Dustin Schell and Alexander Chee were longtime residents of New York City who recently found an opportunity to fulfill their dreams of full-scale gardening. Dustin previously had a community garden plot the size of a grave in New York City. It was located in the Clinton Community Garden in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, where he gardened for over twenty years.   

Then they moved to rural Vermont in 2016 and bought a home there in the fall of 2019. Dustin and Alex started their new garden in the midst of a pandemic in their first year as homeowners. They talk about starting with what they had--and around obstacles, which include getting sick in the early weeks of the COVID pandemic. Let's take a listen to hear about how they're enjoying their new space.

Dustin Schell studied Theater at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Circle in the Square Theater School In New York City. His varied career includes work as an actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and most recently, a ski instructor at the Dartmouth Skiway. He splits his time between NYC and Vermont.

Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and an editor at large at VQR. His essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, T Magazine, Tin House, Slate, Guernica, and Out, among others. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.

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