Sydney Writer's Festival goes Edible

My book The Edible Balcony has taken me on an extraordinary journey since it was published last October. I've met inspiring people, visited some of the most imaginative community gardens in the country and been invited to share my ideas at some stimulating forums.

But nothing so far has excited me as much as my appearance at the Sydney Writers' Festival last Saturday.

Sydney Writers Week is easily my favourite event on the calendar. And when the weather is as glorious as this there is no better place to mingle with lovers of ideas.

And they came in their hundreds....

My session was about the rise and rise of DIY and why gardening, cooking and crafting was experiencing such a significant renaissance.

My co-panellist was the lovely author and crafter Kelly Doust and our facilitator was RN radio's Jason Di Rosso.

Of course I had to bring along some of my balcony basil and pesto for the audience. I also brought a tin of my favourite olive oil The Little General which I think makes my pesto even more delicious.

Kelly and I also did some crocheting while we were talking to show that these skills can be practised anywhere, at anytime.

The audience wanted to know how easy urban food gardening really was and were surprised at how little time I set aside to maintain my plants.

At our book signing later the pesto was proving a big drawcard.....

Maybe I'll forget about the book and put out a pesto range?