Steve Albini’s Gardening Tips

Steve Albini, when he wasn’t being one of the most famous producer/engineers of my lifetime, could be found tending to his garden. 

He loved his vegetables. 

He loved to cook. 

He loved to make food for his wife (the web address was “whatimadeheatherfordinner.stevealbini.com” and Heather, but of course, is his wife). 

He preferred making his own food to eating out like he preferred talking to friends over hearing lectures. 

If that’s not poetic, I don’t know what is. 

And most of all, he loved doing small things well, in service to community. 

That’s what the food blog was about. That’s what all the crazy stuff he said was about. That’s what every damn thing about this man was about. There’s a weight to living this mentality fully in life. There’s a weight you can feel in a quote like this:

I left home in 1980 and started living on my own. I quickly realized I was either going to have to learn to cook or eat awful food, so I learned to cook. I think starting small out of necessity is great; learn to do one thing well, then learn another, and so on. Over time, you eventually learn techniques to deal with just about anything.

Do small things well, in service to your community. 

h/t Chris Crowley over at The Grub Street Diet for this post - Steve Albini Wants to Know Why His Carrots Look So Freaky “Every one is gnarled and spiraled around itself like we got the seeds from Chernobyl.”