Creating FARMacia

The FARMacia Wellness Hub embraces the forest garden approach.

“A forest garden is a place where nature and people meet halfway, between the canopy of trees and the soil underfoot. It doesn’t have to look like a forest – what’s important is that natural processes are allowed to unfold, to the benefit of plants, people, and other creatures. The result is an edible ecosystem.”

-Tomas Remiarz, Forest Gardening in Practice

Location

Dr. Thelma Coffey-Boutte, the first Black woman to practice medicine in New Orleans resided here; making the desire to transform this site into a hub for community wellness that much richer.

Building Design

The FARMacia’s “Community House” structure was designed to give a nod to the vernacular features of the common New Orleans-style “shot-gun” house.

The roped and wood planked walls and roofing were installed to complement the forest gardens function to maximize use of both horizontal and vertical space for creating living walls and trellises for vining layers.

Forest Garden Approach

• Allows people to sustainably meet their needs and produce a marketable surplus, by making maximum use of the land

• Incorporates the symbiotic relationships among plants, animals, and microbes

• Avoids the risk of economic dependence on one, or a very few crops

• Provides a continual supply of food and other crops

• Harnesses natural biological fertilizers and pest controls

From: https://training.trees.org