Kelly Lauber
Founder of Soul Farmer
Mother to Nora (4) and Teo (5)
Soul Farmer was founded in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic in the spirit of sharing a gift of goodness.
As markets, restaurants and farms were closing, I decided to transform our small home gardens in Tiburon and Calistoga into “Backyard Farms” to grow our own food. Come summer of 2020 we were swimming in produce and I began hand-delivering bouquets to neighbors, friends and family to share the extra goodness from the gardens. After seeing the smiles and hearing what was created with the bouquets, my journey of growing, harvesting and sharing curated, one-of-kind, bouquets began.
How has motherhood informed or changed your current career path?
They are the reason Soul Farmer was created.
Tell us something that is bringing you joy as a mother right now.
Watching both my kids understand the concept of sharing the gifts of goodness from our garden with others. Whether it’s a birthday, a special occasion or dinner at a friend’s house, one or both of them usually suggest we bring a harvest bouquet, pick a handful of carrots or cut some herbs to share. My heart bursts open every single time and I say to myself --“they get it”.
As a Montessori parent, anything you have implemented in your home or parenting to instill independence for your children?
Meal time is a sacred time in our family and we all participate. It is a time where we all enjoy conversation, share our favorite parts of our day and the kids help prep the meals, set the table and most importantly clear the table - HA!
Any ways you have managed juggling parenthood and being a business owner?
Running Soul Farmer out of our house definitely has its challenges. Nora LOVES carrots. She always wants to pick the carrots for a snack - which is fantastic - except when I need the carrots for the bouquets (supply chain issue). In order to allow her to engage and participate in growing the vegetables we created special garden grow bags specifically for Nora and Teo to plant, tend, and harvest their own “snacks”.
Can you share a family ritual you love?
We are a F1 loving family (go Lewis Hamilton!), so most Sunday mornings you will find us making a big breakfast and watching the F1 race.
How have you involved your children in the art of growing food from seed to harvest?
The kids are participating in every aspect of growing the vegetables. They love planting the root vegetables from seed, watering and definitely pulling them up. Every few days they “check on” things to see if anything is ready to harvest. If you’re interested in getting your kids involved in growing your own vegetables, definitely start small, give them their own space to tend to and most importantly let them have fun - even it means nothings grows.
Any Favorite products in your household right now?
Any and all cookbooks. Nora and I love looking through cookbooks to plan our next meal.
Real Good Greens. Even though I grow vegetables I love to support other small businesses and Real Good Greens delivers local fresh farm boxes, flowers, walnuts and wine! directly to your door.
Can you share a favorite Soul Farmer recipe that readers can cook at home with their families?
Chickpea, tomato and bread soup is a house favorite! The kids pick the needed veggies from the garden, we use some leftover bread we baked earlier in the week and mix it all together. Teo loves to use the potato masher to smash the chickpeas. Sometimes I’ll also toss in sausage or chicken if we have it in the fridge.
More favorite recipes right this way.
