As we here at Life & Thyme have taken steps to evolve the ways in which we present stories, we’ve made the decision to discontinue our print magazine, instead focusing our efforts and resources on creating dynamic, in-depth digital content. And while we’ve opted to step away from the physical magazine, our emphasis on a specific theme is something we will aim to represent through a collection of quarterly stories, curated seasonally around a central idea. Our first thematic exploration for our digital content released in the fourth quarter of 2016 is a simple one–plants.

In recent years, vegetation has seen a revival. A newfound respect for the roots, stems and leaves that have for so long been relegated to the far corners of our dinner dishes has been spurred by leading food world figures, like Dan Barber and Michael Pollan (among many). And here at Life & Thyme, it made us want to dig deeper, to really get the dirt on what makes the plant kingdom rule.

We started in perhaps the most obvious places–the kitchens of chefs who have made a career of championing vegetables, like Dirt Candy’s Amanda Cohen. And then we went out on a limb, speaking to some perhaps less commonly associated with soil-based ingredients: April Bloomfield, who first authored a book called A Girl and Her Pig and then followed up with A Girl and Her Greens offered an invaluable perspective into the plant world. And what started as a simple question to a set of British chefs about their favorite herbal selection became a sensory exploration of memory, taking us on a journey across time and place. We even attempted to understand how our meat-eating habits benefit from the leafy stuff–after all, we’ve now tasted the difference grass-fed beef and free-range, pastured eggs can make to flavor. We even came across cattle raised on spent whiskey mash–who could deny the perfection of that rib eye and rye pairing now?

Our investigation into the plant world has opened our eyes to the ways in which we interact with the earth, and how we can enjoy its delicate offerings when we only pause to appreciate them. We hope this collection of stories inspires you to branch out, too.