The PURE Gardener Facing Possible Demolition

Read article on GenevaPatch.com

Geneva Garden Club Walk 2011

Geneva Garden Club Website

 The PURE Gardener will be speaking during the 2011 Geneva Garden Club Garden Walk at the Geneva History Center. Topics are Incredible Edibles and Miniature Gardening. Tickets can be purchased at

The PURE Gardener.

Trib Local article- Geneva Grden Club Walk 2011

The Batavia Chicken Debate

Will Batavia join St. Charles, Naperville, West Dundee, and Evanston in allowing backyard chickens? Read more on Feathers Fly by The Geneva Patch.

Geneva Christmas Walk 2010

We are in the news again.... I will take plenty of photos and post here after the walk. Stay Tuned!

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101201/news/712029981/

Face Time with Jessica Price

Face Time with Jessica Price

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2010/09/28/56488308/

Kane County Chronicle | Face time with Kit Willadsen

Face time with Kit :-)

Kane County Chronicle | Face time with Kit Willadsen

Batavia Backyard Chickens Passes First Test

Read Article

The Chronicle | Revitalizing downtowns involves mixing it up

Nice to see that one of our planters ( in the background ) is still looking good! Read article by clicking on the link below :-)

The Chronicle | Revitalizing downtowns involves mixing it up

Neighbors of Geneva~ March April

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

The PURE Gardener is featured in the March/ April issue of " Neighbors of Geneva" which should have arrived in all Geneva residents mail boxes by today! If you live outside of the Geneva area, click on "Neighbors of Geneva" ( above ) to read the magazine in it's entirety. 

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

New Urban Farm Magazine is Out!

I picked up this new Urban Farm magazine from Barnes & Noble and I just love it! There is an excellent article on the Dervaes family that is a must read for anyone who is interested in growing their own food. I've posted about the Dervaes a few years ago and they just keep "growing and Growing" :-) Pick up a copy today in stores or order online.
Here are a few videos on the Dervaes...

Chicago Land Gardening Nov/ Dec issue 2009

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No. 17 My Hanging Chandeliers are featured.

They caused quite a stir during the 2008 Geneva Christmas walk. They were HUGE and very fun to make!

Click on photo to enlarge

A side view of our evergreen reindeer with our roping and hanging Winter chandeliers in the background.

Alain Roby to sign New Pastry Book!

Alain Roby's new cookbook
Geneva, Ill. — Acclaimed pastry chef Alain Roby will sign copies of his new cookbook, American Classics: Casual and Elegant Desserts, Dec. 4 and 5 in Geneva. The book signing will be from 1 to 4 p.m. both days at Past Basket, a kitchen design studio, 200 S. Third St.


Alain Roby is a very good friend of Craig & mine and a wonderful person. We are fortunate to know him, Esther his wife, and to have both of his son's work at The PURE Gardener.... not to mention how lucky we are to have had the pleasure to eat so many of his and Esther's excellent food! Congratulations on your new book Alain.

Thank you for the book. We can only hope to make such delicious desserts as you.

Love,

Craig & Annette

A Geneva resident, Roby is senior corporate pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels and a Certified Master Chef of Pastry and Sugar Artistry. Just in time for holiday entertaining, the book features some of Roby’s beloved recipes such as Key Lime Pie with Chocolate Cookie Crust and Chocolate Mousse Truffle with Sea Salt and Olive Oil.
“I love to come up with new ideas with classic desserts with unusual taste, still using favorite ingredients, which gives the dessert a surprising twist,” Roby said.
The book was written for the average cook. Roby provides simple-to-execute recipes and easy instructions, along with an elegant way to present the final product.
“I wanted for everyone to be able to create wonderful desserts to please friends and family, without spending too much time in the kitchen or spending too much money for a lot of ingredients,” Roby said.

Past Basket designed the kitchen in Roby's Geneva home, and that kitchen is the backdrop for the photo on his book jacket.
Roby recently participated in the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival in Orlando, Fla., where he signed copies of the cookbook. A portion of book proceeds will benefit Tiny Hearts Foundation, an organization that assists children affected by birth defects of the heart.

About Alian Roby
Roby has worked at Hyatt Regency Chicago for more than 19 years. His current duties include overseeing the Pastry Division for all Hyatt Hotels and resorts.
He studied culinary arts in Paris from the world famous Pastry Chef Gaston Lenotre. In addition, he has traveled the world, working in London, Tokyo and New York before settling in Chicago. He also served as the Private Pastry Chef to the Shah of Iran and was the Private Pastry Chef for the Admiral of the Joan of Arc, the flagship of the French Navy.
Roby has won more than 20 prestigious culinary awards, including The Grand Prize Gold Medal of Paris offered by the French First Minister and the Best of Show by the National Restaurant Association Culinary Salon 1988, in Chicago.
Roby’s work has been featured in a number of publications, including Food & Wine, Gourmet, Pastry Art & Design and Chocolatier. His television appearances include The Learning Channel and Food Network's “Extreme Pastry” and “Sugar Rush” shows.
Roby also has appeared on three Food Network Specials —“Unwrapped with Mark Summers,” “Mystery Birthday Cakes,” and “The World’s Tallest Sugar Building.”
Roby is the only pastry chef to hold three titles in the Guinness Book of World Records: World’s Tallest Cooked Sugar Building, World’s Tallest Chocolate Sculpture and World’s Tallest Chocolate Christmas Tree.

eGeneva Magazine October Issue

click on photo to enlarge

Craig is in the current, October 2009, issue of eGeneva Magazine. Check it out!

