To Stand and Stare
with Andrew Timothy O’Brien
This post contains affiliate links
As winter looks as though it might be thinking about beginning to call it a day (though you never want to call the end of a season too prematurely), new things are springing up in gardens everywhere, and I’ve been cheered by so many accounts of To Stand and Stare arriving in gardeners’ hands throughout the UK, as well as in Europe, North America and Canada. In some respects, writing a book is a little like gardening – not least in that there’s only so much you can do at the outset before you have to hand it over to powers greater than yourself and trust that all the work you’ve put in will have equipped it to make its own way out there in the world. At least the book won’t have to contend with the worst of the weather.
Alice Vincent returns to Gardens, Weeds & Words, this time in the role of interviewer, though soon to be heard on an upcoming episode talking about her own new book, Why Women Grow: stories of soil, sisterhood and survival, which will be published in March. I’m particularly grateful to her for making time to quiz me, and for bringing such humour, grace and insight to a role more usually filled by my own brand of dubious and galumphing and charm. You’d best make the most of it, though – I’ll be back on that side of the mic in the next episode.
Please do continue to share the podcast on social media, and if you’d really like to brighten my day, leave a review on iTunes or your podcast app of choice. Or drop me a note in the comments section below, having listened on the embedded player on this page.
Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S03E07 show notes
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
Cracking ice while walking through the fields – is it too soon to say, or is winter beginning to think about handing over to spring?
A great time for mulching.
Reading from To stand and stare 3:02
Read by Andrew Timothy O'Brien
To stand and stare: how to garden while doing next to nothing, by Andrew Timothy O'Brien. DK Life, 2023.
05:47 Interview with Andrew, by Alice Vincent
06:40 role reversal
07:35 Introducing the book – Andrew
09:14 Introducing the book – Alice
10:00 A book that grants permission
11:12 on the plus side of getting it wrong
11:46 jumping to the book's Acknowledgements
14:00 how the book came to be
17:56 Alice on 'looking'
20:48 Alice on gardening as 'a tiny altering'
21:52 being empowered to garden the way you want to, rather than the way you feel you *should*
22:33 Andrew on the pros and cons of lists
26:08 Pottering
A breath from elsewhere, by Mirabel Osler. Bloomsbury, 1997.
28: 41 How much the soil holds – memories, stories, our selves
33:15 Bill’s place in the book
38:15 The ‘how to’ sections
43:19 The research – the ‘science stuff’
46:30 Andrew’s recent standing and staring – and Andrew answer to an Alice question
***
Thank you to Alice Vincent for her table-turning stint in coming to interview me on my own podcast! Keep an eye out for Alice’s upcoming book, Why Women Grow: stories of soil, sisterhood and survival, published by Canongate on 2 March 2023.
You can find Alice on Instagram here
and the Why Women Grow podcast here
I’m ever appreciative of all my listeners for your continued support and reviews, I really do appreciate them. You can support the podcast by buying its producer a virtual cup of coffee for three quid, at https://ko-fi.com/andrewtimothyOB. Proceeds will go towards equipment, software and the monthly podcast hosting fees.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB
You can hear find the podcast trailer and the first four episodes here, either on iTunes or on Switcher.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.
