Lives of Consequence
Ellen Ecker Ogden '76
A nationally acknowledged kitchen garden expert and cookbook author, Ellen Ecker Ogden '76 has more than 30 years of experience as a cook, food and garden writer. She is a kitchen garden designer and co-founder of "The Cook's Garden" catalog, an early leader in the marketing of certified organic garden seed in the U. S. and Canada.
After receiving a bachelor's in art from William Smith, she founded and served as president of Kitchen Garden Designs, which provides professional kitchen garden design and consultation for the food and garden industry. She continues to hold these positions today, providing consultations and garden design coaching.
In 1984, Ogden co-founded "The Cook's Garden" seed catalog, serving as the spokeswoman and later as recipe development and food styling expert after the company was purchased by the W.A. Burpee Company of Warminster, Pa., in 2003. Ogden continued to work for the publication until 2011.
In 2010, she began working as a professional food styling consultant for the catalog of The Vermont Country Store in Manchester Center, Vt.
Since the publication of her first book in 2003, "From the Cook's Garden," she has gone on to write five more books on cooking and gardening including her most recent book, "The Complete Kitchen Garden," which was published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang in 2011.
In addition to teaching and lecturing on food and garden topics, she is a featured speaker at national flower shows and garden events across the U.S. and has been a guest on multiple gardening shows including PBS' "Victory Garden" and HGTV. Her kitchen gardens and hundreds of food and garden articles have been featured in numerous national publications such as The New York Times, Boston Sunday Globe, Eating Well Magazine, Vermont Life, Vermont Magazine, Vermont Sunday Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Organic Gardening, Martha Stewart Living, and Horticulture.