Here at the Home Kitchen Garden StoreI’m a bit slow on the uptake, but I don’t think it’s too late to say: Congratulations! Congratulations to my on-line gardening acquaintances who have recently published books.

I interact from time-to-time with all four authors of this book. You can own a copy of the book and get to know the authors as well.

Jean Ann Van Krevelen, who goes by @JeanAnnVK on Twitter, is one of the first gardening enthusiasts I met online when I started blogging. She recruited three other garden bloggers: Amanda Thomsen, Robin Ripley, and Theresa O’Connor (@kissmyaster, @robinripley, and @seasonalwisdom, respectively) and together they produced the book Grocery Gardening.

Gayla Trail, the author of the successful gardening book You Grow Girl, goes by the name @YouGrowGirl on Twitter. She recently published her second book, Grow Great Grub.

Reviews of both books have been very positive. Now, here’s the trick: for the history of publishing, it has been uncommon to meet or interact with the authors whose books you read. The emergence of social media has changed the game. Now you can buy these great books about gardening AND you can follow the authors on Twitter. You can also follow the authors’ blogs!

Gayla Trail’s second book is about growing food organically. Read it and also get to know Gayla through online social networking.

Please do it. Grocery Gardening and Grow Great Grub are attractive books that offer a lot of information for beginning and experienced gardeners. Buy them, read them, and get to know their authors through Twitter and their other online activities (Jean Ann and Amanda do a podcast called Good Enough Gardening, for example). It’s a unique experience, and you’re not likely to be disappointed.

Click the image of either book to order copies from Amazon.com or find the title on the carousel below and click to order (you can order any other books on the carousel as well). If you order, please do so from this page as I’ll earn a small commission on each book purchased through these links. Thank you for your consideration.

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It dawned on me this morning as I thought about the Home Kitchen Garden Store web site, that another blog I manage grew directly out of my interest in gardening. That blog, Food Dryer Home, is about preserving fruits, vegetables, and meats through dehydration.

My home kitchen garden always produces a bit more food than my family can consume during the growing season. Some of that food – tomatoes, for example – I can in glass jars. Other items I blanch and freeze. This year, I’ve realize a third option: my toaster oven has a Dehydrate setting and can dry two racks full of food at a time. I plan to dry some winter squash which I understand rehydrates nicely in soup.

In any case, a food dryer is a terrific accompaniment to a home kitchen garden. Use a food dryer to dry herbs for your spice rack. Use a food dryer to make nutritious dried fruit snacks. Use a food dryer to make delicious, preservative-free fruit rollups. Use a food dryer to dehydrate surplus vegetables so you can store them to use during the off season.

I built an aStore for visitors to my Food Dryer Home blog, and I’ve added a link to that aStore in the left margin of this page. Please visit for the best-rated dehydrators and accessories available through Amazon.com.

Technorati Tags: dehydrator, food dehydrator, food dryer