Peep(s) Show

I’m reviving a hidden talent 

Every year around this time, I reconnect with a not-so-secret favorite hobby. What started as a lockdown boredom-induced play on words has since spiraled into its own thing: the Pepys Peeps diorama. 

One of my best friends and I have been making Peeps dioramas for about 20 years (she once turned a coworkers entire office into a Peeps diorama), but I hadn’t made one in ages until Covid hit. 

When it did, I like most folks grasped at every craft I could think of. So the dioramas came back into frame. 

I had been working on Our Fermented Lives, and recently researching Samuel Pepys as part of it. So the homonym was fresh in my mind, and a new yearly tradition was born. 

So far, Peeps Pepys has largely stuck to the historical canon: writing a diary, burying wine, giving tasting notes on tea. 

But this year, I decided to double down on the wordplay, and the diorama has taken a decidedly ahistorical twist (or at least, not documented history. Who knows, maybe Pepys also had hidden talents…)

The Peeps Pepys Peep Show is my favorite diorama yet. I love dancer Peeps Pepys (the selection of strawberry Pop Tart-flavored Peeps* gave him a decidedly festive air), and I love the stage I constructed. 

I also love how it speaks to the pleasure I take in the work I do and the surprising ways it shows up in my life. 

*Strawberry Pop Tart Peeps are absolutely vile to eat, IMHO, but the multicolor splatter effect made them worth the purchase.

Currently reading/doing/making

I’m getting ready to do the edits on my next-next book, The Little Book of Lemons, which comes out in 2027. Meanwhile, we’re ramping up plans for book tour stops and events for Essential Food Preserving, which comes out in May. 

I’m really emphasizing virtual events this year, as well as in person, so if you want to host one (or know of someone I should reach out to) please let me know!

Currently I’m planning stops in Atlanta, Boston, DC, and hopefully NYC (if you’re at an NYC bookshop or museum who wants a talk or demo, I’m looking for a spot to host! My email is julia@root-kitchens.com) 

In Europe, I am planning Ireland events (focusing on Dublin + Cork but I am very open to other places too), and I hope to jump over to the UK at some point too.

I also have a virtual book launch event lined up with Charis Books at Dr. Johnny Drain in May. Details coming soon!

I just opened my 9 month holistic creativity mentorship space, Symbiosis. It’s 9 months of hands on work on each of our bodies of work, plus expansive and interconnected practices to bring richness and depth to the creative process. 

If you’re feeling called to join, I’m welcoming folks in through early April.

You can sign up here. 

I’ve been slowly reading through Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree over the last year, interwoven with other reading, and have deeply enjoyed it. I appreciate work that interweaves memoir with larger contexts, placing the life within the world in which it’s lived. I also learned lots of useful info about trees and fungal networks, which is always a blessing. 

 I just finished it last week, and my bedtime reading has moved on to Pollan’s A World Appears, as recommended by Sophie Strand. I am hit or miss with his work, so I’m looking forward to seeing how I respond to this not-food-specific book. 

For audiobooks, I’ve been slow on audiobook reading since my Atlanta library card expired and I’ve just renewed it, so I lost access to my long and lumbering TBR pile on Libby. 

However, one benefit to living in two places is a second library card, and through Cork city libraries I’ve been listening to Atomic Habits (not strictly a pleasure read, but good in short bursts while walking and running errands), and The Library of Heartbeats, which I’m really enjoying and am juuuuust about done with. 

I’ve unintentionally fallen down a Japanese fiction rabbit hole in the last handful of months, and Library of Heartbeats is part of it (other reads include Butter and We’ll Prescribe You a Cat), and it’s been an unexpected delight. 

As always, I continue to write articles (and newsletters of course), and I’m working on some great newsletter issues in the coming weeks and months to share with you. 

In the meantime, I’ve opened up my calendar for April for one hour to full day sessions for crafting your nonfiction book proposal or receiving writing coaching support (or other creative support), getting energy work or intuitive guidance. 

Or, you can use that time to learn preserving and fermenting with me 1:1 (please email me before you book the latter so I can point you in the right direction). 

You can book a time in my calendar here.

If you’re a paid subscriber, scroll down for a one time use link for a 2 hour $50 coaching session (which is over 50% off), to use whenever you need it.