Dear SuperForesters,
Since joining SuperForest, I’ve found that its team is comprised of an extraordinary group of beautiful individuals; each with its own wonderful characteristic or element to offer. Our newest teammate, the lovely SuperForester Heather is certainly no exception. She, like other SuperForesters, runs her own blog apart from contributing to SuperForest. Recently, I interviewed SuperForester Heather and it is with extreme pleasure that I present to you an absolute gem of a site, After the Harvest!
SuperForest: Tell us about After the Harvest.
SuperForester Heather: After the Harvest is a blog that I started that touches on a variety of topics relating to food and drink. A little bit of fun, a little bit of analysis, and a whole lot of food and drink inspired topics can be found on After the Harvest. One thing that really features on the site are the stories behind the food and drink — the inspiring people I have met and profiled.
SF: What inspired you to start this blog?
SFH: My whole life I’ve loved food — it’s always been important in our family to sit down and eat, drink, talk and really enjoy the experience. When I was little I used to write in my diary what each of us ate when we visited a restaurant, so I guess you could say it started from an early age. Over the years I have found myself in many food-centric jobs and I realized that food and drink is a passion of mine that I can’t ignore. So when I decided to start a blog to work on my other passion — writing — the logical subject matter was food and drink. At first I resisted the idea, since there are a million and one food bloggers out there, but I wanted to get my writing out there and stay inspired, so I went for it.
SF: What inspired you to choose the title?
SFH: The title After the Harvest came from a desire to name the blog something that would encapsulate eating, drinking and connecting with the people in our lives — I know it’s been said many times, but food brings people together, and that is what I love about it. So, I asked myself, “What happens after the harvest? After the corn is harvested, after the eggs are collected, after the grapes are picked….” and I realized that after we harvest our food, we eat, drink and connect.
SF: What’s your favorite thing about cooking?
SFH: My favourite thing about cooking is experimenting! You know how some people are bakers, and some are cooks? Well, I’m definitely not a baker. I love to grab a bunch of ingredients on the fly and throw them into a pan, using only my inspiration from the food to create a great meal. I guess my need for experimentation has grown out of the fact that I’ve lived alone for the past 5 years, so it gets boring eating the same ol’ thing every night! I’ve also realized this style of cooking is genetic, as I have inherited it from my father, who is a great culinary inspiration in my life.
SF: What’s your favorite holiday inspired recipe that you could share with us?
SFH: Right now my favourite holiday recipe is the Mint Chocolate Snowflake, a cocktail I came up with. You can see the recipe here! For those of you who aren’t legal or prefer something non-alcoholic, I am also going to be sharing some nostalgic holiday recipes on After the Harvest very soon, so stay tuned!
SF: From one blogger to another, what do you enjoy the most about blogging?
SFH: The most enjoyable thing about blogging for me is coming up with an idea for my post. I see my posts as articles, not diary entries. It is my dream someday to write for a magazine, so I approach it like that.
With respect to SuperForest, my favourite thing about blogging for SuperForest is going through my day, my week with eyes wide open, looking for positive, inspiring things to share — if you look for positivity, beauty and goodness, you will find it. It’s a refreshing way to go about your day. I also love sharing my journey to become a more meditative, reflective person.
SF: What do you think is an easy way for SuperForesters to start practicing eating sustainably?
SFH: Step one would be to read some of Michael Pollan’s books. Not only is the man a genius, he’s a great writer and he’ll make it really clear what “real food” is and wake you up about what you’re eating.
Secondly, when you’re at the grocery store, try not to buy too much in the middle aisles. One thing I try to tell myself is, if my recycle bin fills up too fast, it means I’m eating too many packaged foods. If you eat an apple, there’s no packaging to throw away. When you do buy your apples, or any other produce, take a look at the sticker, or the sign above, and see where it came from. Consider buying organic over conventional. Check out your local farmers market or sign up for a CSA. Take a look at the meat you are eating, where is it coming from? How has it been raised? Also even looking at your morning coffee as a sustainable choice will help make change. I have many posts on this topic on the blog. I know you asked for an easy way — I guess it’s like the SF manifesto — start with your immediate surroundings, and go from there.
SF: What are your goals/aspirations for After the Harvest? What do you hope to achieve?
SFH: My immediate goal is to share my writing with more people! I want to spread my ideas and writing style around, and start a conversation. After that, even though it is a passion, I would love to turn my writing into a job that rewards me not only with personal satisfaction but allows me to make a living. Further to that I would like to expand the After the Harvest brand and look into using it for other ideas in the future. I’m not sure where that will lead me, but I’m looking forward to the journey! I would love to feature more inspiring people behind the flavours. It is fascinating to me to find out who they are and what calls them to work with food and drink. I’d also like to give a little shout-out to the artist that created the After the Harvest custom artwork — my sister, Wendy Heagney-Bakewell of WHDesigns. You can check out more of her work here: www.whdesigns.ca
Amazing! To read Heather’s recent post in which she interviews, food photographer, Edward Pond, click here! It’s a fabulous interview, and prior to posting it, Heather had ensured us that his methods are a bit more traditional than this guy’s (phew!). : )
Major thanks go out to SuperForester Heather for taking the time to answer those questions!
One Love,
Carla
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