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Jill Lightner                                       

food & sustainability

writer & editor 

My grandfather knew how to dress when

he'd take a steer for a walk through town. 

Books

BOOKS

collage cookbook cover of Scraps, Peels and Stems with a green award-winner sticker

Manage your kitchen for less waste through practical strategies, tips, and advice on food purchasing, prep, composting, and storage.

Topics and features include:

  • 70+ recipes

  • Money-saving tips

  • Three levels of action for every topic, to help you figure out what's doable

  • Portioning to avoid leftovers on the plate

  • Meal planning vs. freestyle cooking

  • Grocery shopping and dining-out tactics

  • Storage strategies and how to read expiration dates

Winner of 2018 Gold Nautilus Book Award: Green Living and Sustainability

cookbook cover of Cooking From Scratch, with white text on a background of heirloom red tomatoes

Cooking From Scratch

Starred reviews: Publishers Weekly and Library Journal 

book cover of Mason Bee Revolution, with a pollen-covered mason bee facing forward

The Mason Bee Revolution

collage cookbook cover of Edible Seattle: The Cookbook

Edible Seattle: The Cookbook

Articles

ARTICLES

Samples

How to adapt vintage recipes for modern kitchens (and my great-grandmother's sugar cookies )

5 common mistakes to avoid with your first kitchen garden and how to make the most of your space

My work for Seattle Times' Pacific NW Magazine

I also get written about! Here's a fun one where I helped Bethany Jean Clement of The Seattle Times get her pantry organized after Marie Kondo inspired her to de-clutter. It's true, pinenuts are expensive little jerks.

ABOUT JILL

Jill Lightner head shot. She has wavy white hair and wears a black turtleneck sweater on a textured background.

My first piece of food writing coincided with the first Krispy Kreme coming to a Seattle suburb. John T. Edge kicked off his book Donuts: An American Passion with excerpts from that story. My strong opinions about doughnuts led to a career: two years at Seattle Weekly, six years as editor of James Beard-winning magazine Edible Seattle, and three years in the marketing department for the largest member-owned food co-op in the U.S. Along the way, I've edited two books, and written three and a recipe app, and more books are in the works. 

In April 2022, I opened Seattle's second Little Free Bakery, a box that I fill with fresh-baked goods several times each week. It has made me extremely popular with the neighbors. I wrote about little free bakeries for Sound Consumer; it includes information on starting your own. 

I write most often for The Seattle Times and Pacific NW Magazine, and PCC Community Markets' Sound Consumer newsletter. I also speak about food waste issues and solutions, serve as a journalism judge for the James Beard Foundation media awards, and sat on the board of the NW Cider Association for six years. 

About

CONTACT

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