KC Kane County Magazine Autumn/ Winter 2009

Click on photo to enlarge

Click on photo to enlarge


Craig and I are excited to be featured in the Fall/ Winter 2009 KC Magazine. It is the first edition of what I think is an great magazine! The topic is "Go Green!" You can pick a copy up at our shop.
* There is a typo. We do not have a shop in St. Charles. Maybe a premonition?

We are Proud to be on Geneva's Chamber of Commerce City Profile Brochure!

The Pure Gardener was chosen to be on the cover of the city of Geneva's Chamber of Commerce 2009-2010 profile brochure that was mailed out to thousands of homes late summer. Imagine our surprise when these arrived in the mail!

We're on the August cover of Geneva's eGeneva Magazine

Click on Photo to read eGeneva

We are on the cover of this month's issue of eGeneva Magazine. Click on photo above to read or go to http://www.egenevamagazine.com/

Living in the Season

This is a nice article by Steve Mouzon of The Original Green that I thought was worth posting~Annette

Living In Season

Press Republican Hometown Edition 2009

This the front Cover of the Republican Newspaper
Hometown Section

This pretty little wash tub is in my back yard. Each year I grace it with marigolds. It is in part shade but grows wonderfully. It proves that it does not matter what size yard that one has or what size pot- life will grow any where if it is nurtured.

This is a screen shot of an article taken from the Press Republican Newspaper. Click on photo to enlarge. Or, go to the Hometown Section to read in it's entirety. Craig discuses Victory Gardening and sustainable gardening.

Chicagoland Gardening, "Ask Our Experts"

Craig is in the May/June 2009 Issue of Chicagoland Gardening Magizine .

What are you doing to promote green gardening this year?
	Craig MacLean, co-owner, The Pure Gardener, Geneva.
“We’re trying to make beneficial insects more accessible so we sell them in season—nematodes to go after grubs in the soil, live ladybugs for aphids, and praying mantis egg sacs. We sell worms for indoor composting and mason bee nests to encourage pollinators. We’re also huge on heirloom vegetables.” Our Live lady bugs, red worms, and praying mantis egg cocoons just arrived! Come in today for best selection!

Pecking away at Geneva chicken question

*CRAIG IS THE LOCAL BUSINESS MAN MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE

Periods of economic uncertainty make us think creatively about meeting our needs. We pick up generic brands more frequently. We’re more apt to drive a couple extra miles (and deal with the extra big crowds) to shop at a volume discount store. We’ll pick up whatever fruits and vegetables are on sale – because the other stuff seems so staggeringly expensive.

Geneva Alderman Paul DesCoteaux is also thinking on these lines and is proposing a couple of ways for Genevans to creatively supplement their personal food supply.

A community garden would clear a plot of land for residents, where they could grow fruits, veggies and even flowers. What a great idea. It works in other suburbs, where park district-run community garden plots are a hot ticket each planting season. Not everyone in Geneva has a back yard big enough for a vegetable garden. Or the light is bad. Or the soil is poor.

Gardening not only nourishes the body through its yield, but it also provides educational entertainment for the family. It’s safe to say we fully, enthusiastically support the concept of a community garden in Geneva.

The chickens are another matter.

DesCoteaux has gone out on a limb and proposed that Geneva change its laws to allow families to keep a couple of chickens in the yard.

The idea is not as radical as some suburbanites might think. Several states, including Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, New Mexico and California allow “urban chickens,” meaning they allow chickens to be kept in more densely populated areas than their usual (at least stereotypically) country habitat.

It’s not as though your neighbor would be in his back yard preparing to kill a chicken for Sunday dinner – ordinances crafted in other places forbid slaughter, disallow roosters and mandate distance minimums between chicken houses and people houses.

In concept and in theory, we don’t oppose the idea of urban chickens – with restrictions. Chickens shouldn’t be smelled or heard by neighbors, for example. They would need to be secured in some type of enclosure. Chickens just wouldn’t be a good fit for a lot of neighborhoods in Geneva; how would the city decide where they could be and couldn’t be?

In practice, though, we don’t see chickens flying in Geneva.

Most folks in Geneva are still able to buy their eggs harvested, pasteurized, packaged and refrigerated at the local grocery store. And they still don’t mind paying a few bucks for all that labor. The economy may have us thinking about how to best stretch a dollar, but most of us are probably not prepared to begin raising our own food sources.

It’s an out-there idea for Geneva, but it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Though it seems Mayor Kevin Burns has done just that:

“Any time a project benefits the community, it will receive all consideration and support,” Burns told a reporter this week. “But chickens? Really? I’m going to start raising cattle. I spent the last eight years with chickens. They’re called aldermen. They’re annoying, and they smell.”

DesCoteaux is bringing the ideas of a community garden and urban chickens to the city council at the suggestion of a local business owner. He is bringing these ideas in good faith and with sincerity. They deserve a mature, honest discussion free of sniping and sarcasm.