Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network

Host: Laura Goldberg
Guest: Gesine Bullock-Prado
Episode: "My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons"
Date: October 31, 2025

Overview

In this episode of New Books Network's Food Channel, host Laura Goldberg welcomes acclaimed baker, teacher, and author Gesine Bullock-Prado. Returning to discuss her latest cookbook, "My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons," Gesine shares insights from a life spent homesteading, growing, and cooking in Vermont, reflecting on the joys and realities of seasonal eating, gardening, and memory-making in the kitchen.

The conversation delves into the inspiration behind structuring the book around "grower's seasons" (Hope, Harvest, Hibernate), the pleasures and struggles of partial homesteading, honest gardening advice, and highlights from the book ranging from unique floral jellies to deep explorations of onions, potatoes, German heritage classics, and the emotional resonance of food.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redefining the Seasons: Hope, Harvest, Hibernate

• Gesine explains her choice: Instead of using traditional four seasons or Vermont's six, Gesine divides the year into Hope (the anticipation of growth), Harvest (abundance), and Hibernate (rest and preservation), tailored to the life and mindset of a grower.
  • Quote:
    "Hope is really that time... for a lot of people it's spring... and for us the snow's still on the ground, the SAP is just starting. But it's different for everyone. I think everyone can totally relate to those types of grower seasons." (C, 02:08)

2. The "Half-Assed Homesteader" Philosophy

• On realistic homesteading: Gesine dispels the myth of perfection in homesteading, emphasizing forgiving yourself, growing what you love, and not succumbing to social media pressures.

  • Quote:
    "You can't do everything. You have to forgive yourself... I always recommend that people, when they start gardening, that they grow the things that they love because you are going to be more invested in that thing. Don't try to do everything at once and expand slowly." (C, 04:34)

• On Instagram and Pinterest perfection:

  • "Everyone's in their prairie dress and... the potager is just perfect. Sometimes raspberries are just bramble and they're going to look like that and they're going to give you amazing fruit, but they're not pretty." (C, 06:44)

3. Free Grace: Living History

• Gesine details her home, "Free Grace," an 18th-century tavern-turned-home/baking school with a rich legacy of agriculture and adaptation.
  • "There's always been this tradition of using this place as both a home and as a commercial enterprise and as a farm. So we're kind of living the way that the original owners intended, which is pretty cool." (C, 07:30)

4. Growing: Loves, Loathes, and Surprises

• Her 10 Loves and Loathes:
  • Loves: Fava beans ("so easy to grow... really pretty flowers"), potatoes and carrots ("like treasure hunting"), growing what brings "joy as they're growing".
  • Loathes: Brassicas (cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts) due to pests, and beets ("geosmin... translates to dirt taste").
  • Quote:
    "Just because I like to eat it, and I actually am pretty good at growing it, doesn't mean I necessarily like growing it if I don't want to battle the thing that can come attack it later." (C, 11:40)

5. Edible Flowers and Peony Jelly (13:28–16:59)

• Flower foods:
  • Despite not loving rose flavor, Gesine experiments to make peony jelly – a subtle, beautiful confection from homegrown, unsprayed petals.
    • Quote:
      "The color was magical... a very light pink... so subtle with just a brightness that was so pleasing. And it wasn't like overtly floral... just adorable. It was one of those things you're like, what a little delight it was." (C, 15:00)
• Advice to only use homegrown or trusted market flowers due to pesticide residues (17:05).

6. Foraging and Seasonality: Ramps, Garlic, and Onions

• Ramps: A forager's treat bridging the "dead garlic" gap (20:06).
• Garlic/Onion deep dives: Explains how true seasonality impacts flavor and texture; why some store garlic is disappointing.
  • "The season has ended for garlic... the germ that's in the middle... is sacking all the goodness from the flesh around it because it's using it for nutrients to grow a new plant..." (C, 22:01)
• French Onion Soup and Family Memory:
  • Gesine recounts decoding her father’s lifelong love for proper onion soup, tracing it back to his war experiences in Normandy, and her journey to grow the authentic Roscoff variety onions and recreate the recipe.
    • "It made such an impact on him that the memory held for 93 years." (C, 23:15)
    • "This story is fantastic. And if you want to go to the lengths that I did, I think it's a fantastic journey. But I also give you a roadmap for going to the grocery store and selecting a variety of onions..." (C, 26:56)

7. Food, Memory, Simplicity

• On tomato sandwiches: The power of memory and seasonality in food, with her Aunt Sis's simple tomato sandwich recipe.
  • "This is less a recipe than a memory, though... When you find a beautifully grown tomato or you grow one yourself, eat it in its simplest form and... memory will stay with you forever." (C, 30:58; 31:45)
• "Food is memory" emerges as a core theme, tying together the seasons, ingredients, and experiences.

