Travel deep into New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and you’ll see there isn’t much left. At first impression, it seems as though you’re in a very rural area—the reason being that it's among the places the levee broke during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Some folks came back after Katrina, but for the most part, many were unable to return. To illustrate my point: The 2000 Census found that there were over 14,000 Lower Ninth residents. By contrast, in 2010, there were just more than 2,800. Today, in between the occasional sight of newly-built homes are abandoned houses, most of which are boarded up, left to rot. Many of the neighborhood’s asphalt roads have disintegrated into potholed dirt. Where there were once neatly manicured lawns, patches of forest are taking over again. It’s a striking sight to see, given how it’s actually a very urban area.
For all the good people who were able to rebuild or return to their homes after the storm, many more were not. The city’s neglect of the Lower Ninth and its most vulnerable citizens is an example of America at its worst.
Then there are folks like Jason Warrington, my Salt, Soil, & Supper guest this week, who are moving to the Lower Ninth today. Warrington is the recent founder of 9th Ward Farms. Importantly, he isn’t buying up lots to build and flip new houses. Instead, he’s building an urban homestead that will not only support him, but will also help alleviate the food insecurity needs of his neighbors.
Once you’re finished reading through my tour of Warrington’s homestead––complete with goats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, and a few German Shepherds––check out the lemon pound cake recipe for this week below.
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 XP: What’s the genesis story for your project? Or perhaps the better question might be, how does someone go from working customer service at a hotel to urban homesteading?
JW: My grandmother passed away about five years ago. She left me a little bit of money. I didn’t have a car at the time, so I was like, I could get a used car, or I can buy four lots out in the Ninth Ward [through a succession property.] I knew I could do anything with them right away. I figured it was a better way of honoring my grandmother, even if I couldn’t do much with it for a few years. I was the complex outlets manager at Hilton New Orleans Riverside, the main one downtown. They eliminated my position with COVID-19. It was just sort of like a sign that this is the perfect time to dive in and do what I've been talking about wanting to do. That's why I moved out from downtown and moved into the trailer last summer. I figured I’d put all the chips in.
I didn’t have a job. So, I thought the first thing I needed to do was not have any bills. I figured I could spend a couple of thousand dollars on a travel trailer and live out here. And it worked. Now, we’re just about breaking even. It’s not a moneymaker, but I wanted to do something a little more hands-on and satisfying. Customer service at the hotel was satisfying, but you’re dealing with international customers mostly. I wanted to be able to have repeat people that I could focus on and spend time with, like going to [Burnell’s Lower Ninth Ward Market.] And I work with a couple of other organizations, like [the food pantry] Sankofa. I know all the neighbors in a three-block radius. I’ve introduced them to the dogs. I walk the goat. I’ve given them honey. A couple of the neighbors I even drive to the market because they don’t have vehicles—and since there’s no grocery stores here besides Burnell’s—and they don’t even have that much.
But the idea is once this kind of gets built up, this would be a fresh food source, where neighbors don’t have to go so far, because we're in a food desert. It's categorized as a food desert by the USDA.
XP: Was there a point in the project where you thought it might not work? What was going on in your mind, and what was going on in that particular moment?
JW: Actually, no. [LAUGHS] I just went into it with a blind faith that it was the right thing to do and that it would work. I probably should have had a little bit more trepidation. But I mean, it's plants and animals and I could follow up and learn from the people I’ve met over the years. I wasn’t really scared or trepid at any time.
(See also: Salt, Soil, & Supper: Call it what it is—Food apartheid, in Scalawag)
XP: And you’re completely off the grid. Am I correct?
JW: I am. Well, now I have a little cheat room over here, but this is all off-grid. I have a generator over there. When I lived here for the last year, I would turn it on for two hours at the end of the day as my reward, you know?
XP: That’s intense. [LAUGHS]
JW: [LAUGHS] It’s so I could charge my phone and everything.
