved deeply tell you stories every couple of months. —Josh C. Even if you’re a cat person, you’ll love the Good Dog stories. —Van H. Full-spectrum Southern.—Jere B. Garden: We entertain on porches, decks, and patios, and in backyards. Gun: The sporting South. Fly fishing, clays, and wing shooting.—Jim S. Reading it is like getting a hug from the South.—Jane M. Just send them a gift subscription. —Robert S.…