An urban farm, community garden, hen house and CSA market right in the middle of New Orleans.

One of my very favorite spots in New Orleans is the Hollygrove Market and Farm. It is the first place I ever saw CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in action. Today, we took a field trip over to the market and to take a look at the farm after the big storm.

At the entrance, a local shrimper – one of the very few with available shrimp now.  I have never eaten shrimp so have no idea about what is good or bad, but the colors in these shrimp were amazing!

Inside the gate we were greeted by the pie man Mr, Erskine Taylor III (his wife is the pie maker) selling mini sweet potato, lemon meringue, and pecan pies. Very tempting! His smile and Louis Armstrong’s music always provide a wonderful welcome.

We strolled around the farm a little, but most everything is either just planted or already harvested. So there was not a lot to see today.

Inside was an array of fruit, veggies, cheese, honey and preserves. Lot of chilies and a whole lot of okra! Some apples. Not sure if it is the result of the storm or the season, but the bins were pretty bare compared to what we usually see.

Bought a bunch of apples; our first for the year. The taste is unbelievable!

And if you need another incentive to visit it is worth the trip just to see their vertical garden setup. Here is an artist representation. The tall things are called towers and have a series of adjustable ports (see the grey things on each tower).  Each port has a little pot attached to it. The pot holds seeds, plantlings or plants in water. Not only do they look kind of cool, they are incredibly efficient. Each tower uses no soil and only 5% of the water and nutrients needed in a conventional garden.  David has lusted for one since we first saw it!

If you can’t make it to New Orleans you can still take a mini-tour of the facility by visiting the HollyGrove Market site.

Gotta go eat another apple!