On Monday, February 26th, New Orleans citizens were hit with hard news: after nearly ten years of operation, Hollygrove Market & Farm announced it would be closing its doors. They offered a glimmer of hope in a revival, but additional news coverage detailing the mounting debts of the organization make it seem highly unlikely that the hub of local food in New Orleans can come back to life.

Shoppers wait in line at Hollygrove Farm & Market’s clearance sale and last day of business. *Photo courtesy of John Strange

Hollygrove Market & Farm strived to set the precedent for what local food needs to be: accessible to all.  Whether or not they achieved their goal is another subject matter, but for the past ten years they’ve been selling local vegetables, fruits, and food products in an area that is a food desert, and they offered discounts to residents in the neighborhood. Over the years, they slowly changed their hours of operation to being open every day of the week. This past year, they introduced workshops on how to grow your own food and other do-it-yourself programming. The organization delivered their $25 boxes filled with vegetables and fruit to over 100 households every week. If people needed free food they could get a box in exchange for volunteering at the market for four hours. Hollygrove also had a farming apprenticeship program, and many community gardening plots. The staff at Hollygrove were slated to take over the Eat Local Challenge this year. Last June, Why NOLA Farms and the NOLA Social Ride began and ended the annual urban farm bike ride in conjunction with the Eat Local Challenge at their farm and market.

Where do we go from here? Who’s responsibility is it to ensure that the local food economy continues to thrive here? What will become of the farmers who depended on this market’s existence for revenue? What can WE do?

I’m not sure what the answer is yet, but I know that I will now be making more of an effort to support our local farmers markets. Instead of having access to local food 7 days a week, we will have access to it only 5 days a week now. Why NOLA Farms will be continuing the tradition of the urban farm bike ride. You can expect for this blog to become much more active. There are lots of gardeners and farmers in this town, there are likely more than you realize. It’s time that we supported their community events more. If you’d like to see what events are happening, visit the Community Events calendar on this website. Please contact us if we are missing any events.

Thank you Hollygrove Market & Farm for everything that you have done for the community over the past decade. It’s time that we citizens step up to continue the legacy of what Hollygrove Market & Farm started. We need to engage in our community more. We need to grow our own food. We need to attend farmers markets and workshops. We need to help and revive our community gardens. We need to keep the dialogue of local food needs open. I look forward to seeing you all out there.

While August is traditionally the month that many New Orleans residents go into hiding indoors to seek the comforts of their air conditioned homes, there are still lots of workshops and events happening in the gardening/eating local scene. Be sure to go out and support these organizations and businesses if you can!

Workshops: This month, Rosalie Apothecary has lots of workshops for participants to choose from. Rosalie kicks off two different kinds of class series, the Heart of Herbal Medicine, which happens every Wednesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m., and the DIY Fermented Food Series, which occurs every Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. Class subjects are comprehensive, and you can learn about how to make tinctures and syrups with local herbs, or how to make water kefir, kombucha, yogurt, and more. Check the calendar to view all of their class offerings, or go to their website.

On Saturday, August 12th, head over to City Park’s Botanical Garden at 10 a.m. to learn more about how to plant a fall vegetable garden. If you’re interested in learning about how to grow flowers year-round, head over to Hollygrove Farm & Market at 1 p.m. for Joanna Sese’s workshop, of Honey Pop Flowers.

At Longue Vue House and Gardens on August 26th, young children can learn about seed planting, dig for worms, and taste vegetables at the Kinder Garden event.

Parties: Also on Saturday the 12th, Grow On is hosting their first-ever Pepper Fest! Try samples of different pepper varieties, listen to some music, and grab some food and cocktails. Every Sunday, Hollygrove Farm & Market hosts a brunch in their garden from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring a different food pop-up vendor each week.

Markets: While the Wednesday Crescent City Farmers Market and the Creole Marche are on a summer break, you can still attend one of the Crescent City Farmers Markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, as well as the Refresh Farmers’ Market on Mondays, and Sankofa’s Fresh Stop Market on Saturday mornings.

Plant Sales: City Park will be hosting their monthly plant sale on August 5th, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

If you would like more information about these events, please check out our Community Events Calendar. We update it often, and it is where you can find all of the farming/gardening information for New Orleans events in one place! Please feel free to contact us at whynolafarms@gmail.com if you would like your local food event posted on the calendar!

This has been an increasingly active year in farming & gardening happenings in New Orleans. Despite the cold weather, lots is still happening in December, so be sure to get out and support your local farms and food organizations!

Classes/Workshops: As usual, Southbound Gardens is hosting a variety of workshops this month. Look out for their Basics of Beekeeping, Organic Bug Management, and Urban Composting workshops. Grow On will be hosting a Seed & Plant Winter Workshop on the 11th, and if you’d like to learn how to grow your own winter greens in a container garden, then you can also attend Longue Vue House and Gardens’ workshop on the same day.

Parties: There are lots of fun garden parties happening on Saturday, Dec. 10th! Press Street Gardens will be hosting their Winter Informal, where you can buy locally sourced holiday decor and food preserves. Also, Nola Tilth will be celebrating their new garden space with a bonfire, music, cocktails, charbroiled oysters, and there will be plants and gift items for sale from CRISP Farms and others. Every Sunday, Hollygrove Farm & Market will be hosting a Brunch in the Garden party. Look for different vendors selling locally sourced items, and the market will also be selling their satsuma sparklers, cheese plates, and French Truck coffee.

Volunteering: Every Wednesday afternoon, Press Street Gardens hosts an open garden time for volunteers. You can also volunteer at ReFresh Community Garden’s Volunteer for Veggies programs on Tuesdays (in Spanish), Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Markets: There are now farmers markets happening six days a week in New Orleans! On Mondays, head over to the ReFresh Farmers’ Market, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, the Crescent City Farmers Market hosts a market in a different part of town each day, and on Sundays check out the brand new Marche Creole Community Market!

Plant Sales: As usual, you can always depend on Southbound Gardens for their gorgeous plant starts. They have a plant sale every Sunday at their greenhouse, and this December they are hosting one on Saturdays as well!

If you would like more information about these events, please check out our Community Events Calendar. We update it often, and it is where you can find all of the farming/gardening information for New Orleans events in one place! Please feel free to contact us at whynolafarms@gmail.com if you would like your local food event posted on the calendar!