As you drive around New Orleans, taking in the colorful houses and arching oak trees, every so often you might notice a seemingly empty lot with a colorful sign out front reading “community garden.” For many years locals and organizations have transformed empty lots into a valuable resource for the community.
Some of these lots are owned outright, while others are leased through programs like New Orleans Redevelopment Authority’s (NORA) Growing Green program. This initiative “allows the general public to lease NORA property for uses such as community gardens, urban farming, and pocket parks.” This creates a use for otherwise empty property, while also giving the community an oasis from city life.
Food Deserts
However, beautification is not the only goal of a community garden. For many neighborhoods in New Orleans, fresh produce is not easily available. These areas have been called “food deserts” – regions where access to affordable, nutritious meals are limited to nonexistent.
“In the United States,” explains a National Research Council study in the National Library of Medicine, “food deserts tend to be located in urban and rural low-income neighborhoods, where residents are less likely to have access to supermarkets or grocery stores that provide healthy food choices. For communities with few food retailers or supermarkets that stock little or no fresh produce, low-fat dairy, whole grains, and other healthy foods, those populations may be more likely to suffer from high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity.”
For many of the neighborhoods we serve, the closest grocery store is three miles away with limited public transportation. This results in many trips to the corner store, where options range from junk food to sodium-packed canned goods. Over the years many have seen the need for fresh produce, jumping at the chance to transform an empty lot into an invaluable resource.

Capstone Community Gardens and Orchard
For over a decade we have partnered with Capstone to renovate and maintain their gardens throughout the Lower 9th ward. Volunteers have put up new fences, organized materials, harvested produce, and maintained the grounds. Earlier this year one group learned how to jar honey from Capstone’s bee hives!
Dave Young, founder of Capstone, praised that CrossRoads has “provided consistent and reliable volunteers and leadership. Having worked with us many times they can be given the objective of a project and accomplish it without constant oversight allowing me to focus on other beneficial tasks.”
Capstone’s goal goes well beyond providing free produce. “We offer the opportunity to be an active part of growing food,” Dave explained. “While we harvest and distribute to some directly, others harvest themselves, some help with growing. Some have benefited from being allowed to use grounds and tools to garden when they don’t have the resources themselves.”

Woven Roots Garden
In the St Roch neighborhood, the need for fresh food is still felt. Through our connections in the neighborhood, CrossRoads was able to provide support over the summer while the main gardener was away. While mowing and weeding, our volunteers got to meet locals and learn more about life in New Orleans.
The Woven Roots Garden appears unassuming from the street, but once you walk through the grapevine archway the garden opens up into an outdoor event space. Passing the multitudes of produce, the back of the lot is taken up by a simple stage where the garden hosts live music and community gatherings.
Garden on Marais
On the edge of the St Claude and Bywater neighborhoods is a hidden oasis named The Garden on Marais. This extensive garden is run by Elan Ministries and the St Luke’s Assembly of God congregation, while all the harvesting and maintenance is completely volunteer based.
Rev. Teresa Reiger, founder of the Garden on Marais and other ministries in New Orleans, shared how important community gardens are to the community. “In the space of a community garden, individuals of all ages are given opportunities to dig, pull, plant, and harvest with others. This attentiveness to a garden and to others develops the faculty of mind and heart in attentiveness in other aspects of one’s life.”
Colorfully painted shipping containers define the front boundary of the garden, creating a stage for events and performances. Various animals come to greet you at the fence. As you look back the garden extends to the railroad tracks. Throughout the day various volunteers spend time harvesting, weeding, and learning.

Rev. Teresa has been working with volunteers for almost 20 years and has a unique perspective on the importance of mission groups. “Volunteer groups are essential to the life of a community garden for the following reasons: 1. Resources: They provide resources to community gardens often in need of additional assistance. 2. Learning experiences: The volunteers who assist community gardens are also recipients in the process. They have the opportunity for lived experiences in a community other than their own. 3. Revitalization: Volunteer groups bring a fresh uplifting zeal that is such an encouragement to the community. Even a person driving by, seeing the work being done, is moved by the efforts of the volunteers.”
Over the summer CrossRoads volunteers helped sort and clean the warehouse at the garden. This will enable future maintenance to be completed more easily through better access to tools. We also helped clear a portion of the facility out. In the future the warehouse will be turned into a community center, expanding the services of the garden and extending the reach of the church.
Rev. Teresa added praise for CrossRoads groups and staff, “CrossRoads knows what needs to be done and they come alongside of leaders of organizations in the community and help take up some of the burden, especially in cases where the organization is limited in what it is able to do in the aftermath of difficult circumstances. I have witnessed and appreciate the willingness of the staff of crossroads to not only host and facilitate but to work alongside the volunteer teams.”

Join us!
If you are interested in service like this, plus much more, there are several ways to get involved:
Plan a week-long trip – serve with several local partners in New Orleans!
Apply to be a seasonal or year-long intern! Dive deeper into the culture, grow closer to God, and learn valuable skills while serving in New Orleans.
Support us – service like this is only possible through the support of people like you!