From the Dirt Up: Why Every Chef Should Grow Something
From chef to seed curator, this story traces how growing food transformed my relationship with cooking—and how Love and Vegetables helps others start their own journey from the dirt up.
CULINARY ROOTSGROW YOUR OWN FOOD
Keith Kalm
5/10/20253 min read
The Illusion of Knowing Food
When I first started cooking professionally, I thought I understood food. I could break down a fish, grill a perfect steak, and plate a dish with precision. But it wasn’t until I started growing my own food—literally getting my hands in the dirt—that I realized how much I was missing. Food is not just technique or presentation. It’s time, soil, weather, patience. It’s a relationship.
Miami Beginnings
After culinary school at Luzerne County Community College, I moved to Miami and landed at BLT Steak on Ocean Drive under Chef de Cuisine Samuel Gorenstein, who was nominated for a James Beard Rising Star Award. It was a trial by fire. That kitchen taught me discipline, detail, and how to push myself.
The Yoga Farm in Costa Rica
After BLT, I stepped off the gas and took a different kind of journey. I went to Costa Rica and volunteered at a yoga farm, cooking for others while living off-grid. Meals were simple but soulful—made with ingredients grown right there in the jungle or pulled from the surrounding permaculture gardens. That experience cracked something open in me. Food didn’t need to be fancy to be powerful. It just had to be real.
Back in Miami: Earth N Us Farm
When I returned to the U.S., I found Earth N Us Farm in Little Haiti, a lush urban homestead that became a second home. I worked the soil, planted vegetables, and started to understand food from seed to plate. It changed how I cooked—and how I lived.
From Sourcing to Serving
Later, I joined Chef Michael Schwartz of the Genuine Hospitality Group to help open a new restaurant concept. I didn’t just work the line—I became the person sourcing our ingredients. Every morning, I went to the market, talked to farmers, and brought back the best of what South Florida had to offer. That experience rooted me even deeper in the idea that great cooking starts long before you turn on the stove.
Love and Vegetables: The Evolution
Eventually, all of that came together in Love and Vegetables—a pop-up dinner series and personal chef business I ran for over eight years. We hosted gatherings surrounded by garden beds, cooked plant-based meals with freshly harvested produce, and brought people back to the source of their food.
Today, Love and Vegetables is an heirloom seed company. I use the same discerning eye I once used to source produce for fine-dining kitchens to now select and offer seeds that are flavorful, resilient, and ready to thrive in home gardens across the country. Whether you're planting in a raised bed or a recycled coffee can, these seeds represent more than food—they represent a future.
I also run the Survival Seed Vault, curating emergency seed bundles with long-term food security in mind. Because growing your own food isn’t just rewarding—it’s revolutionary.
Grow Something—Anything
Growing food changes you. It slows you down and tunes you in. You stop wasting herbs because you know the weeks it took to grow them. You treat a misshapen tomato like a treasure. You connect.
Even when I’m cooking for 200 guests at the club or prepping cornbread in hotel pans, that connection is with me. I think about the seed, the soil, the sun—and the hands that planted it. Whether that’s a small organic farmer or someone cracking open a Love and Vegetables seed pack for the first time.
Ready to Dig In?
If this story resonates with you, maybe it’s time to grow your own. Start with something small—a basil plant, a patch of lettuce, or a pot of cherry tomatoes.
Or dive right in with one of our curated Love and Vegetables Seed Collections. Every seed we offer has been hand-picked, tested, and loved. Because the best chefs—and the best meals—start from the dirt up.