“Half-Assed Homesteading” – My Harvest Kitchen with Gesine Bullock-Prado

My Harvest Kitchen — with Gesine Bullock-Prado

I recently welcomed back Gesine Bullock Prado to the podcast. You may remember our first conversation in Episode 66, where we explored her love of baking, life in Vermont with its six distinct seasons, and her journey as a pastry chef, baking instructor, author, and television personality.

Gesine has now released her newest book, My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons, a heartfelt guide to embracing the rhythm of the year through cooking, preserving, and stories from her Vermont homestead.

In this episode, we chat about the beauty and challenges of living seasonally, Gesine’s honest philosophy on “half-assed homesteading,” the inspiration behind My Harvest Kitchen, and her favorite ways to cook, grow, and preserve with joy rather than perfection.

Listen to the full episode or keep reading for some of the highlights from our conversation.

How Did You Get Started Cooking and Homesteading?

I’m a Vermonter now, but I grew up between Virginia and Germany. My mother was German and my father American. Baking was my first love. Even when I was in law school and building my first career, I was always baking. I baked my way through the bar exam and taught myself pastry by working through textbooks from the best culinary schools.

When my mother passed away from cancer at 63, everything shifted. Life suddenly felt too short not to follow my passions. I moved to Vermont, opened a pastry shop, and discovered how deeply I loved teaching. I spent two decades at King Arthur Flour before launching my own baking school, Sugar Glider Kitchen, where I now welcome students from around the world.

This newest book is my eighth—my seventh cookbook—and it follows a full year of growing, harvesting, and preserving. Living in Vermont, where the growing season is short, I’ve learned how to adapt so I can enjoy peak-season foods long after they’ve disappeared from the garden.

I lovingly call myself a “half-assed homesteader.” So many people dream about owning land, growing all their own food, keeping bees, and doing everything themselves. But the truth is, it’s hard. I became a certified Master Gardener intern, and I’m always learning, but I still can’t do it all. I keep chickens, ducks, and geese. I tend an orchard and garden where I grow what I love to eat. But there are other things I’ve tried that I had to let go, like beekeeping. The Vermont bears made that impossible.

“Everyone online looks like they’re doing it all, but I’ve had to learn to be kind to myself, forgive what doesn’t work, and let some things go, especially because I know I am trying my hardest.”

I grow what I love, preserve it in abundance, and protect my joy instead of chasing perfection. That way, I can continue loving it instead of getting overwhelmed.

“I can do what I can do, and I can only do my best.”

Tell Us More About Your Book, My Harvest Kitchen

My Harvest Kitchen is guided by three seasons: Hope, Harvest, and Hibernate—a rhythm that reflects both Vermont and my own life.

Hibernate begins with the first frost. It can be a sad time of year. One night, the dahlias are glowing. By the next morning, it’s as if the cold has swept through the garden like a devil and killed everything. But hibernation brings its own comforts: fires crackling, holiday decorations, and the chance to get cozy, rest deeply, and enjoy the pantry you worked so hard to build. It’s also when I release the frustrations of harvest season and learn from what didn’t work out as planned. 

“Failure is never failure—just something to learn from.”

Hope arrives when the world begins to stir again, and you start to look forward to the next growing season. There’s still snow and mud on the ground, but the sap runs in the trees, and the first seeds are started indoors. I always start my onion seeds in February on my father’s birthday.

By Harvest, months later, those onions are pulled from the earth on my sister’s birthday in July. The entire cycle is personal, grounding, and connected to the people I love.

These three seasons—Hope, Harvest, Hibernate—are the lens through which I cook, grow, preserve, and move through the world. They honor the land, the rhythm of the year, and the family who shaped me.

My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons, by Gesine Bullock-Prado (Countryman Press, 2025).

Learn more

Listen to the full podcast episode with Gesine Bullock-Prado here. You can learn more on her website, gesine.com, and follow her on Instagram @gesinebp.

Related posts

Episode 66: My Vermont Table with Gesine Bullock-Prado
Gesine’s Bavarian Pretzels