December 2024

The Library of Things

Here’s my (try as hard as I can) monthly round-up for those of you who want to learn about or keep up a little more with me and the work that I do. Hope you enjoy.

The Library of Things

During my tenure in Columbia, SC, I discovered the Library of Things. The excellent Richland County Public Library Main Branch has plenty of resources that you can check out beyond the standard reading material: free plant seeds, furniture dollies, camping lanterns, and even a heat gun I borrowed one weekend to strip paint off an old piece of furniture. How wonderful, I thought, that these things are available to share. Of course, now I know that many libraries across the country have such depositories of shareable items, and that for someone who wants to strip paint but didn’t budget in a heat gun, it is a true resource.

Like many of you, I’m fortunate to have friends and family who through the years have helped me build my own library of things. We are always pulling from what we have, little bags of things shuffling between us, sharing everything from allen wrench sets to lemons from backyard trees to a windbreaker that would look better on you than it does me.

These everyday acts of generosity steadily warm my heart, more than the fancy flames of wrapped bows and boxes filled with things (though those are certainly kindnesses, too). When we pool our resources — and we all have them — we weave webs of kindness that hold us up through the everydays, and in our little ways with our little things like lemons and wrenches and windbreakers, live our lives with each other.

Backyard lemon trees on Johns Island. Photo: Stephanie Burt

Article Updates

• The Southern Fork podcast made the 2024 Goodpods Best Cooking Podcasts list at #20. Thank you all for listening! If you need a little cooking inspiration while cooking holiday fare, it’s still available for you on your favorite podcast platform.

• More of my retro recipe content published this month on Simply Recipes, so if you’re you’re looking for an easy muffin recipe for brunch or overnight guests, Mayonnaise Muffins only take five minutes to prep. You don’t even need to get out the mixer, and the results are tender and more biscuit than muffin.

• I penned a new story for the upcoming 2025 edition of Grown in SC magazine. If you’re interested in getting one for the coming year, or reading my article in the 2024 edition — a profile of Kugels & Collards, exploring farm ingredients and Jewish cooking in South Carolina — visit the site here.

Other published media I like right now: Emergence Magazine’s podcast episode, “The World is a Prism, Not a Window,” with Zoë Schlanger, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of The Light Eaters. Exploring the notion of “plant intelligence” beyond just sound bytes, this interview shared new evidence of the capabilities of plants to sense the world around them. Fascinating.

On my mind: always a million things, especially at 3 a.m. … this month — cocktail recipes! I’m in the midst of writing and collecting 100 SC cocktails for my upcoming book, so sometimes I wake up and begin crafting recipe follow up emails in my mind before I catch myself.

Cooking soundtrack album: The Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack, Vince Guaraldi Trio (always)

Best thing I cooked this month: Roasted carrots with carrot top pesto. Chef Steven Satterfield’s Root to Leaf was the original inspiration for this dish, but now, if I get beautiful fresh carrots with fresh tops still attached (like these from Lowland Farms on Johns Island), it’s basically a requirement because I can’t bear throwing the tops away! At this point, I’m riffing on his original recipe, but nevertheless, it always turns out delicious.

Until next time,

Steph