Jeanne Pinsof Nolan’s life gets a little busier around this time of year. The weather’s getting warmer, and now she can start putting into motion all the planning she’s done throughout the winter. It’s time to get things growing.

Pinsof Nolan is The Organic Gardener, which is also the name of her Glencoe-based business. Since 2005, Pinsof Nolan has been delivering a service to North Shore residents that she’s quite passionate about. She’ll consult, examine a backyard, teach how to garden, do the labor with homeowners, follow-up throughout the growing season, harvest and even come back the next year.

For Pinsof Nolan, gardening is not just about putting seeds in the ground or maintaining a plot in the backyard. She is committed to helping people succeed and enjoy growing an organic garden and then benefit from it. “It’s a lifestyle improvement that a lot of families are wanting to make,” she said. A garden is beautiful and enhances an outdoor space, but Pinsof Nolan is more concerned with the entire gardening process and how it can improve lives.

Involving the whole family
Pinsof Nolan’s specialty, aside from growing great produce, is working with families and teaching children how to be involved in a gardening endeavor. “The majority [of clients] want to work side by side us and learn,” Pinsof Nolan said.

Pinsof Nolan and her team specialize in making the gardening process kid-friendly. They encourage kids to work alongside them and use the experience for teaching. “We like to involved kids in the entire process,” she said, which includes everything from painting a fence to picking the ripe food. Pinsof Nolan treasures the role her garden plays in her own family. She loves being able to say to her 7-year-old daughter, “Will you go pick us some cherry tomatoes for dinner?”

Family is the reason Pinsof Nolan is in Glencoe right now. A New Trier graduate, she moved back to the North Shore after being away for 17 years. She had her own children and wanted to be closer to her family. Her first garden in the area was in her parents’ yard. “I realized that other people are going to want this,” she said, and she started a business. Pinsof Nolan spent that time away from home living on farms, and she’s been able to put that experience to use as her business has grown over the past few years just by word of mouth and her putting fliers up around town.

Reaping the benefits
Many of Pinsof Nolan’s clients are interested in reducing their carbon footprints. Eating locally is a great start, but, she said, “growing your own food is the ultimate way.” And there’s a long crop list of produce that can be grown in the North Shore, Pinsof Nolan said. For instance, it might surprise some that edamame is easy to grow and does well here.

Pinsof Nolan’s gardens typically incorporate flowers, such as sunflowers, which help provide the necessary nutrients to the soil and make it attractive. She’ll also help clients create a composting site on their property that recycles both waste from the garden and kitchen to create quality soil for vegetables to grow in. The timing has been right for Pinsof Nolan in terms of both of these green trends. “In 1987, people just didn’t get it,” she said. But now, it’s a different world.

Working in a garden is beneficial for today’s children, Pinsof Nolan said. She believes that kids suffer from nature-deficit disorder, a phrase coined by Richard Louv in his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods. Through getting children involved in gardening, they can experience physical activity, spend time outdoors and learn about healthy eating habits. It’s also good for the picky eater. “Kids are more willing to try a food if they’ve grown it,” Pinsof Nolan said.

Eating what you grown can also positively impact health, Pinsof Nolan said. While those who have asthma might struggle to be in a garden, Pinsof Nolan said that gardening can reduce the chance that children will get asthma later on in life. She also said that some nutrients in the soil have been shown to have the same effects as Prozac. Just being in soil and planting, tending and harvesting can be therapeutic.

Getting the garden
Pinsof Nolan will work with any type of gardener. Her website advertises that her team works with those of any experience level and in a variety of settings. She’ll design a garden to fit anyone’s needs—a backyard or frontyard garden and even one on a rooftop. One Northfield garden she started was 2,000 square feet. She’s also gone as small as 20 square feet. “Any size can work,” she said.

The process starts with a complimentary consultation. From there, she’ll outline a proposal, meet with the family to discuss what they enjoy eating and what they want from a garden and then, finally, design the planting area and put seeds in the ground. Her team is available to continue helping in the garden or not—it’s entirely up to the client.

Teaching the community
In addition to the reach Pinsof Nolan has in terms of North Shore families, she is active in sharing her love of organic gardening with area students and even a good number of Chicagoans. She partners with area schools to provide gardens in classrooms and tends The Edible Gardens at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Farm-in-the-Zoo, a destination for summer camps and school field trips that allows students to work in the garden and learn where food comes from.

Pinsof Nolan also speaks about her work around the community. Her previous engagements have included the Kenilworth Garden Arts Club and audiences at the Wilmette Public Library.

For the love of gardening
Pinsof Nolan loves getting to see a child pull a carrot or a blue potato out of the earth. And, of course, she enjoys what she grows and can definitely taste the difference in quality. Her favorite items to grow and eat are sun gold tomatoes, which are a yellow cherry tomato, and Armenian yard long cucumbers. “I’m happy to be able to share what I’ve learned and love working with kids,” she said.

To learn more about The Organic Gardener, visit www.theorganicgardener.net or call (847) 636-2720.

To see photos of some of Pinsof Nolan's gardens, click here.

—Kimberly Reishus, Triblocal.com staff reporter