For water, we use rainwater harvesting. So, on this shed, we built on both sides separately. In the back, there's two 330-gallon IBC tanks. We source 660 gallons at a time. I haven't run out of water in the last 10 months. I got very close and I got a little nervous, but it's enough to water the plants, to feed all the animals, and then I use that for myself, too. I used it for baths and everything [before I rented a room for the summer due to the heat.] I would literally come over here with my pails, fill up a couple of gallon jugs, take it over there, shower, clean everything. So, that’s working well. Anything else that I build out here, I would definitely use the tanks again because it's free. It’s $75 for one of the huge tanks. Lots of times they're a lot easier to find the exact matches for the hoses and valves and everything. But they're only like 50 gallons. I’ll use 30 gallons a day just to water the garden out here. So, 50 gallons is a good supplement, but it's not a good replacement for a full garden.
XP: Could you explain how the solar energy aspect of the project works?
JW: This has been a major obstacle, to be honest with you. All the solar companies in Louisiana that I've contacted, that have contacted me, they will not install solar panels unless you have Entergy already hooked up. There's a big catch there, because they want to be able to recapture any electricity that’s not used during the daytime. It goes back into the grid for Entergy. So, they won’t put it in. The only solar I'm using right now, I have solar panel lanterns that charge in the day, and I can use those at night. And then I have solar lights that automatically come on. And the security system is all solar monitored, so it's motion detectors at night.
That was the biggest hurdle, which totally surprised me. I didn't understand how it worked. At first, I was like, wait, wait, I want solar, just install it. Here in Louisiana, it's not set up like California, where it's a little more progressive and they have solar panels with chargers in the home that will store the energy in the charger, and then you could drop them later on the day. Here, my understanding is that if I use it or lose it during the daytime, when you have solar access, any excess goes back to the grid for Entergy.
(See also: Salt, Soil, & Supper: Food apartheid, continued, in Scalawag)
XP: I was recently pretty put off myself at the solar options available here in New Orleans. Do you have in mind an option B at this point in time?
JW: For me, it's a little bit of a waiting game on which other properties I can acquire on that block. I didn't want to run electricity to a lot that I didn't end up using. When you put in with a master electrician for electricity, you have to put in a plan for the permit, like is there going to be a home here, or is there a commercial property?
XP: Do you think it would be viable for other folks to take up this kind of lifestyle?
JW: It’s not that hard out here in the Ninth Ward, because the prices are so low and there's a lot of programs through the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. So, the entry price is pretty low. But right now, you’re just sort of out in the country, even though you're in Orleans Parish.
I have animals. I also have an herb garden. Creole tomatoes, peppers, corn coming up.
This is the first crop. I planted some back in November, which is the very end of the planting cycle for the winter. Then we had a horrible winter, so it killed pretty much everything. Plus, I knew this going into it, but it totally drives home now. To start a farm up, it's not like you just pull a trigger, and all of a sudden you have plants and animals. You have to introduce every segment [of the project] as you go along. I started with chickens, and then goats, and put plants in, and I gave myself a couple of months with each project. So, now, everything is finally kind of coming together.
XP: It certainly looks like it.
JW: I have to forgive myself a little bit when something doesn't work out. It's a learning curve. Now, in year two I’m going to beat myself up if it doesn't work. But year one, it's trial and error.
XP: Did you have farming experience before this?
JW: Growing up, we had railroad ties in the backyard and my parents had not a farm, but a backyard garden. It wasn’t anything fancy. Then I have family in Arkansas who do commercial farming, which is totally different from this. When I started this, I started getting texts and stuff from distant family members, like, ‘What are you doing?’ Because for them, you need 300 acres. They grow corn, soybeans, and rice. They rotate those three products. For them, they couldn't imagine [how this might work.] If you’ve got half an acre, you're gonna starve yourself. But no, the idea is sharing with everybody how everything incorporates and feeds off each other, and also doing educational classes, which is the next step for me to start in June.
In the short term, I can set up over here and do classes on urban homesteading, like an hour, hour and a half, long classes on just the basics: where do you find these IBC totes, [for example?] Like, it was a learning curve, finding which valves fit, what works best for the hose, like simple stuff. I wasted $50 trying to figure out all that. So, you can come for the class and pay $40, and you save yourself money right there. Then we’ll go over the raised planting, animals, and then do some specialty classes focused on [folks who] want to raise goats, chickens, everything that's involved with that.
