Garden & Gun April/May 2021

After more than five years in our current home, my wife, Jenny, and I realized we had ceded much of the space to our children and dogs. While we were trying to decide on the right table for the dining room, it morphed into a playroom—and stayed that way. The kitchen remains a perfect spot to be ambushed by hungry kids or stumble over a Magna-Tiles creation, and a spot on the living room couch comes complete with a dog’s head in your lap. “We really could use a room for us,” Jenny said one night after all the creatures were asleep. The only available choice was the guest room, a ten-by-thirteen-foot space that got great light but saw minimal use besides occasional visitors and as a place to store my…

If you’re like me, you don’t show up for a night at duck camp or a week at the beach without a few bottles in tow. Often I tuck mine between duffel bags so they survive the ride, although I’ve lost a few while unloading the vehicle in a less-than-careful manner. The Mississippi company Wren & Ivy aims to solve that dilemma with its new Distiller’s Traveler Case ($450; ggfieldshop.com). With space for six bottles, it’s made with waxed twill canvas and bridle leather, so you’ll arrive in style and with the goods intact.…

Jenny Everett WRITER After unearthing a list of topics that she’s written about for her What’s in Season columns, the Charleston, South Carolina, journalist Jenny Everett realized she’s covered more than seventy-five Southern foods since 2008, including kohlrabi, clams, sea beans, and in this issue, asparagus (p. 56). “My goal is always to find a chef or purveyor who is especially passionate about the ingredient,” she says. Everett, who has also contributed to Women’s Healthand ESPN.com, now curates G&G’s Kitchen Cabinet Face-book page. “It’s like a community cookbook come to life.” M. O. Walsh WRITER Throughout his life, M. O. Walsh has loved well-behaved dogs—primarily Labs. “They were just happy to be here,” he says. Then came Winnie, the mutt he wrote about for Good Dog (p. 91). Any household with children can be rowdy…

CONNECT THE DOTS I was so excited to see the stories in the February/March 2021 issue. My husband lived in Bermuda during his childhood and when we took a cruise there, he was able to find an old friend from fifty years ago (“Sea Change”). We now live in Texas and are having a real problem with wild hogs (“High on the Hog”), and I’m excited to read about Fredericksburg, the Texas town on the rise (Weekends). Amy Van Artsdalen Cleburne, Texas It’s hard to sum up “Outside the Lines” (February/March 2021), but in a nutshell, Cora Kelley Ward, like so many who do creative work, should have been honored more when she was alive. John Kamp Oakland, California SPRING BREAK Bermuda is the only place I have visited that I would want to visit over…

WE ASKED... What are you planting this spring? In our Talk of the South newsletter, readers told us what they’re most excited to grow this year. Moonvine, hyacinth bean, and sunflowers. Robert E. I always plant yellow tomatoes, basil, and mint for salads, sandwiches, and eye candy. Cynthia G. I will plant peas so the neighbor kids can taste raw sweet peas straight from the pods. William H. I plan on reviving my herb garden into a salsa garden. Nicole S. I hope to have enough peanuts for one good boil with beer and friends. Mac M. Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad heirloom tomatoes from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Lisa J. Satan’s Kiss peppers that I stuff with fresh mozzarella. Pamela S. My new favorite cucumber is Poona Kheera. It looks like a potato when large and ripe and remains apple…

The actor and singer Chrissy Metz chuckles a little when she calls herself “a positive Polly.” Metz, who grew up in Gainesville, Florida, spent nine years as a talent agent, a natural fit for a woman accustomed to putting other folks first. “So much of my life has been lived for other people,” she explains, noting that it’s only now, at age forty—with an Emmy nomination for her poignant, unguarded portrayal of Kate on the NBC series This Is Us, among other accolades, under her belt—that she’s stopped asking, “Oh gosh, do I deserve this?” Traveling back and forth from L.A. to Nashville as she writes and records her first (as yet untitled) EP, Metz jokes that “some days I’m like, Do I have clean underwear on? Like, Which way…