My friend Margaret and I started this blog in 2005. We had just graduated from college and we (along with other friends) spent the summer in Ann Arbor frequenting the farmers' market, foraging berries from trees and bushes in city parks and sidewalks, and baking a lot of pies (we did a lot of playing folk songs on the porch and late-night skinny dipping at Pickerell Lake too, but I suppose that's beside the point). When I moved to Vermont that August, Margaret suggested that we start a pie blog, so we could continue our baking and keep in touch with each other through the pies we made.
Margaret and I, with eyes on pie
We chose the name from a genre of pie-- "nothing-in-the-house" that became popular during the Great Depression. These were pies made from few, inexpensive ingredients, like vinegar (chess) pie, cracker pie, or green tomato pie (read more here). It's a good name for us; it speaks to our home-baker practical sensibilities as well as the appreciation we have for the history of pie and all those women and men out there who have used their ingenuity and wit to make something delicious and beautiful with what they have (For more about "why pie?" read here).Sadly, we don't hear much from Margaret anymore-- she is busy being an amazing poet in Iowa-- but over the years we have been joined by other friends/contributors: Heather in Chicago, Abigail in Michigan, Mandy & Greg in Vermont, Jamie in Boston, Michelle in Portland, Marina and Angela in New York, Shannon, Stacy & Chris in Texas, and Bob in Baltimore, among others. After a few years in Vermont, a brief stint in Washington, D.C. and grad school in North Carolina, I'm back in D.C. working as a folklorist and freelance writer and baking on the side.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope that this blog brings a little joy and inspiration to you, your kitchen, and your pies. If you'd like to get in touch, you can either leave a comment, or send an e-mail to nothinginthehousepie@gmail.com
Yours in pie,
Emily
