MEET JAMES FARMER AT OFF SQUARE BOOKS
James Farmer is a Southern author, gardener, floral and interior
designer, cook and garden-to-table lifestyle expert. He is a young,
fresh voice for his generation on how to incorporate elegant seasonal
garden living into one’s life either on a grand scale or modest budget.
Farmer is Editor-At-Large for Southern Living Magazine and has appeared on NBC’s Today.
Farmer is the author of the Wall Street Journal best selling garden book, A Time To Plant (2011) Sip & Savor (2012), Porch Living (2012) and Wreaths For All Seasons (2012) published by Gibbs-Smith Publishers. All of Farmer’s books are inspired by his life growing up on a farm where farm-to-table was a lifestyle not just a popular notion.
Hailing from the pecan and peach laden fields of Middle Georgia, James was taught as a young boy how to pull vegetables, herbs and flowers from the family farm and kitchen garden to provide much of the food, decor and flavor of his family’s everyday life. He learned how to be a “hyper-seasonal” cook at the side of his grandmother whose Southern heirloom recipes he revitalized for contemporary tastes.
With a passion for the land and Southern culture, he earned a degree in gardening design and then opened a landscape design company in 2005. Farmer was soon asked to consult on an important historic garden that needed restoration and updating. News quickly spread about James’ work, and the garden was soon featured in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Southern Living Magazine, Traditional Home Magazine, and ultimately in the book, Private Gardens of Georgia. James’ business soared in the Southeast as a result. At the same time, because of his love for entertaining from the garden, he began creating floral arrangements and consulting on food for private parties and weddings held by a growing client list. Local media coverage of these very special events, and word- of-mouth have made a “James Farmer Party” in demand in the South.
James is the national spokesperson for The American Camellia Society.
He is currently writing A Time To Cook (March 2013) to be published by Gibbs-Smith Publishers.