THE MODERN MINT BLOG
“It’s Not Like School At All. First You Get The Test, And Then Afterwards You Spend Years Findin’ Out How …
Last American Man
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the huge bestseller Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything but, as much as we liked that book here at Modern Mint, we think her book The Last American Man is far more thrilling. It explores an incredibly complex character – huntsman, teacher, craftsman, farmer, horse rider and (somewhat incredibly) astute businessman – Eustace Conway, and his relationship to the world, which by sheer force of his own will and personality he has shaped to be what he wants. Or, as the book progresses, we find out he has shaped a world he thinks he wants. …
Art of Creative Pruning
I want to talk about pruning today, as I have spent some time this year with Jake Hobson – a professional pruner. I originally got into gardening by working for a number of tree surgeons, and would spend hours walking around places like Virginia Water with them chatting about how we would dismantle different trees. I appreciated trees, but looking back was oblivious to the role they play in our environment – my job was to take them down or cut them back in a way that would benefit people, and so that is how I viewed a tree. As …
Sarah Raven
Sarah Raven is a garden writer and teacher, probably best known for the cut flower courses she runs in Kent… at least, that is where we first heard of her. Having always had an interest in cut flowers, we began a sideline business growing seasonal flowers for florists when we were based in Hampshire. Our first port of call was to visit Sarah Raven on one of her cut flower growing courses and get her book The Cutting Garden: Growing and Arranging Garden Flowers for advice. We were also given her beautiful cookbook as a present one Christmas. It, along with …