FLAMINGO ESTATE & CHRONICLE BOOKS ANNOUNCE NEW BOOK

PLEASURE PRINCIPLES: AN ALMANAC FROM THE GARDEN

Flamingo Estate is publishing a modern-day almanac with Chronicle Books, available for preorder beginning May 18, with its official launch set for September 15. This guide offers practical wisdom and quiet inspiration for creating a deeper connection with the natural world—by planting, harvesting, cooking, and returning to our own senses. All in pursuit of deep, radical pleasure.

Part field guide, part art book, and part love letter to Mother Nature, this handbook moves month by month through the garden, sharing stories, recipes, rituals, and practical wisdom for all those who want to live a little closer to the earth. It is for gardeners, cooks, nature lovers, and anyone trying to put their phone down, get their hands dirty, and find more pleasure in ordinary life. 

Author Richard Christiansen, drawing from his own home and garden in the hills of LA, guides us through the seasons—exploring the people, plants, and stories that shape our gardens. Offering quiet ways to fall back in love with nature in the most ordinary, sensual ways: through working, eating, and smelling what grows on our own hillside. Revealing the small revolution each of us can have with the green world that is still right here. Organized by month, it is packed with planting & harvesting guides, fresh seasonal recipes, scent explorations, monthly rituals and more. 

Brimming with hundreds of beautiful images and essential wisdom on countless plants, flowers, trees, and pollinators, Pleasure Principles: An Almanac from the Garden is a call to delight in the radical pleasures of Mother Nature. 

“I spent a year researching and writing this book, trying to learn as much as I could about the Garden around me, and how I could live a better life because of it. This is a workbook for living a more interesting, exciting life because of the things we can make, cook, grow, notice, and do, and I hope it becomes a reference book people keep by their side. I want to ensure the rest of my life is lived as productively and dynamically as possible, and this was me giving myself the tools to do that. This book surprised me, and I hope it has everything we need to get off our phones, off our asses, and back into the big wide world.” -Richard Christiansen, Founder of Flamingo Estate 

Designed to speak beyond the faithful audience already buying Flamingo Estate’s products, this is an immersive and inspiring guide to getting into the garden in every way. – Sarah Billingsley, Publishing Director of Food & Lifestyle at Chronicle Books 

Raised on a farm in Australia and the visionary behind the internationally-acclaimed Flamingo Estate, Richard Christiansen has devoted himself and his company to caring for Mother Earth and cultivating plant-based products that promote pleasure and wellbeing—not just for ourselves, but for the entire ecosystems in which they grow. His decades of gardening experience and research are infused throughout this expert guide to planting, harvesting, and enriching daily life, with Mother Nature always as the guide.

Christiansen is a respected leader in food, gardening, and wellness. He has grown Flamingo Estate from his own home to a family of over 125 farms and collaborators. Celebrated for their weekly farm boxes of seasonal and sustainable produce, Flamingo Estate also offers over 150 products, including kitchen essentials, skincare products, candles, and more. He is the author of three books, and in 2025, he established the Flamingo Fund to support important environmental causes and other people with big green thumbs and middle fingers. 

Whether you’re a plant lover, gardener, food enthusiast, navigating burnout, drawn to slow living, or a fan of Flamingo Estate, this book invites you to rediscover the pleasures of nature through touch, taste, scent, sight, and sound. Discover how to cultivate and capture the intoxicating scent of jasmine. Invite birds, bees, and butterflies into your garden by knowing what to plant. Infuse your honey with fragrant honeysuckle. Make a calming lavender dream spray. String marigolds into a garland, and then, make pasta with the leftovers. Host a tomato-inspired garden party In all of it, learn the history, mythology, and botanical significance of these plants, why caring for them matters, and how paying attention can lead to radical pleasure. 

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Available for preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Bookshop