For most of his adult life, Graham Kerr has been at the helm of simmering pans and steaming pots.

Now he’s planting seeds and turning over soil.

“The chefs of today all love to say that they get their fresh food from farms – I wish it was always true,” Kerr said. “I wanted to start a garden mainly for my wife, Treena. Plants need to go from the garden to the pot in the littlest amount of time.”

Kerr is an internationally known culinary and television personality. He has aired countless broadcasts in the U.S. and internationally. One of his first shows, “The Galloping Gourmet,” brought the art of creative cooking alive to television audiences from 1969 to 1971. He has written more than 25 books, with 14 million copies sold. His latest book, “Growing at the Speed of Life,” was published in 2011.

The Orcas Garden Club is bringing Kerr to the island for a Wednesday, March 21 discussion on edible gardening. After cooking just about everything under the sun during his career, Kerr realized he had never actually grown anything he cooked.

Now a Washington resident, Graham and Treena have been growing their “kitchen garden.”

“I was blown away by what an amazing experience it is to start plants out by seed, transplant it and watch it grow,” Graham said. “I think the food tastes so much better.”

He will detail his experiences during the meeting at Orcas Center starting at 10 a.m. Admission is free for Garden Club members and $10 for non-members. He will also be signing copies of his new book. For additional information, go to www.orcasislandgardenclub.org.

Graham calls himself a “personal scientist” who keeps a careful log of his life, including a food diary for the past 12 years.

“I have proven – without a single doubt – that if we get more plant food and less of the riskier foods that it really, really helps us,” he said. “Knowing the cost of health care and how unsupportable that is in the future, we must make some changes – and that is our behavior. Eighty percent of the chronic diseases are related to behavior … I know that a donut is delicious but it just doesn’t figure into my choices.”

In addition to his many television appearances, Graham has been an Editor at Large for Cooking Light and has received the Julia Child Cookbook Award, the James Beard Award, two Emmy nominations for most outstanding daytime programming and been inducted into the American Culinary Hall of Fame.

Graham and Treena currently live in Mount Vernon. Their focus is on increasing people’s daily serving of healthy fruits and vegetables, reducing portion sizes and making school lunches more tasty and nutritious.

Graham started the EGGS Carton Club, which stands for “Eat more plant foods, Grow more edible plant food, Gather together to serve the plants, Share potential abundance.”

The club’s goal is to engage neighbors in backyard gardening.

“Let’s try to eat more plants, grow some in our backyards and share some extra harvest with those who are less fortunate than us,” Graham said.

Treena and Graham have traveled around the world 28 times over the past 48 years of broadcasting, writing and speaking about food.

Graham has cooked more than 40,000 meals for Treena. Of those, 23,000 were what they call “Neck up” (all about taste) and 18,000 have been whole body foods (good health and good taste.)

“We will never give up looking for better ways to eat and to live our lives,” Graham said.