Claire Reynolds | Love Joy Farm
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Claire Reynolds
Love Joy Farm
Jonesboro, Clayton County
Ironically, one of the biggest challenges flower farmer Claire Reynolds faced this year was a flowering vine. She had a vision to clear a new field at her Love Joy Farm in Clayton County, but first she would have to tackle the vine that had taken over.
“We found wisteria two feet down—roots and vines the size of your arm. It was sobering. I didn’t know if it was going to be usable because of how invasive wisteria was.” With a mechanical assistance grant from Food Well, Claire was able to hire Small Farmer at Large Chris Theal to save the day with his big orange tractor. “Now I have another 3,000 square feet of planting area. Everything is growing really well. So, it’s been another major expansion for me. No part of it would have been possible without Food Well’s support.”
Locally grown flowers like the zinnias, dahlias and other varieties grown on Claire’s farm not only provide an extra incentive to head to your neighborhood farmers market, they’re the primary food source for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators whose job it is to pollinate 35% of the food we eat—by volume, approximately one out of every three bites of our food.
Along with flowers, Claire now has rows of tomatoes, tulsi, oregano, lemon grass, and hibiscus. “This allowed me to branch out and think about growing new crops. It gave me an opening and ability to think about how I want to grow my farm and how I want it to evolve—yet another transformation courtesy of Food Well and an opportunity to dream bigger.”
Prior resources from Food Well have included compost for soil amendments, labor support, a walk-in cooler, and a fully enclosed workspace with air conditioning. Claire says the farm is flourishing. “It’s an unfolding, a blossoming of this business that is Love Joy Farm. All this support is allowing me to keep going. It’s like having a business partner. It changes everything when you feel like you’re not alone, and that there’s financial support and labor support. Food Well's support has not only offered a way out of the struggle to stay in business, but also a way forward to grow.”
Claire loves to tell other farmers about the resources available through Food Well. “It’s better for all of us, the more farmers that are actually farming. When we show up at a farmers market, you’ve got all kinds of vegetables, mushrooms, flowers, and fruit. It creates a culture of farm to table that is hard to come by otherwise.” She encourages anyone considering a donation to take the leap. “Having the financial support from the greater Atlanta community really helps us build a supportive environment, farmer to farmer.”
You can find Claire’s handcrafted Love Joy bouquets at the following locations: Oakhurst Farmers Market every Saturday from 9AM - 1PM, the Virginia Highlands Farmers Market every Sunday from 8:30AM - 12PM, the Reynoldstown Farmers Market every other Sunday from 9AM - 12PM and monthly at the Grant Park Conservancy's Market in the Park on Sundays from 10AM - 3PM.
The new growing space on Love Joy Farm
Story of Claire Reynolds and Love Joy Farm from 2025
When Claire Reynolds prepares a bouquet, it’s done with care and intention. Each one is a small work of art filled with bursts of delphinium, zinnias, dahlias, and celosia, often arranged in a vase she’s handmade herself. Every bouquet is an opportunity to share love and joy with her customers. These are the flowers of Love Joy Farm, Claire’s small business built from her heart and her roots.
It felt natural when she began growing zinnias, her “gateway flower,” as her father was raised on a dairy farm, and her mother’s family once grew poppies in South Africa. Encouraged by friends and requests to teach workshops, Claire soon realized she had found her calling.
But running Love Joy Farm came with its own set of challenges. When we see a bouquet at a farmers market, we often don’t think about the time it takes not only to grow those flowers but also to prepare them for sale. “Fridays, the day before the farmers market, that’s a 12-hour day for me,” Claire explained. She would wake up early to harvest flowers before the summer heat set in, then spend hours arranging each bouquet under her carport workspace, which had no air conditioning. Once finished, she had to bring all the flowers inside to keep them cool overnight.
That’s when she applied for the Food Well Alliance Farm Forward Grant and an additional Special Project Labor Support stipend. With these funds, Claire was able to purchase and hire someone to install a walk-in cooler, fully enclose her workspace, and add an A/C system. “I can now harvest earlier in the week and save the flowers for the weekend, rather than doing it all on the same day.”
Thanks to the grant, Claire’s days became less about surviving the heat and more about crafting the bouquets she loves to make. She tapped into more Food Well resources, such as the Labor Stipend and Mechanical Assistance, which enabled her to grow more and receive help with maintaining her rows of flowers. “The support from Food Well Alliance has been transformational for the farm. From the free compost, to the plowing and tilling to the cooler grant, it has all moved my business forward and made me a much better farmer. In just one year of applying for all of the resources Food Well offers, I can see the results in just looking at the health of the flowers this year.”
Support has been key to helping Claire focus on what matters most. “Whenever I think farming really isn't sustainable for me to support myself, I remember all of the support coming from so many different places to help me keep going and to get better at it.. And I just have to have faith in that support and know farming is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing right now.”
You can find Claire’s flowers at the farmers markets in Oakhurst, Reynoldstown, and Virginia Highlands.