[POINTS TO BABY DUCKLINGS IN A COVERED BUCKET]
This is the newest addition. Hey, buddies!
I’ve only had them for a day. I got them at Tractor Supply. They are messy. Hopefully I can keep them in the front here, and they’ll be kind of like a door greeter. I'll get them a little pond in here and they can just kind of roam around.
XP: Has anyone challenged you on the idea that you’re buying up property in a historically Black neighborhood like the Lower Ninth Ward? Obviously, you could just as easily ask me the same question, as a recent homeowner in the neighborhood, but it seems like an important one.
JW: My direct neighbors within a few blocks have all been very supportive, and friendly, and also coming over and buying honey from me, and buying other products. I do feel some pushback when I'm trying to acquire a couple of other lots to extend the farm. That's the only pushback I'm really getting, support-wise. People have said this is a great project, they want to help out, or compost, or purchase honey. That’s been great. The only real hurdle I’ve is the idea that this area is already worth more than what it actually is on paper. If my neighbors come by and ask, ‘How did you get this lot?’ I’m just open with them and tell them through a succession.
XP: I noticed an abandoned structure on the property. Is there a history behind it? And do you have any plans for it down the road?
JW: It was Aguilar Construction, which was the largest Black-owned construction company in the state, in my understanding, up until Katrina. It's a point of pride for the community. It’s a landmark. Anybody that I’ve talked to on the farm, if they lived here, I usually mentioned that building and the intersection, and they know what I'm talking about. The owner’s wife passed away. It went to his daughter. And somewhere in there, that’s when I went through the succession, where I got four of the properties and they sold off four other properties. My intention is to keep the bones. I mean, it’s a landmark of the community and it was built by a construction company, so the bones are solid. It's ironwork. I would keep that and then take out all of the rotted wood and cinder blocks and rework the building.
XP: Any plans for the space in particular? I think I remember you mentioning once before that you plan to turn it into some sort of mixed-use space for both your home and a little grocery spot.
JW: It’s zoned as a commercial mixed-use, so what I would like to do is use floor level as a stable and grazing area. That way the second floor, which is eight or 10-feet, would be a living area and education area, have a commercial kitchen in that area, and teach classes on how to use the products that are on the farm: tomatoes and making tomato sauce, how to harvest the honey, that kind of thing. I would have an indoor space to do and have my living quarters here too. That’s the long-term plan. It’s not going to happen overnight. I know it’s going to be expensive. [LAUGHS] I’m kind of saving that one for last.
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Dallas Morning News, Francesca D’Annunzio
“The rising senior said he wants to be part of the solution to address climate change.”
The Times Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, Mark Schleifstein
“Mid-Barataria project could create 27 square miles of wetlands by 2050, at cost of $2 billion.”
WFLA, Allyson Henning
“If permitting is finalized, an offshore fish farm demonstration could soon be coming to the Gulf of Mexico. The aquaculture project is planned to be about 40 miles off the coast of Venice. It would be the first of its kind in federal waters.”
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Louisiana Illuminator, Sara Sneath
“Farm Bureau says solar development could grab up farmland.”
The Counter, Robin Caldwell
"The 1921 violence destroyed Black residents’ homes and a thriving food system built on community and entrepreneurship.”
Vox, Rebecca Leber
“Biden faces a critical decision about the Permian Basin and its methane emissions from oil and gas.”
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Lemon pound cake
The Ingredients:
- 1 package Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup apricot nectar
- 3/4 cup wesson oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1/4 cup orange juice + 3/4 cup powdered sugar, blended together (for glaze)
The Steps:
- Beat egg whites until stiff.
- Blend cake mix, egg yolks, oil, nectar, and extract.
- Beat 3 to 4 minutes.
- Blend in egg whites, and pour into 2 loaf pans (about 9x5x3.)
- Bake at 325 degrees between 45 to 50 minutes.
- Cool in a pan for 10 minutes, then pour glaze (ingredients above) over cakes.
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I hope you got enough to eat. There’ll be enough to go around next week and the week after.
—Xander
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