Interview: Kath Irvine and Jason Ross talk about Homegrown

Kath Irvine is an organic gardener, author, and longtime advocate for edible gardens. She’s been teaching food growing to Kiwi gardeners for 25 years. Easy-to-understand, low-cost, simple strategies are her specialty, so that anyone in any situation can grow their own food. She is the author of two bestsellers – Pruning Fruit Trees: A Beginner’s Guide and The Edible Backyard. www.ediblebackyard.co.nz

Jason Ross runs Habitate, a coastal Otago nursery specialising in heritage fruit trees and edible landscape design. With a Fine Arts degree and decades of hands-on horticulture experience, he blends creativity with a deep love of nature to create thriving, resilient food gardens. His two beautifully designed wall charts – Orchard Planner and Vegetable Growing Calendar – have been in print since 2001, and are trusted tools for home growers. www.habitate.co.nz

Kath and Jason talk to NZ Booklovers.

Tell us a little about Homegrown. 

J - Homegrown Fruit is the result of us collaborating to carefully distil the best of our experience and knowledge into an accessible form to help folk have a great time growing fruit at home.

K - We've both been dreaming of a book we could give our customers to set them off on the right track - its hard telling people time and time again that the reason all their fruit trees are not doing well/ pesty/ full of disease etc is because they are the wrong variety in the wrong place and that they really need to start again - its like being the grinch that stole Christmas! 

What inspired you to write this book? 

J - Kath proposed the idea, and for me, it was an amazing opportunity to share my best tips and steer beginners away from unnecessary complications and expensive products to grow fruit.

K - I'd just started the book when I met Jason at Wild Dunedin. I sat in on his talk and was like Wow, he's my orchard soul brother, so in my usual spontaneous style, I went up after the talk, introduced myself and asked him if he wanted to write a book with me. Geepers, that could have gone so wrong, but it turned out amazing because Jason is a humble, beautiful person, and we worked together really well. (And of course an incredible artist - which I didn't know at the time - bonus!)

What research was involved? 

J - We spent untold hours together comparing all of our experiences with each topic to find common ground. Sometimes, we would need to do some research to come back with evidence to back up our claims!

K - It was so brilliant, challenging our long-held beliefs as we worked through each part of the book. Mainly, the research was based on our 25 years of fruit growing and learning, but when we disagreed or were unsure, we certainly did dive into research to fact-check. Even though we learned new things during the research process, our integrity was that if we hadn't used it before, we didn't include it. There is no copy and paste in this book!

What was your routine or process when writing this book? 

J - We would meet in person when we could, but most often we were on all-day conference calls, and then working on our own specific parts of the book.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this novel? 

J - The chance to have my beliefs challenged by another super passionate fruit grower.

K - Me too! And also to write in partnership - I loved that.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book? 

J - We both love walking and native forest, so after we approved the printed proof for the book, we hiked up a hill in Wellington, had a high five, and the cobwebs were blown out, overlooking the harbour.

K - we had big plans but were so knackered we kept it simple - a bush walk and an ice block :)

What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why? 

J - Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard - About a forester from Canada who observes how trees grow naturally and works hard to change the forestry industry for the better.

K - The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger - plants are amazing, I know this to be true, but Zoe's writing - poetry + science took me to the next level. Loved it.

What’s next on the agenda for you? 

J - Taking a good break with family hiking and then completing some smaller projects before starting another big one!

K - Selling lots of books to pay for the print runs, which probably means travelling and doing talks. We're looking for land with our kids and hoping to find some soon, having been in the house truck for three years now. Originally, we were planning on the South Island but were going north to be nearer to my mum.