Wintertime on the Farm
Winter on the Farm: An Interview with Kevin Ardoin
While thinking about food security we must consider those in our community who grow our food. What is it like to be a farmer or rancher? What motivates them to grow food, and what do they do when they are not or cannot grow food?
Today I interviewed Kevin Ardoin of Zydeco Farms in Ville Platte, Louisiana in Evangeline Parish. We met at Fightingville Fresh Farmers Market in Lafayette, Louisiana. In 2019, Kevin began farming in Ville Platte on leased property that he named Zydeco Farms. In 2020, he attended a program through LSU Agricultural Center to learn the business side of farming and met Kimberly Culotta and Nicole Johnson. Together, they started the farmers market in an area of Lafayette called Fightingville.
This interview was to discover and share what farmers do in the wintertime, when very few crops can be grown. Zydeco Farms grows and sells seasonal vegetables, and their biggest cash crop is okra. Kevin’s original motivation to grow food stems from the generations ahead of him who were farmers or who had gardens. He was further motivated by the need for fresh food in his community. Kevin recognized that many people in his community lived in food deserts where they had little or no access to fresh produce and farmers markets can be effective places he and other vendors can reach the public.
At Fightingville Fresh Market, as well as other markets, our neighbors can purchase fresh produces, eggs, and even bedding plants to grow their own food utilizing multiple programs including SNAP, the Senior Farmers’ Market, Nutrition Program, as well as the Grow the Good Program which provides resources, training, and certification for small producers.
On this chilly January day, work on the farm continues while income is sparse. During the winter farmers must repair infrastructure that may have broken down over the very busy spring and summer months as well as plan and prepare for the next spring. Kevin has been hard at work cleaning out beds from the fall, planting cover crops to enrich and protect the soil, preparing beds for the spring, fertilizing, and “planning, praying and hoping that I made enough in the past summer and fall to make it through the winter.” When I asked what his favorite thing about farming in the winter was, we had a good laugh at his response, “NOTHING!”
In closing, Kevin asked that we all support our small growers and local farmers. “We (farmers) need all the help we can get.”