Recipes from My Garden: Nadja Maril

Recipes from My Garden

This week author Nadja Maril released her collection of flash prose, poetry, and essays inspired by her kitchen, garden, and family memories. I sat down with Nadja to ask her some questions about the book, and her process. It's interesting to note that Nadja comes from an artistic background: her late father Herman Maril was an artist, and his painting is the cover of her book. I have enjoyed Nadja's poetry and flash fiction for many years now, and I am very excited for her book!

Dianne Pearce (Dianne): What inspired you to combine poetry, short form, gardening, and cooking in one book? How did these different forms of expression come together?
 
Nadja Maril (Nadja): In January 2020 I’d just completed an MFA (masters in fine arts) in creative writing from the low residency Stonecoast Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine and was in the midst of moving into a 100-year-old house. My husband Peter and I were the General Contractors. Both the MFA and the house were two-year projects. I’d been laboring over a complicated literary novel told from multiple viewpoints, and my daughter (the youngest of my three children ) was about to get married. Peter and I were looking forward to having the wedding at our re-built house, with the festivities primarily outside. We scurried to move into the house, plant flowers and shrubs, and revitalize the lawn. Then the pandemic shut everything down. 
 
Disappointed that the wedding at our house was not going to take place and our imagined family reunion was not happening, I hunkered down to focus on what small pleasures and joys I did have control over and began writing short flash prose about specific plants and objects. Some of these first pieces of what I call CNF (creative non-fiction) flash were about herbs. In letting my mind wander, I took notice of all the different memories that just one herb, such as basil, elicited.
That spring, confined to working from home, Peter cleared some of the lawn to convert it into a vegetable garden. He planted carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins. Peter did most of the physical labor, and I was the “harvester.” 

We both weeded. From there the challenge was what to do with all those tomatoes and cucumbers. We had a bumper crop. I’ve always found cooking to be a form of meditation. I enjoy inventing new recipes, and as I chopped, diced, simmered, and stirred, I remembered family stories and experiences related to the tastes, smells, textures, and visual impact of food. 
 
With the warm reception several of those prose poems on herbs and vegetables received when published in small literary magazines, I began to imagine a small book composed of more of those types of pieces. Much of the stories of our lives are told through our cooking traditions.

Dianne: What was the most challenging part of weaving these topics and styles together?
 
Nadja: When the opportunity came about to join the Old Scratch Press Collective and have a chapbook published, I started to put together what material I’d like to include. What I realized, in looking over my work done between 2020 and 2022, was that a number of my short essays also touched on themes I’d written about in my poems: family, food traditions, and heritage.  
 
I decided to therefore include short essays in the chapbook. Originally, I grouped them together in the second half of the book, but the fellow collective members, who were proof readers, encouraged me to intermix the poems and the essays and to bring several of the essays forward into the first half of the book. 

Dianne: Can you share how poetry complements the themes of gardening and cooking? Do you see a connection between the two in your creative process?
 
Nadja: Writing poetry, (I try to write a poem a day), helps me to condense my observations. So, you might say I use poetry as journaling. 
 
Poets have written about nature and gardens for centuries. I think of the Robert Burns (1759-1796) famous poem “My Love is Like a Red Red Rose.”
 
Cooking, with its beautiful colors and aromas, awakens so many senses, writing a poem about what I experience comes naturally. I find food to be an inspiring subject, but for those who find cooking challenging, they may find that engaging in each individual step in the preparation process, and writing about it, may yield forgotten memories.
 
Dianne: One thing I find about my own haphazard gardening is that gardening can be both meditative and challenging. How did your experiences in the garden shape the emotional or thematic core of your book?
 
Nadja: One thing I’ve learned over the years about gardening is it is a lot of work! Constant vigilance is required. You must constantly water and fertilize the earth. To maintain a garden the gardener is out pulling weeds every day or else the weeds quickly take over. Same goes for writing. I am constantly working at my craft, seeking to improve the way I convey a sight, a sound, an entire scene. Being an artist requires dedication and perseverance, just the same as with being a gardener.
Dianne: Well, I am certainly a fan of writing, eating, and gardening, though not always cooking! Do you have a favorite recipe or meal? What does that recipe mean to you personally?
 
Nadja: I have so many favorites it is hard to pick one. Kugel, potato and noodle, were favorites when I was growing up, and since the theme for the Holiday 2024 issue of Instant Noodles Literary Magazine makes a reference to noodles, I’m going to write in detail about Noodle Kugel. I prefer my noodle kugel savory, golden brown and crunchy. on the edges. Look for the Holiday/Winter Instant Noodles issue, and there you’ll find my recipe. And if you want to submit a piece, the deadline is October 10th, so there's still time!
 
Dianne: Yes, please folks, submit to Instant Noodles! That's how Nadja and I met. 
One of my favorite pieces in your book fills me with envy: "Red Tomato Harvest." I adore tomatoes, and eat tomatoes on toast all year long, and while my father could grow more than we could ever eat, I have never had luck with tomatoes. Which piece in the book is your favorite?
 
Nadja: It would depend which day you ask me, because I only included work I like and am proud of; but if you only have time to read one essay, read “Back to School Night’ which has nothing to do with cooking or gardening and has everything to do with family and friendship.
 
Dianne: I also loved that piece. Your grandmother's advice sounds like something my own grandmother might have said. I think my fainla question is to ask wha you hope readers take away from your book, whether they’re gardeners, cooks, or lovers of poetry/short form?
Nadja: Take time to enjoy the small treasures in your life and on this planet. Too often people’s eyes are only on their cellphones. They walk down the street never noticing the person passing them who waves hello with a smile or the brilliant red tulips and emerging green shoots on the apple tree. So, share a meal with a friend. Eat slowly, savor the tastes on your tongue. The use of the word "recipes" in my title is not so much in reference to specific cooking tips as it is to the idea of keeping your mind open and receptive to trying new things. The words "my garden" are a touchstone for my life. In my memoir pieces I want to share what I’ve learned in my life, and prompt the reader to take stock of their own memories. Try some short form writing. Think about all five of your senses: smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound.  (I like my salad crunchy) Nature, food, and cooking are good places to start.
Dianne: Thank you Nadja! I agree. Get writing everyone! And find out more about Nadja through her site, and her posts for Old Scratch Press.