Ellie P. Campbell Photography

Share by email

I am very excited. 😀 See? The new magazine Edible Sarasota has officially launched, and we’re celebrating with a party tonight. A friend of mine, Nikki, who works as the marketing director for our local Whole Foods, generously thought of me when, back in September, she met with Tracy, the editor of the magazine. I had just ended an over-four-year tenure at another local magazine, and the thought did flash through my mind that I might not be ready to jump right back into working in the print publishing world. Talking with Tracy, getting to know her a bit, and hearing what Edible Sarasota was going to be about quickly squashed any concerns I had… I knew I had to be part of it.

After meeting with Tracy and realizing that we could easily work together, we discussed which piece I would write and photograph. I was psyched to get going on a new writing endeavor. I would be researching and interviewing people about school gardens – the history of school gardens in the U.S., their benefits when implemented into school curriculum, and their presence in our local community. Working with local teacher John Freeman on this project was a blast – he is full of energy and so pumped to be spearheading Sarasota’s Gocio Elementary School’s garden. I also spoke with Home Depot’s Mark Campbell about their generous donation to Gocio’s garden and met with John’s entire 4th grade class to photograph them working in the “garden” (it was then a plot of rock-hard dirt). The enthusiasm the kids had for this project was infectious. I can’t wait to go back to Gocio for a harvest to see how excited the kids are when they can actually eat what they grew. 🙂

Look at how happy this student is, and she’s just digging dirt!

I am so thrilled that Tracy asked me to work with them – I love that I can combine my educational and career background as a writer with my passion and career future as a photographer, all while working with the amazingly talented, fun, and inspiring people that make up Edible Sarasota. Looking forward to celebrating the launch tonight!

A few photos from Gocio are below, and a PDF of the full article is available here: Edible Sarasota – Fresh Carrots and Dirty Fingernails.

I’ll share the two other shoots I did for the inaugural issue in another post.