MEET OUR MAKER Lauri Kranz
Our community of like-minded partners includes gardeners that find inspiration in the soil, including Edible Gardens LA Founder, Lauri Kranz. Lauri designs and sustains edible gardens for chefs, restaurants, schools, and celebrity clients. She and her husband, Dean Kuipers, responded to the corona virus epidemic by putting together a farm delivery service that brings produce from the region’s most-beloved farms to peoples’ homes via contactless delivery. We checked in with Lauri to see how she’s staying fulfilled, optimistic, and joyful during these challenging times.
Lauri Kranz
ABOUT EDIBLE GARDENS LA
Lauri Kranz is a passionate advocate for planting gorgeous flowers and nourishing food together in the same garden. In her book, “A Garden Can Be Anywhere. Creating Beautiful and Bountiful Edible Gardens”, Lauri shares her secrets for planning, planting, growing, and maintaining luscious edible gardens, no matter the setting or size of the plot. Lauri also collaborated with LA candle maker Le Feu de L’Eau to create the Garden Collection, candles inspired by her favorite edible plants.
Le Feu de L’Eau

We caught up with Lauri in Los Angeles at the new home she moved into less than a week before the city shut down.

What’s your biggest challenge as a maker?

​I had to put a hold on going into client gardens as the pandemic hit. Health-wise, there are too many risks involved with going in and out of people’s homes, to nurseries, etc., for both myself and my clients. I have been offering support remotely and encouraging people to trust themselves and to immerse themselves in their gardens. We all have a green thumb, we just need to flex it and trust in ourselves and nature.

How are you staying strong and resilient?

When our lives changed overnight, I thought about the farmers that taught me how to grow good food. What was happening to their harvests now that the restaurants we all love were closing? How would they survive? My husband, Dean Kuipers, and I asked them if we could buy the beautiful food coming from their fields and we quickly put together a farm delivery service where we bring produce from our region’s most-beloved farms to peoples’ homes via contactless delivery. Doing this work keeps me calm, balanced and grounded. And I sleep well at night!

"I AM GRATEFUL THAT WE ARE ABLE TO DELIVER FOOD TO PEOPLE WITH OUR EDIBLE GARDENS LA FARM DELIVERIES AND SUPPORT OUR LOCAL FARMERS."

Where do you find moments of joy? What nourishes you creatively?

​I find great joy in our family dinners at the end of the day. We cook anything and everything we have on hand with wild abandonment. There is no schedule, no one has to be anywhere. The dogs are running through the kitchen. We let the night air in, doors and windows open. My dear friends live around the corner and each evening they walk by and we converse through the open door. I feel nourished by these moments.

What are you grateful for? Any special silver linings?

​I feel a real and positive change occur through these interactions. This work feels important and a move in the right direction for us all. In supporting our local communities and moving away from industrialized farming and commercial food distribution practices, we are able to bring some human scale to our food system, and to bring our bodies and the earth back to health.