G is for Garden and Gun
/gärˈdn’ ĭn gŭn/
Garden and Gun is a preeminent lifestyle magazine and the self-acclaimed, “Soul of the South.”
G & G, in the vernacular, is an ode to the traditional Upscale Southern lifestyle loosely translated to everyday living in the New South.
Sure, most of us don’t squeeze in a few rounds of sporting clays before hosting a 5-course candlelit dinner for 20 VIPs, prepared by Charleston Chef Sean Brock in a run-down but lavishly-staged barn on Flannery O’Connor’s family farm…
while wearing Dior…
but damn, it’s awfully fun sometimes to pretend you might.
And that’s what G & G does the best: saturate its reader with the lush landscape of the South, exploring culture and history; publishing essays from the South’s finest writers; showcasing food, music, art and travel – all the while inspiring a higher level of eating, drinking, decorating, story-tellin’ and just plain ol’being Southern.
(Oh, and it goes to the dogs, every year, when readers submit photos of their beloved pooches to vie for honors in the wildly lauded Good Dog competition.)
In our home (not so’s you’d be surprised), we actually use it as a verb. “Hey, let’s Garden and Gun up the local, small-batch heritage pork sausage display with Granny’s china and some flowers.”
“Garden & Gun Magazine’s style is bright and exuberant. The magazine revels in the culture, traditions, and heritage of all aspects of the South. Do you wish you had a place to turn for a cultural touchstone, or just to find the right comforter to complement the window dressings? This magazine is what you’ve had in mind all along.” – Amazon.com Review
“You don’t have to be Southern and you don’t have to live in the South to appreciate Garden & Gun, but you do have to have the time to read.” – Barbara Bing, Garden and Gun in interview with the New York Times
A – to – Z Challenge Note: we were out of town the last four days on a visit to the North Georgia Mountains and our rental home had no internet. I could squeeze out an email or Instagram or two, via the phone signal but WordPress slapped me in the face and refused all communications without wifi, so I wasn’t able to post Friday, Saturday or Monday, thus 86’ing myself from the competition.
I’m having fun, though, so I’ll keep trying to play along regardless and hopefully, you’ll keep reading. Thank you all so much for all your kind comments so far!
Drunk on Life 
I hope you do keep posting your southern sayings, even if you’ve missed a few. I’ve really enjoyed reading them, Kim!
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Thank you so much – I really appreciate the kind words and encouragement. I was super frustrated to miss out so soon into the challenge! Always appreciate your comments and support.
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That sounds like an interesting lifestyle mash-up. I’m not a real Southerner, but did live in Georgia and then Alabama for a few years. I can see how this could work, the combination of gracious decorating/entertaining and red-dirt-under-your-nails outdoors living. Kind of like country French–the real thing, not the kind found in Architectural Digest. I do love me some good Southern cooking, not so easy to find out here in Washington State.
@RhondaGilmour from
Late Blooming Rose
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Oh yeah….Garden & Gun a fav magazine, and I would so love dinner in Flannery O’Connor’s barn! Some more good read in’, Kim!
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Well some of the scenarios are a wee bit contrived, but they’re always beautifully photographed, so great for inspiration! I’m sure you guys could pull something G&G worthy at the lake!
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Mean old WordPress!
I just had a thought – you can do post-by-email with them. I’d forgotten about that one and would never have remembered it had I been on vacation with no Internet. 🙂
I am half tempted to get this magazine! It sounds like the kind of magazine a girl can dream about. 😀
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I wanted to pull WordPress’ hair and scratch its face – girl fight style. I was wildly frustrated. We even had the guy we rent the house from call his internet tech, who came up and switched out the router, but then we found out that the wifi carrier was having issues and they didn’t expect anything to be resolved until Monday. I didn’t know you could post via email – I will definitely look into that! I tried about a thousand times – through both my phones, my laptop and my husband’s laptop and finally amid sniffles, snarles and tears, just gave up trying to post, accepted defeat and had a big glass of wine.
Do check out the magazine – we love it. It’s always got a section about hunting of some sort (but that’s an old school Southern thing) but great stores about music and culture and the most beautiful photography. If you like dogs, do check out the Good Dog photo winners. Some of the best puppy pictures around! Thanks so much for your input!
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I can totally understand! At least you had a big glass of wine to help!
I will check out that magazine, it sounds interesting. 🙂
Here are a couple of links about WordPress and posting. I think the mail one can be a tiny bit tricky but my husband used it for a while, from work. I’ve never tried the voice one, but I’ve been tempted!
https://en.support.wordpress.com/post-by-email/
https://en.support.wordpress.com/post-by-voice/
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