I am so happy to say that the latest issue of Taproot, MEND, is currently making its way from the printer and into the hands of subscribers and on the newsstands of our stockists! We had so much fun with this issue - how could I not with a theme of MEND? It's one I've been looking forward to since we laid out these themes well over a year ago now. And true to form, our contributors - both new and familiar - thoroughly surprised and impressed me in the many ways they interpreted and danced with the word and what it means. Some peeks inside...
I'm of course thrilled that Steve is back in our pages, this time talking about our beloved Little House on the Prairie series (which he is now reading for the fourth go round! One more babe to go!). But it isn't just as simple as a sweet story of a pioneer family, but also the heartbreaking and sometimes disturbing American story of race and the reality of "westward expansion." He writes about how he navigates that conversation with our little ones, while still keeping a love of the story.
And just in time for the fall season, Erin Benzakein brings us a guide to fall planting of spring bulbs. And Kirsten Shockey guides us through 'mending our gut' with ferments. And Holly Bellebuono inspires us with simple ways we can heal ourselves and our families with the plants found in our own backyard.
And of course, with MEND as a theme, you can be sure there is plenty of stitching and knitting and sewing in the pages. SO much goodness in that regard. I've already cast on and my patches are piled up!
Oh, and there's SO much more. We are staying at 100 pages now, which is incredibly exciting. And all of that being done while staying true to our goal of remaining advertising-free. What fun it is to fill the pages!
We've also released two prints with this issue, featuring art that is in MEND. You can find those signed prints available in our Print Shop now. And I don't want to give too much away, but can I just give you a head's up that you should certainly stay tuned (join our mailing list, perhaps?) to the Print Shop in the coming months as we have so much goodness we will be unrolling....
Thanks to my delightful behind-the-scenes helpers, our fabulous contributors who continue to share their talents with us, and most especially, our generous and dedicated subscribers and readers who are along with us on this magazine journey. It is, truly, a pleasure.
You can find Issue 11::MEND on the Taproot website now.