Patty Lacrete | Bed Head Plant Nursery

Patty Lacrete

Bed Head Plant Nursery

East Point, Fulton County

In 2020, Patty Lacrete was looking for change. She was uninspired working her tech job, spending 40 plus hours at home on a computer and feeling burnt out. On a whim, she took a permaculture design certification course that changed her entire perspective. Organic gardening had always been a creative escape for her, but now she saw the chance to pursue it as a career. 

She left her tech job and enrolled in UGA to study Agriculture Science. Patty fell in love with the work and developed an ambitious goal to plant 1 million native plants. Realizing she couldn’t achieve this goal alone, she took an unpaid apprenticeship at the Wylde Center to learn more about running a nursery. “I learned how to plant everything from veggies to perennials to herbs and really fell in love with herbs,” said Patty. “I realized the human connections herbalists had, and how they took hold of their own health and helped people, using nature and plants.” That’s when the idea for Bed Head Plant Nursery, the first black, female-owned medicinal herb farm in Southwest Atlanta, was born!

With support from new and old friends, as well as the community, Patty raised $10,000 to purchase a greenhouse. That’s when she discovered Food Well Alliance. She got help building her greenhouse from Charles Greenlea and the Eco-PARADIGM crew through Food Well’s Labor Support program in November 2022. This year, Patty officially opened her nursery and started selling plants in the spring and fall at pop up plant sales around the city. “It was challenging knowing where to start, like learning how government entities like the USDA can assist me with growing, finding Food Well, and knowing what grants are available to me. If I had not made those connections, I don’t think I would be as far as I am right now.”

One of Patty’s favorite parts about running the nursery is connecting with people through volunteer days. The volunteer days provided an opportunity for folks to get outside, exchange knowledge, and build friendships. She regularly collaborates with the Atlanta chapter of herbalists from Sacred Vibes Apothecary who helped get her farm site to the level that it is today.

Now her focus is preparing infrastructure for 2024. Thanks to the Food Well Farm Support Grant and the Labor Support program, Patty was able to purchase and install a second greenhouse. “With a more predictable growing space, I can at least know or predict how much I’m going to be able to sell and what my profits will be for the coming season.” The new addition will also help double her production, extend her growing season and provide more space for educational opportunities.

“I am so grateful that my dream was actually manifested into reality because I see the effect in real time that it has on folks and also the community that it builds,” said Patty. “Like giving folks access to growing for themselves and learning how to grow is liberating. So I think it’s incredibly valuable that donors are able to see the connection and the local and personal growth they’re making.”