Meet A Nashville-Based Culinary Garden Designer Who Can Grow Food Anywhere

Sara Gasbarra is a Chicago native and founder of Verdura, a culinary garden design service. With her help, home cooks and head restaurant chefs can access fresh ingredients they grew themselves.

Sara's love of gardening comes from a childhood spent with her father in his vegetable garden. That plant prowess and her ability to cook instilled a love of cooking with what she grew herself. As an adult, she always managed to convince her landlords to let her plant a garden on whatever green space was available. She kept a garden in pots on the porch if no yard was available.

The inspiration to turn gardening into a career came from watching the landscaping crews make improvements along Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Sara knew then that she wanted to spend her days outside, too.

Sara began volunteering at a Chicago farmers market to spend more time outside. She eventually became the market's project manager at the same time Instagram was becoming popular. She found herself taking photos of the vegetables and herbs at the market.

The market was a favorite shopping spot for Chicago's top chefs, and as they met Sara and came to understand her skill set, they asked her to create culinary gardens for their restaurants.

Sara carefully sources her plants and works with plant nurseries and farms that do their own propagation. She loves unusual tomatoes, uncommon eggplants, and plants that aren't generally found in stores.