Proud to say that two of the three chefs in the Paradigm Gardens worked with me at MarketUmbrella as staff during each of their transitional periods to running their own kitchens. Both are absolutely committed to regional products and working as partners with their producers. Glad to see this being attempted by this smart group.

Best quote:

Urban farming and growing vegetables is in no way very lucrative, unfortunately. There are a number of great nonprofits and community gardens in the city but it’s not a great business model. We put about $25,000 of our own money into building and maintaining everything here. So we thought about how we could make it work. The idea was to create a functioning, sustainable plan for an urban garden. So we came up with the idea of the concert series and have started using the space for events. We’ll be doing field trips with kids; we’ve had some art gallery and food truck nights and people can rent the space if they want for any type of event, including weddings or parties…

Source: 3-Course Interview: Joel Hitchcock-Tilton | 3-Course Interview | Gambit – New Orleans News and Entertainment