Newport Beach woman cultivates a new culinary gardening business
Courtney Norton relishes the idea of community.
She lives with her husband in the same Newport Beach neighborhood she grew up in. Her two teenage sons are students at Newport Harbor High School, just as their parents were.
Norton counts some of her favorite moments of the day as the time when she's gardening in her front yard. She enjoys producing edible food for meals, but it's also about talking to neighbors as they stroll past.
'I love it, because it just connects me with the community,' she said. 'I just am really excited to bring that energy and aspect into my community. Everyone's kind of in their houses, so I'm trying to break that a little bit.'
That community spirit of collaboration has led Norton to her new business venture.
She launched Homegrown Culinary Gardens at the start of the month.
The idea is fairly simple. Norton offers a one-hour consultation where she meets with a client in their space.
But that's just the beginning. She also offers design, coaching, installation and maintenance. The services can be for those with less than a green thumb or experienced gardeners who just need a bit of guidance.
Norton, 48, previously worked as a social worker. But a trip to Tanzania with a group of Newport Beach women last year, taken through the nonprofit Sojourn Foundation, inspired her. The group stayed on a farm while working at a local school.
Norton is returning to Tanzania next month with her older son, Charlie, through another group, Asante Sana.
'They grow all of their own food there,' she said. 'It's all a very sustainable society. It really lit a fire in me.'
Homegrown Culinary Gardens features an intensive planting method, Norton said, using companion herbs and plants for pest control rather than insecticide. The result is a little ecosystem.
It's fully organic and everything is edible, including flowers that can serve as a stylish garnish.
Norton installed a salad garden at Mercedes Meserve's Newport Beach home earlier this month, with items like herbs, mixed lettuces and kale. She brought over worms and ladybugs, and Meserve said her family enjoyed doing a ladybug blessing of the garden that night.
'Courtney really educated me and literally gave me the tools for how to maintain my salad garden,' Meserve said. 'This is the person I need in my life to help me get going. Courtney has been such a little angel, a little garden fairy for me. She is a gem, and I really enjoy my salad garden.'
Newport Beach resident Kathy Purdy sees herself as another happy client. She's been gardening for the last couple of years at her home, with mixed results.
'I just reached a place where I've done it a lot myself,' Purdy said. 'My kids have given me books to read, and I've listened to a couple of a podcasts, but I just wasn't progressing.'
Purdy, a therapist by trade, understands the supportive power that the Homegrown Culinary Gardens product can provide. Norton is showing her the need to harvest regularly, for example, so things don't get out of hand.
'It feels really good to give me some structure around what I'm doing,' Purdy said. 'With Courtney's energy, it's all about seeing the space, using it really well organically.'
Norton said she wants to meet clients where they're at and cater to their needs. For cocktail lovers, a cocktail garden with basil, rosemary and mint makes sense.
Clients only need the desire to connect and learn, she said, and shouldn't be afraid of failing or feel intimidated.
Norton has always shopped at farmer's markets and also uses a service called Avocado Toast and Grocery to procure some edible items from Los Angeles.
'It's kind of that farm-to-table concept, but making it really easy for people and very accessible,' she said. 'I do everything from little herb gardens to big installations. It's really exciting. I've just been having a really good time with it.'
A byproduct of the new business is fostering that sense of community she values, one romaine lettuce or Swiss chard head at a time. In the future, Norton could see herself hosting workshops at her home.
'Everyone's so disconnected and lonely,' she said. 'For me, I love having big dinners, friends over and people at the table.
'For me, food and community is very tied together.'
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