February 26, 2013

My Pie*ography story…

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You all know how I love to cook and bake and use what I have on hand to please my family.  That’s part of this vocation I have as wife and mother…to provide good food for them…hearty food…as our five year old would say :  “workin’ man food”

Jason’s absolute favorite dish I make happens to be the pie I am: chicken pot pie

When Jo Packham contacted me early last year, to contribute to her book, it was more than just flattering, it was a chance to contribute to a book featuring my life intimately snuggled under pie crust all warm and satisfying to whomever wants to try it.

I try to embrace life, but good gravy, there are times when life is so very difficult you wonder how in the world am I going to be able to feed the family this week…..

You see….my husband, being a self-employed carpenter, works hard every day, and all those working hard days led up to aggravating his back to the point where one of his lower disc in his back was herniated, he was unable to walk for nearly 4 months…..

yes, all that =  living day by day, trying to get him well, and me digging in deeper to my frugal nature

 

 

then the email arrives to contribute to Pie*ography…….it was a wonderful aversion to the struggles we were having, a little excitement was such a blessing!  After I decided what pie to make, I wrote up my life as a chicken pot pie, got my treasured recipe out, and then gave Jo Packham an email asking if she wants me to style the food and get the pictures taken….she said yes, and so I asked Traci Thorson if she’d like to take the pictures.   We love working together, and so I set to work, she came the next day, I set up the shot, we took the pictures, emailed them off and then that’s when the real blessing happened.

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Instead of saying “thanks but no thanks” Jo Packham loved the photographs, my essay, the styling…everything about it.  She then asked if I’d like to do the whole book.

Needless to say it took I think about half a millisecond to accept the project.

So here I was able to make 40 pies in 40 days, share them all with my family and have an extremely rewarding and inspirational time with a friend, reading women’s stories, baking their pies, styling their shots and letting my husband rest and recuperate from his back surgery while I served him lemon pie one day, and salmon pie with puff pasty another.

It didn’t all go smoothly….as life is never smooth…..some pies were challenging, others were like old friends.  I could write a whole book on each pie and the experience behind them.  It was a wonderful life changing experience that opened my eyes to not only the way I bake, but the way I see life.  All those women helped me do this.  I am forever changed.  The biggest thing I realized through this Pie*ography experience, is that life is too precious to consume it quickly just to get by…but to savor each and every bite…enjoying the whole process….getting rid of the things in life that are not inspiring me…

Now with book signings, and seeing it Barnes and Nobles, and the Library…it is so rewarding knowing that I did it.

Knowing those late nights setting up the shot areas, getting up at 5 am to start baking the four pies each morning and setting them up in the styling I chose after reading the women’s stories, having Traci come over at 1 every afternoon to photograph the pies, taste each one to ensure the finest taste, seeing my kids enjoy this process and my husband heal with pie…it was all part of that life experience that was a blessing when I hadn’t planned any of it.

Jo Packham, you know I have said thank you before, but thank you again….from my very soul I thank you and all the women within those pages of Pie*ography for uplifting and inspiring my life the way you did.

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xo + tasty and inspirational blessings,Anne Marie

{ ALL photographs in this post were taken by Traci Thorson }

41 comments to “My Pie*ography story…”

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