In 2007, the founders of Jones Valley Teaching Farm transformed three acres of vacant downtown property into a budding urban oasis, driven by the singular mission of making our community a healthier place. In no time, the Farm was teeming with organic produce, to the delight of local restaurants and citizens alike. Since then, Jones […]
Initially, a group of Lafayette Community members came together to form the Local Foods Group under the inspired leadership of local “green” activists. From 2008 through 2011 the group searched Lafayette for an appropriate site to establish a community garden and outdoor learning center. The goal was to create an inviting community space where citizens […]
The mission of the Well Fed Community Garden is listed on the Irregardless Café website: “To provide an opportunity for community members to learn how to grow their own food, to reinforce the community’s ties to the environment; and to increase food access and food security within our community.” Some of the community benefits include […]
The catalpa tree in the front yard of our family farm is still living today. As far as we know our parents planted the tree. There are six of us. Pa and Ma referred to us children as “first and second crop hay” as they had two girls and a boy (like first cutting of […]
I was a very little girl during the early 1940s and our country was at war. There were air raid drills and black-out curtains and black outs. People bought War Bonds to show their patriotism. I remember rationing of gasoline and sugar and other things. So many things were needed for the war effort. Fresh […]
Jeanne Beatrice Braud was born in Thibodaux, which was a small French speaking settlement in southern Louisiana, in 1887. There are records showing the family in Thibodaux, Lafourche parish by 1840. Growing up in Thibodaux at that time the family only spoke French. After marrying and starting a family, Beatrice and her husband, Jacque Toups, […]
Love for good food, love for the Earth we grow it in, and love for the communities we share it with, can only lead to one thing—more love. At Grow Appalachia, that love is initiated in the grants we give out to partner sites, is passed on in the workshops and resources the partner sites […]
I’ve always lived what I’ve considered an environmentally conscious life-style; living in a dense, urban neighborhood, biking or taking transit to work, shopping local, eating a primarily plant-based diet, recycling, composting and much, much more. I’ve kept a vegetable garden for years and recently started raising backyard chickens, (which has been fun for me and […]