Farm aid

Paula Burch-Celentano pburch@tulane.edu
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A team of students in the School of Architecture’s Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design class recently lent a hand with post-Ida recovery and cleanup efforts on Sugar Roots Farm, a nonprofit teaching farm in Lower Algiers. Prior to the hurricane, the class partnered with the farm to create a community kitchen and learning center. The students are currently working on design proposals for the outdoor kitchen project, which they will build by December.

Photos by Paula Burch-Celentano. 

Sugar Roots Farm, located near the Mississippi River in Lower Algiers, teaches and practices intentional land stewardship to ensure that future generations have the skills and resources to grow and eat nourishing, fresh foods.
Sugar Roots Farm, located near the Mississippi River in Lower Algiers, teaches and practices intentional land stewardship to ensure that future generations have the skills and resources to grow and eat nourishing fresh foods.
Architecture graduate students Ella Jacobs, Karan Sharma, Mandii Malhotra and Ellen Feringa, left to right, dig a diversion pond, one of several on the farm that help reroute water after a heavy rainfall.
Architecture graduate students (left to right) Ella Jacobs, Karan Sharma, Mandii Malhotra and Ellen Feringa dig a diversion pond, one of several on the farm that help reroute water after a heavy rainfall. Eventually, native hydrophilic plants will be added to encourage a healthy pond ecosystem.
Johnathan Michka, Valentina Mancera and Natalie Rendleman, left to right, disassemble what is left of a chicken coop damaged by a fallen tree during Hurricane Ida.
(Left to right) Johnathan Michka, Valentina Mancera and Natalie Rendleman disassemble what is left of a chicken coop damaged by a fallen tree during Hurricane Ida.
The farm’s resident sulcata tortoise, Turdis (turtle + tortoise) checks on the work performed by Le’Bryant Bell, left and Sofi Perrotta. The students added a fresh layer of compacted mud to a path in the 37-year-old tortoise’s pen.
The farm’s resident sulcata tortoise, Turdis (turtle + tortoise), checks on the work performed by Le’Bryant Bell, left, and Sofi Perrotta. The students added a fresh layer of compacted mud to a path in the 37-year-old tortoise’s pen.
Malina Pickard, left, delivers a fresh load of sawdust to a chicken house. The sawdust was made from trees that fell during the hurricane.
Malina Pickard, left, delivers a fresh load of sawdust to a chicken house. The sawdust was made from trees that fell during the hurricane.
A Rhode Island Red hen seems interested in the students as they survey the damage to a pullet house.
A Rhode Island Red hen seems interested in the students as they survey the damage to a pullet house.
Professor of Practice Emilie Taylor Welty, Nicholas George and Yao Zhang, left to right, untangle the remains of a chicken coop.
(Left to right) Professor of Practice Emilie Taylor Welty, Nicholas George and Yao Zhang untangle the remains of a chicken coop.
Students pitch in to unload bales of hay delivered during their visit to the farm.
Students pitch in to unload bales of hay delivered during their visit to the farm.
Nicholas George takes a break from work to visit Brittany, the farm’s Jersey-mix cow.
Nicholas George takes a break from work to visit Brittany, the farm’s Jersey-mix cow.

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