Back to the Land

Encouraged by her family, Kathleen Pourciau turned a newfound passion into a business that cultivates the earth and community

- CAMERON BEALL

 “WHEN THEY'RE done well, gardens feed our bodies and our souls, knitting us together with the people we love," Kathleen says Pourciau, who discovered gardening's therapeutic properties four years ago. Sick with COVID-19 in March 2020, she was gazing out the window of her Baton Rouge home into an empty yard when her eldest daughter, Bonnie Kate, suggested planting something there.

As Pourciau considered the undertaking, she remembered the 2-acre plot her grandfather had tended until he was in his nineties, sharing the fruits of his labor with the community.

"He didn't sell anything from it; he just gave out of abundance," she reflects. "I suspect he knew the power of growing things, of having your hands in the rich dirt, and how that changes you."

Pourciau was intimidated by the notion of a kitchen garden but then learned about companion planting, where specific vegetables and flowers are grouped together to maximize efficiency.