Covenant Farms

Covenant Farms is launching an urban farming in downtown New Orleans initiative. By using abandoned and under-used land in the city’s post-Katrina landscape, Covenant Farms is working to resurrect the Victory Garden concept as part of a recovery model.
The Tulane City Center, along with the New Orleans Food and Farm Network have partnered with Covenant House to devise a strategy for turning some of the city’s 30,000 blighted lots into greenspace that can also help to bridge the gap between food and table in one of the city’s many ‘food deserts’.

At Covenant House, young people between the ages of 16 and 21 receive shelter, education, job training, counseling, clothing, childcare, medical attention and an opportunity to repair their lives. Covenant Farms will introduce students to urban farming through the work of hands-on gardening and a paired curriculum focused on food justice. Using several donated lots in downtown New Orleans, students will clear, plant, cultivate and harvest edibles. They will apply the landscaping techniques and will help to supply local produce for the Covenant Café. At the same time, the gardening expertise learned at Covenant Farms can be considered part of a body of life skills that lead to self-sufficiency for each individual.