Marie Viljoen's beautiful first book draws the reader into a world of unfolding seasons, seen from the perspective of an expert gardener, cook and photographer. Each chapter is a month, divided into three parts: New York City, the author's garden, and her kitchen, each setting the stage for a lavish seasonal menu with recipes drawn from farmers markets, wild-foraged ingredients, and produce grown on her city terrace and roof farm.
Named for the size of her tiny Brooklyn terrace, and the blog it inspired, Viljoen's book is a unique perspective of the concrete jungle, where the month is known by the flowers in bloom, the vegetable in season, and the migrating birds criss-crossing a Brooklyn sky. It reveals a side of the city that few people know, and inspires a thoughtful way of living that is gaining traction in the 21st century.
Set against a backdrop of growing up in South Africa and moving to the United States, meeting her French husband, and finding a culinary and emotional home in Brooklyn, Viljoen's book is a love letter to living seasonally in the most famous city on the planet.
Marie Viljoen Marie Viljoen is a writer, forager, gardener, and cook, and has loved edible plants since her childhood in South Africa. The author of 66 Square Feet, her urban and edible gardens have been profiled by The New York Times and Martha Stewart Living and appear in several books. She is the resident forage expert for Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan magazines and a contributor to Gardenista. Her stories and photographs appear in Saveur, Better Homes and Gardens, and many other publications. Marie has appeared on NBC, NY1, CBC, and NPR. She leads sought-after seasonal wild plant walks in New York City, where she lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Vincent Mounier. Find her daily projects on Instagram @66squarefeet.