My name is Christie Purifoy. I am a writer and gardener who loves to grow flowers and community.

I am the author of two memoirs, Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons (Revell 2016) and Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace (Zondervan 2019). A book of essays and photographs celebrating the garden called Seedtime and Harvest: How Gardens Grow Roots, Connection, Wholeness and Hope will be released by Harvest House Publishers in March 2024, completing my trilogy of gardening gift books that began with Garden Maker (2022) and A Home in Bloom (2023).

A decade ago, I earned a PhD in English Literature from the University of Chicago, but eventually I traded the classroom for an old Pennsylvania farmhouse called Maplehurst. I still love to teach, but today I teach virtually and for small groups here at the Maplehurst Black Barn.

Take a look at my books or explore my written reflections through the blog I’ve been keeping for a decade. I love to write about ordinary days lived in an ordinary place. Which means, of course, that I write about the most miraculous things and a place that is like no other on earth.

Each Wednesday, I join my long-time friend and fellow writer, Lisa-Jo Baker, for storytelling and conversation on a new episode of the Out of the Ordinary podcast. We believe that the very best stories grow out of the soil of ordinary life.

Lisa-Jo and I, along with a whole host of others, are turning social media’s usual ways upside down through quiet, weekly rhythms of listening, sharing, and celebrating in a virtual gathering place called the Black Barn Online. You are invited to join us in helping to build a place where art and faith cultivated in community can take root, flourish, and grow.