Common Ground Relief

Common Ground Relief co-founder Emily Posner profiled for work on Meg Perry Garden

About the Healthy Soil Project

Nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans is still in desperate need of basic urban infrastructure –safe roads, streetlights, schools and food. The nearest grocery store is four miles away in another neighborhood, and a business called a “Food Store” on the major road of St. Claude Boulevard peddles cigarettes and beer in favor of collards and tomatoes.

The Meg Perry Healthy Soil Project seeks to increase food security and sustainability efforts in the Lower 9th Ward. This is done primarily by supporting local urban agriculture initiatives, as well as backyard gardeners throughout the community. We host and maintain a community garden on the premises which serves as a raised bed gardening model, feeding community members and volunteers. We also assist community members who are interested in having their soil tested for lead and other toxins, and subsequent bioremediation efforts. Most recently, we have partnered with the Lower Ninth Ward Backyard Gardener's Network and All Souls Episcopalian Church to create Backyard Garden Clubs. These clubs provide raised bed gardens for groups of individuals, and structured networks of mutual support throughout the growing season. The project aims beyond merely providing a service, towards working with individual gardeners to increase their food production and skill set, thereby fueling the urban agriculture movement in the area.

Those interested in participating in the Meg Perry Healthy Soil Project should understand that they are responsible for their own contribution to the project. This is not so much a training ground for those interested in gaining gardening skills, as it is an opportunity for those with prior knowledge and personal initiative to add to the burgeoning food security movement of New Orleans.