Britt Browne's art is called LALA Farm. On a hillside in Lincoln Heights, CA is the canvas—an array of flourishing fruits and vegetables and while Britt works to perfect her craft, her work doesn't end with tending to her farm. LALA is also classroom for some and a means of business for others. "I have an art background and I found this as a really sincere expression—growing rare, old world vegetables from seed," Britt said.
It all began in New York, when Britt left her corporate job as an art director. She then moved to Vermont to harness her innate love for agriculture before returning to California because "the climate is so great for growing." Eventually, Roger Lowenstein rented out the land attached to his social justice-focused charter school, The Los Angeles Leadership Academy. Within a year, Britt has developed a Farming For Social Justice Class, where two classes of teens are being trained to be bio-dynamic farmers. As part of their studies, the students harvest, farm, and cook meals together after school.
"This is so special because we're teaching them a trade. They can love it and make a career out of it," the modern farmer explained.
The former corporate art director leads by example when it comes to creating a profitable business. In order to make the six figures she's aspires to (quite literally) raking in, Britt does direct trade with acclaimed chef and restaurateur Josef Centeno. Instead of scanning the aisles at his local market, Josef visits the farm, buys whatever is ripe, and makes his PYT menu off those fresh ingredients.
"There isn't always a clear pathway. You have to carve it out and now I'm living my dream."
Check out more pics from from our trip to LALA Farm below:
