Miss Josephine Lightfoot

Northern Exposure:

Between 2006 and 2012 I wrote a regular northern gardening column for the BC gardening glossy “GardenWise”, under the banner of “Northern Exposure”.  In 2012, faced with changing tastes and interests in gardening and declining advertising (which pays the bills) the parent company, Canada Wide Publications, decided to change the focus of the magazine to a more general purpose “home and garden” model, and my column was left without a home.

The 30 plus articles that were published in GardenWise over the years will be posted here, sometimes verbatim, sometimes modified and improved, sometimes expanded upon. There never seemed to be enough room on the magazine page to cover some topics thoroughly enough, and I am glad of this opportunity to fill in a few holes.  I have learned a lot, too, over the years since I started writing that column, and although my basic philosophy hasn’t changed, I have a better understanding of many things.

I hope to update and post all or most of the articles over the next year, as time and energy permit.

Questions and queries regarding any of these articles or anything else related to northern gardening will be answered as soon as possible (there may be a delay of several days or a week during gardening season, but rest assured that there is a live person at the other end of this).

My thanks to Carol, Carolyn and the other staff at GardenWise for their support and encouragment over the years – I wish them the best as that magazine morphs into a “lifestyle” magazine in an effort to survive in these tough times.

Barbara Rayment,
Mar. 23, 2012