Features
A new dawn
'The Big Easy' may be internationally renowned, but organic gardening is perhaps not the term that first springs to mind. Aside from being this year's Most Dangerous City In America (averaging one murder a day) in the 2008 annual crime ranking statistics, New Orleans is thankfully internationally famous for many more salubrious reasons - the music, the cuisine and Mardi Gras to name but three. The birthplace of jazz (and hometown of Louis Armstrong) has, over centuries, amalgamated Creole, African, French, and Spanish food traditions, and boasts a myriad of cooking styles as distinctive, hot and spicy as the city itself.
More recently, New Orleans attracted global media attention when it was hit hard by one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. In August 2005 the world watched in horror as thousands of homes were swamped by floods resulting from the failure of the levees - walls built to control the lake and river - at no less than 53 points throughout the city. An estimated 1,836 people died as a result of the disaster, and many thousands who evacuated chose never to return, with the lingering floodwaters literally stewing their properties and possessions, leaving them very little to return to. (There are still some 65,000 ruined properties or empty lots throughout the New Orleans area, and the population, though slowly regaining, is only around 70% of its pre-Katrina levels.)
New hope
Wherever you go in New Orleans, at any time of year, 'the Storm' is always close to the surface, both conversationally and physically. Outside of the French Quarter - sensibly built on higher ground in the early 1700's, and still a traditional safe house each hurricane season - many properties bear tell-tale tide marks, inside and out. An Italian bakery in Mid-City displays a small waist-height brass marker inside its front door, simply engraved 'Katrina', to show its own waterline history to each customer who pulls the handle on leaving. One cannot even begin to imagine what this city has endured, but the tragedy has undoubtedly brought about a heartening new dynamic, with over one million volunteers visiting the city to 'do their bit' since Katrina, and giving those already working on the ground in the community a renewed sense of purpose. The city and its inhabitants are fortunate to have an organic grass roots brigade, comprising characters of immense energy and determination.
Aside from the devastation to humans, homes and businesses, some 75% of the trees greening the cityscape were destroyed and two thirds of the operational community gardens were effectively wiped out by the flooding. And so Parkway Partners, an organisation established in 1982 to improve green urban space for the city through a variety of projects and partnerships, rapidly re-booted its mission to re-leaf the city as fast as possible in the aftermath. Prior to Katrina, New Orleans hosted one of the greatest tree canopies in the US. In response to the storm loss, over 4,500 trees, from live oaks and holly, to pistachios, have already been replanted.
Regeneration
On the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the locals are preparing for another almighty storm as Gustav threatens to form into a frightening Force 5, projected to hit Louisiana's Crescent City in just a few days.
'Macon Guy - Garden Guy' is one of Parkway's pioneers, and he remains philosophical about the oncoming storm, deciding to sit this one out rather than join the hundreds of thousands evacuating on the congested highways. An organic horticulturalist by trade, Macon is intensely passionate about his work. He explains how the community gardening system works here, and, in this metropolis "where people simply refuse to be organised" it makes the largely uncoordinated but blossoming Irish network of community and school gardens seem outstandingly structured by comparison.
The adoption of 'neutral ground' and blighted land forms the basis for community gardens established by Parkway Partners. Urban sites left to rack and ruin become eyesores, and the owners, often living in other states, are traced by Parkway and offered a deal: let us take over the land, clean it up, and indirectly you'll be contributing something to the community in the process. The plots are then cleared and available in sections for budding gardeners, who volunteer themselves informally rather than through any specific recruitment drive.
"You can tell the ethnicity of people involved in each garden purely by seeing which crops are growing". It's the elderly African Americans who tend to have the most staying power, Macon notices, but Latino and Vietnamese communities are also represented; younger bohemian good-lifers come and go; and on occasion well heeled academics come forward to take a plot. A true 'slice of life of New Orleans' Macon says. Two of his best growers are Leola and Eola, who despite being in their 60's and 70's, with one sporting a bad hip and knee, are good growers of greens; they produce enough for themselves and to supply friends and neighbours. Others grow and sell from the garden on a Saturday morning, making anywhere from just a few dollars to over $100.
Sense of purpose
At its peak there were over 150 community gardens, really too many to be sustainable, Macon notes. Post Katrina there are now 26 gardens back in action, and 8 active school gardens. Many school children didn't return to garden projects after the storm. Another casualty was the number of community gardeners themselves, as some of the older African American men who survived the aftermath simply "lost the will to live" in subsequent months. "There was a lot of despondency. But the gardens give a sense of hope and purpose, a kind of renewal to these elderly folk. Gradually we are starting to hear from some of the old gardeners, it's great when they make contact."
Salad greens and herbs, okra (plentiful in the increasingly popular farmer's markets, traditionally served sliced, dipped in breadcrumb and fried), aubergines, and chillies abound. And talking of chilli, Louisiana's love affair with hot sauce has yielded a unique product made by participants of one of Parkway Partners' projects. Jean Fahr, director of Parkway Partners, proudly produces a few bottles of this year's winning Seven Pepper Hot Sauce and describes how the God's Vineyard community garden that produces it was established over a decade ago in an unused yard of a Baptist church.
Initially gardened by local families, the Central City site unexpectedly became a popular haven for young boys from the St. Thomas Housing Project. A community garden in the truest sense, vegetables, poultry and other produce from the small site are transformed into a vital food service for the local community - each month some 1,500 of the neighbourhood's poor receive God's Vineyard meals. Yet another victim of Katrina, the destroyed garden has recently been re-established and is once again producing peppers for its hot sauce - sold locally to raise funds for college scholarships for the young men who work in the garden - and meals for the community.
Learning support
Anne Baker was amongst New Orleans' first certified organic growers. An art graduate who had worked in garden centres, she always had memories of her family growing their own food and how good home-grown tasted. The Deep South is different to elsewhere in the US she notes. "It's not California, and farming is very synthetic chemical dependent here in the Gulf States; it will take a while to get everyone educated". On the other hand, there are positives to be found in the lack of development in some areas. "Much of the infrastructure, like the traditional corner store in the neighbourhood, is still there. That's not to say there's much fresh produce getting into them just yet, but to have that framework there, it's a start. In a way, it's like we're so backwards, we're forwards."
Anne managed The Vintage Garden and Food Farm, a certified organic farm and nursery which dissolved after Katrina. "Our main clients were people with disabilities, and so many of them moved away after the Storm". Now self-employed, Anne is in the midst of setting up her own growing site which, in time, she'll get certified. She plans to supply some local restaurants with salads, spinach, kale, snow peas (mangetout) and herbs. She is also passionate about teaching people how to grow sustainably, delivering training courses for the New Orleans Food and Farming Network on everything from marketing produce, chemical-free disease and pest control, and garden tool maintenance. The Network offers low-cost classes "for as many green-thumbers as they can fit on a small community garden lot" as part of its campaign to ensure everyone has access to fresh, healthy, sustainably produced food.
Winter veg
Now, in December, as the Irish winter sets in, the growing season in Louisiana is really taking off. With temperatures hitting over 100 degrees and severely humid in summer, October through to April is the peak production period. Fortunately for New Orleans the threat of Gustav diminished over subsequent days, reducing to a category 2 and sparing the city, now able to relax until next year's hurricane season. It's hard to imagine it, but as we prepare our beds for winter amidst the sleet, hail and snow, temperatures in La Nouvelle-Orléans are hitting a clement 70 degrees Fahrenheit right now…
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