8. Community and Shopping Local

• Encourages listeners who can't grow food to connect with greengrocers, butchers, and local markets—build relationships for the best seasonal produce and meats (33:11–34:46).
• Personal stories about shopping local, like frequenting her local butcher with her husband (C, 34:46).

9. The Quest for the Perfect French Fry

• On process: Brined and twice-fried fries exemplify going "whole hog" for quality, but shortcuts (frozen fries, restaurants) are acknowledged.
  • "I think either you go whole hog or you get Ore-Ida... peeling and slicing a potato is work enough. So you might as well go through the other steps..." (C, 37:03)

10. German Roots and Comfort Foods

• Recipes and stories connect to Gesine’s German heritage: spaetzle, Schweinbraten, Vollkornbrot, and particularly cucumber salad—a beloved classic in her Bavarian family.
  • "Of all, like, I love [Gurkensalat], which is the cucumber salad. And this is when I was a kid and I was not a vegetable person. And I adore this stuff. I did then, and I still do now." (C, 41:33)

11. Christmas Cookies: Diversity over Perfection

• As a Food Network holiday cookie judge and baker, Gesine prizes the variety and memory in cookie platters.
  • "I don't think there is a perfect Christmas cookie. I think there is a perfect Christmas cookie platter. Because I honestly believe that having that selection that represents different tastes and different traditions is so wonderful." (C, 43:07)
• Cookies evoke family, shared history, and the power of food in celebration.

12. The Book’s Heart: Comfort, Seasonality, and Joy

• "My Harvest Kitchen" is not a grower’s purity test but an invitation to comfort, memory, and joy while appreciating what’s in season—however you obtain it.
  • "I really wanted it to be about comfort and memory and having whole foods that would still nourish you and give you delight." (C, 44:21)

Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• Homesteading Reality: "You have to forgive yourself. Right. So when you first start all of this... I had the dream... You learn very quickly that you can't do everything." (C, 04:34)
• On beets: "They have this enzyme in them called geosmin, which essentially translates to dirt taste... it was such a relief to read that there was literally a component... that I disliked..." (C, 11:49)
• Edible flower experimentation: "I made this peony jelly from my peonies in front... the color was magical... it was just so beautiful, so subtle with just a brightness that was so pleasing." (C, 15:00)
• Onion Soup & Memory: "He discovered his love of French cuisine. And it would have been a family that had very little... and they served him his first French onion soup. And it made such an impact on him..." (C, 23:15)
• Purpose of the book: "It isn't like a tome to 'you must grow'... It's also about appreciating when things are in season, when you can go out and when you should be looking for things." (C, 33:11)
• Christmas cookies: "I think there is a perfect Christmas cookie platter. Because I honestly believe that having that selection that represents different tastes and different traditions is so wonderful." (C, 43:07)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:38] Introduction to Gesine Bullock-Prado and the new book
• [02:08] Defining Hope, Harvest, Hibernate
• [04:31] Honest homesteading, letting go of perfection
• [07:30] "Free Grace" home—historical and personal context
• [09:47] Ten things to love and loathe to grow
• [13:28] Flower foods and peony jelly
• [20:06] Foraging, ramps, and garlic-onion seasonality
• [23:15] The story of onion soup, culinary memory, and authenticity
• [30:53] Aunt Sis’s tomato sandwich—food and memory
• [34:46] Local sourcing, building relationships with vendors
• [37:03] The process of brined and twice-fried fries
• [40:21] German roots: spaetzle, cucumber salad, heritage
• [42:49] Christmas cookies: platters, tradition, memory
• [44:21] Book’s philosophy: comfort, memory, and joy

Tone

Warm, humorous, and candid. Gesine brings self-deprecating wit (“sometimes life gets in the way. Often I forget to label what seed I put where. So it's like Mystery Game show, what's coming up now,” 04:34), delight in the small joys of food, and a welcoming, forgiving attitude about both gardening and cooking. Laura draws out practical advice, real-life tips, and the emotional heartbeat that runs through the book.

Summary Takeaways

"My Harvest Kitchen" celebrates growing, cooking, and memory-making, inviting anyone—from city dwellers to seasoned growers—to savor their own seasons, honor their limitations, seek comfort over perfection, and remember that the power of food lies as much in the emotional as in the nutritional. Whether it's a simple tomato sandwich, a platter of cookies, or an ambitious French onion soup, what matters most is the joy and memory it evokes.

Happy Harvest!