Courtney Norton enjoys the idea of community.
She lives with her husband in the same Newport Beach neighborhood where she grew up. Her two teenage sons are students at Newport Harbor High School, as were their parents.
Norton lists some of her favorite moments of the day as when she is gardening in her backyard. She enjoys making edible food for meals, but it’s also about chatting with neighbors as they walk by.
“I like it because it just connects me to the community,” she said. “I am very excited to bring that energy and aspect to my community. Everyone’s in their homes, so I’m trying to break it up a little bit.”
This spirit of community collaboration has led Norton to her new business venture.
Courtney Norton tends to fresh produce with friends Allison Pence and Aleece De Vengoechea, left, in her Newport Beach home garden.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
She started Homegrown Culinary Gardens earlier this month.
The idea is quite simple. Norton offers a one-hour consultation where she meets with a client in their space.
But this is only the beginning. It also provides design, training, installation and maintenance. The services may be for those with less than a green thumb or experienced gardeners who just need a little guidance.
Norton, 48, previously worked as a social worker. But a trip to Tanzania with a group of Newport Beach women last year, made possible through the nonprofit Sojourn Foundation, inspired her. The group stayed on a farm while working at a local school.
Norton will return to Tanzania next month with her eldest son, Charlie, through another group, Asante Sana.
Fresh produce from Courtney Norton’s Newport Beach home kitchen garden.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
“They grow all their food there,” she said. “It’s all a very stable society. It really lit a fire in me.”
Home kitchen gardens have an intensive planting method, Norton said, using herbs and companion plants for pest control instead of insecticides. The result is a small ecosystem.
It’s completely organic and everything is edible, including the flowers that can serve as an elegant garnish.
Norton installed a salad garden at Mercedes Meserve’s Newport Beach home earlier this month, with items like herbs, mixed lettuce and kale. She brought worms and ladybugs, and Meserve said her family enjoyed doing a ladybug blessing in the garden that night.
“Courtney really educated me and literally gave me the tools on how to maintain my salad garden,” Meserve said. “This is the person I need in my life to help me keep going. Courtney has been a little angel, a little garden fairy to me. She is a gem and I love my salad garden.”
Courtney Norton tends to produce fresh produce in her Newport Beach home garden.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Newport Beach resident Kathy Purdy counts herself as another happy customer. She has been gardening for the past two years at her home, with mixed results.
“I just got to a place where I pretty much did it myself,” Purdy said. “My kids have given me books to read and I’ve listened to some podcasts, but I just wasn’t making progress.”
Purdy, a therapist by trade, understands the supportive power 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 very well organically.”
Edible flowers are featured in a salad mixed with fresh produce from Courtney Norton’s Newport Beach home kitchen garden.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Norton said she wants to meet customers where they are and take care of their needs. For cocktail lovers, a cocktail garden of basil, rosemary and mint makes sense.
Clients just need the desire to connect and learn, she said, and not fear failure or feel intimidated.
Norton has always shopped at farmers markets and also uses a service called Avocado Toast and Grocery to buy some groceries from Los Angeles.
“It’s kind of a farm-to-table concept, but making it really easy for people and very accessible,” she said. I do everything from small herb gardens to large installations. It’s really exciting. I just had a really good time with it.”
A byproduct of the new business is fostering the sense of community she values, one romaine lettuce or Swiss chard at a time. In the future, Norton could see herself hosting seminars in her home.
Fresh cabbage at Courtney Norton’s Newport Beach home.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
“Everyone is so disconnected and lonely,” she said. “For me, I like to have big dinners, friends and people at the table.
“For me, food and community are very much tied together.”
