Our Bastion staff and community members are constantly working to find new, creative ways to implement sustainable agriculture practices on our site. In the last year, our community garden has grown exponentially thanks to new planter boxes, trellises, and garden beds built by a Headway program participant with a vocational track in carpentry. Navy veteran Nick also built Bastion’s chicken coop, which provides our residents with fresh eggs weekly.
Bastion’s community garden and chicken coop help bolster our food pantry supply, and offer unique learning opportunities for our community as we work with local partners and experts like our friends at Recirculating Farms to improve and expand our agricultural efforts.
“Recirculating Farms has a long time experience working with veterans in agriculture, sharing knowledge on how to grow fresh produce, acquire land, and increase technical knowledge,” said Farms Manager Julianne Lamy. “I am excited to continue the program with Bastion, a community full of opportunity and warm smiles!”
Through workshops with Recirculating Farms, our veterans learn about local food systems and gain hands-on experience working on projects that build skills and confidence while benefiting the entire community. The fresh produce harvested from Bastion’s gardens are often used by our resident chefs for community meals and used by our occupational therapy team, Caity Bower, LOTR and Clinical Director Rachel Schwenk, OT/L in their weekly cooking groups. These cooking groups are an opportunity for Headway program participants to connect and socialize while gaining nutritional knowledge and fostering independence in the kitchen.
Bastion’s winter harvest truly blew us away, with an abundance of leafy greens including lettuce, cabbage, chard, chives, and so much more. Between veteran vocational projects and planting sessions with Recirculating Farms, the Bastion community has recently planted strawberries, fingerling potatoes, beets, radishes, carrots, and brussel sprouts. Although the temperatures are already starting to feel like spring here in New Orleans, these are typically considered “late winter” fruits and vegetables. Our early spring plans include a new herb garden that will provide us with cooking essentials like basil and parsley.
The shift from winter to spring gardening is being fully embraced here at Bastion, as Nick is working to build an outdoor classroom adjacent to our community garden for the kids of Bastion to learn, grow, and play together. He’s also installed a new misting station in our greenhouse, a small structure built by a whole team of Headway program participants that holds our smaller seedlings before they’re ready for planting.
Our future outdoor classroom will create more space for our Kids Garden Club, launched by Bastion resident Clarissa, which has grown in size and curriculum throughout the past year. Clarissa’s garden club experience combines planting lessons, education about where our food comes from, and crafting sessions with residents from all generations in our community. Clarissa’s curriculum cites research about the physical, mental, and emotional health benefits of gardening for kids, and is excited to see the kids of Bastion continue to learn and grow through gardening this spring.