Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joni Albers. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joni, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I have had a passion for growing food for most of my life. It all started when I joined 4-H and planted my first garden at 6 years old. I entered my green beans into the county fair and won a blue ribbon. Fast forward about 30 years and I found myself in California starting my own heirloom vegetable farm in early 2020. The pandemic definitely accelerated my timeline, as the demand for fresh vegetables skyrocketed. At the time, I had a full time job in Technology & Media, but found myself wanting to switch professions and farm full-time. There were a series of steps I took over a two year period to make the switch. I started building on evenings and weekends to get things started. Then, once I was ready I made the shift to farming full time. I also began installing farms and gardens for others. This quickly expanded to chef-driven restaurant farms. I found the importance of urban farming something I wanted to bring to others. We now build and service small farms and gardens for private residences, restaurants, clubs and businesses.

Joni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Local food systems are going to be very important as we move into the next decade. Shipping vegetables all over the world when they can be grown in your immediate area is just not sustainable. But the reality is that few people have the time nor knowledge to operate a small farm. That’s where we come in. We have converted vacant lots, side yards, rooftops, lawns, etc into functioning farms, orchards, and gardens. What people don’t realize is that you can produce a lot of food in a small footprint. We work with the owners or chef’s to determine what is needed to meet their goals. For example, what they want to grow and how much of it. Each property is unique and comes with a different set of challenges. This is what makes us different. We cater to what meets your lifestyle and needs – that is very important to the success of each location. If you care deeply about eating food grown in healthy soils, free from not just pesticides but synthetic fertilizers and all the junk we all want out of our food systems, growing on your own land is one way to achieve that. Chefs use these farms, not only as a source of fresh produce, but for inspiration. It offers restaurants a way to allow guests to have an immersive experience of a true farm to table offering.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Initially, we grew produce to sell on our farm, at farmer’s markets and to restaurants. But the requests came in soon after to build farms for others. I think people were attracted to the diverse varieties we grew. They weren’t just purple eggplants, they were pink and orange and green and all shapes and sizes. They wanted these options for themselves. They were tired of what the grocery stores had to offer. Chef’s had their coveted varieties that were hard to find and the idea of growing it in their restaurant was very attractive. Our customers tapped into our knowledge and skills and parlayed this into their own mini-farms. Today, we build and service private residences, restaurants, rooftops, and businesses. We continue to add to the local food systems of LA one farm at a time.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Word of mouth and our social media. We share photos of all the unique varieties we curate for our customers. People get really excited about it and seek it out. We grow for flavor but also experience. Learning about the history of a seed, where it originated, how it was a part of a culture formed around it is really mind-blowing and it helps others understand the importance of biodiversity within our food. If you have ever visited a farm or garden that you were impressed by, you probably walked away seeing the possibility for your own home. When one chef sees another chef’s farm, they often reach out to see what we can grow for them. Its a really exciting way to grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hungrygardens.com
• Instagram: @thehungrygardens
• Facebook: @thehungrygardens

Image Credits

Photo Credit for two of the photos: Bradley Tuck otherwise all shot by me