COVEY RISE FARMS
Covey Rise was started as a pen raised bird shooting preserve and corporate retreat with a single lodge facility in 1999. Through the years we have added land and improvements as the opportunities arose. