Stories

Ron Zornes, 9th Ward

Ron lives on the street of many pronunciations. You try saying Urquhart. His house was knocked to the ground except the facade and the entire lot covered in eighteen inches of sand. This is a common practice in New Orleans. Below that sand is usually clay. The sellers laid down grass that I covered with wood chips. I planted pigeon peas, moringa, lab lab beans, Thai soldier long beans, cuttings of tithonia diversifolia and cassia. The hope is to reach through the sand and into the clay while building biomass. The ultimate hope is to build the soil using only plants that grow on site. This process of healing the soil began May 1, of 2022. In three short months, all of what was planted has reached up and formed a wall against the fence. Much of the aforementioned will be chopped and dropped and used for mulch in order to plant winter crops and build soil for spring. Photos of Ron’s space can be found on crispfarms.nola Instagram page.

Will Harrison, Midcity

Will lives over in Midcity close to Bayou St. John. His backyard measures about sixteen feet across. In the Southwest facing corner there is a concrete slabs and bricks that may have once made up some of what people call hardscaping. On August 9, 2022, Will lifted bricks from different spots. In each spot we planted sunflowers, moringa, and pigeon pea, a fun little experiment to see how these seeds will reach roots deep below the bricks. On August 13, he moved more bricks and planted seedlings of papaya, strawberry guava,

Evan Vodicka, Uptown

On July 13, 2022, I started an online class to share what I have learned growing in New Orleans for the last 18 years. Evan was the only one who signed up. His situation was unique in that he lived in an apartment building in the CBD and worked at a restaurant Uptown that had finely manicured landscaping. He considered possibilities. He could plant at his parents’. Perhaps approach places where they try to help people. He could even work on an abandoned lot. A small space at the restaurant between two buildings. We settled with the space at his restaurant. While this may never be a flourishing kitchen garden, there has become the opportunity of making a space for employees to gather during a break. Unique challenges like shade and limited space lead to more learning, more observation.