Tasha Tudor

I randomly picked up the Tasha Tudor's Garden book at the library and quickly became obsessed with her life. She lived as if it was the year 1830, in spite of all the modern world around her. Her Vermont garden is as lush and beautiful as can be imagined. She raised goats for their milk, made her own clothes (including growing the flax, spinning, and weaving the fabric), and grew most of her food. She became an author & illustrator of popular children's books in the 1930's.

Her farmhouse and barn were built by her son, completely by hand to replicate a 17th century home. She lived within it with her antiques and handcrafted items as they did in that time. She cooked only on a woodstove, dipped her own candles, canned food. For fun, she created puppets and put on puppet shows, made miniature dollhouses, painted, and held garden parties. She was skilled at making baskets, sewing, quilting, making soap, tatting lace, and pressing cider.

The books are beautifully photographed by Richard Brown and two of them were written by Tovah Martin, pulling the reader deeply into Tasha's world. Her life was simple and full and happy. I think we can learn a lot from her and incorporate some of her ways into our own lives.