When we think of farming, most of us picture straw hats, cows and—perhaps most importantly—acres of open country fields.
But when Nice Stems owner Mitchell Provensal took to urban flower farming, he was in the middle of Baton Rouge, cars whizzing by and neighbors walking the streets by his flower plots.
Provensal had been growing his own vegetables in his backyard for more than seven years. When he decided he wanted to try flower farming earlier this year, he wasn’t going to let his lack of land stop him.
Instead, he got creative—and got permission to start planting flower seeds on a small lot off Scenic Highway by Memorial Stadium. The lot is home to a community garden he had helped run as the community garden coordinator for the Mayor’s Office under Kip Holden.
Now, customers don’t have to look too hard to find the bright yellow, pink and orange hues of his bouquets at the Red Stick Farmers Market on Thursday mornings next to Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Poking out of buckets at his stand are sunflowers, zinnias, celosia, gomphrena, amaranth, basil and marigold. The warm colors are all-too-fitting, given the warm weather.
Through Nice Stems, Provensal says he hopes to make Baton Rougeans more mindful of what they buy and where it comes from. He also says he wants to teach people about the different seasonal flowers that can grow in the city.
Urban flower farms like Provensal’s have become popular in cities like New Orleans in recent years. With Nice Stems as one of the first to pave the way in Baton Rouge, maybe we’ll be the next to hop on board the farm-to-vase movement. instagram.com/nicestemsbr
GROWN AT HOME Other flower vendors you can find at the Red Stick Farmers Market
Capdeboscq Farms Sells a variety of mixed bouquets and fresh-cut flowers, including lilies, lisianthus, foxcomb, sunflowers and zinnias.
Goppelt Farms It may be known for its pasture-raised chickens, but the Gonzales farm also sells freshly cut flowers.
Fullness Organic Farm You’ll want to keep an eye out for this farm at the market. Its main focus is organic vegetables, but it is just starting to add organic flowers like zinnias and sunflowers to its repertoire.
Mon Jardin Farm You can find Batchelor-based Mon Jardin at the market Saturdays, selling sunflowers and mixed bouquets.
This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.
