At Raccoon Oak Farm in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, Ida Aronson focuses on cultivating native foods and regional biodiversity through permaculture practices and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge. With an orchard of native fruit, nut, and remedy-bearing trees, pollinator gardens with native flowers, chicken and goose egg production, a specialty vegetable enterprise, and value-added products, Raccoon Oak Farm aims to foster food security and climate resilience for the local community.
“As defenders of water and land, we recognize it is imperative for Indigenous and frontline leadership to design sustainable systems for climate justice and food sovereignty, and rekindle and bring forward ancestral knowledge into those spaces for current and future generations,” says Aronson. “We work collectively to serve the community at large through projects of mutual aid, public education, providing food and traditional plant medicine security, and collaborations with surrounding farms and coalitions to build networks of support.”
With the help of RAFI’s Beginning Farmer Stipend, Aronson will purchase a small 4×6 enclosed trailer to hitch it to the farm’s SUV in order to transport more product to markets, which will make farmers market participation much more financially viable. The trailer will also allow for expansion of other farm delivery options. The stipend will also fund new fencing for the farm’s back perimeter.