On the Cover: Yard to Table

On the Cover: Backyard Gardening

Cover Photo by Paul Kieu

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

In his story, “Yard to Table,” (page 44) Jonathan Olivier quotes the agrarian philosopher Wendell Berry, who described the act of eating food grown by the work of one’s own hands as “the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world.” In interviewing two families who enjoy the fruits of a thriving backyard garden, Olivier expresses hope for a future in which more people will pursue the fulfillment found in growing things. It’s a sentiment we celebrate each March with our Outdoors & Gardening issue, our chance to dig into our region’s fertile soils—where we find not only verdure but also the roots beneath so much of our region’s culture: our livelihoods, our cuisine, our history. In this issue, find stories of a rice-crawfish farm- turned-distillery, of the tribulations of oyster farming in the Gulf, of a tiny carnivorous plant shop in St. Roch, and of Louisiana’s winter jewel: the camellia. In these pages, verdant with the beauty of an emerging spring, we hope you find inspiration—as we have—to get your hands dirty, to re-enact your own your connection with our world.

Paul Kieu