Free Book Friday! The New Southern Garden Cookbook (autographed copy)

Update, 4:03 pm: Comments are now closed, and our fabulous publicity intern Lauren Ann has drawn Margarite’s name from the bowl full of commenters. Congratulations, Margarite! We’ll be in touch via email to get mailing instructions. Thanks for playing, everyone. —ellen

Happy Friday! And even better, happy free book Friday!

What are you cooking this winter? Do you struggle to find ways to eat fresh and local foods in the colder months? Take heart, locavores. There’s something growing not too far from you, and if you don’t know what to do with it, Sheri Castle comes to the rescue with The New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers’ Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes. Potatoes, greens, turnips, carrots, garlic, onions, winter squash. Castle’s book is organized by ingredient so you can work your way through recipes for a particular ingredient whenever that food is abundant.

Ther New Southern Garden Cookbook: Enjoying the Best from Homegrown Gardens, Farmers' Markets, Roadside Stands, and CSA Farm Boxes, by Sheri CastleSheri walked us through a calendar year of recipes right here on this very blog, so you know she’s got all seasons covered. And there’s plenty more where those dishes came from. Vidalia Soufflé Dip, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Black Bean and Winter Squash Chili? Don’t mind if I do.

Want to win a free copy, signed by the author? Or do you have a copy and want another to share with a friend? Today’s the day. Before 4 p.m. EST today, tell us in the comments what winter garden ingredient gets you through the season, or what ingredient you’d cook with more if you just had some fresh ideas on how to use it. (Sheri’s got 21 recipes for using greens in this book, people. You’ll wonder how you got through winter without her.)

The fine print: when you comment, we’ll add your email address to our eNews list for cookbooks so you can be notified (and get a discount!) when we publish new cookbooks or when we have them on sale. Employees of UNC Press or Longleaf Services are not eligible. U.S. residents only, please.

Check back in at 4 p.m. and we’ll publish an update to announce the winner. Aaaaaaand go!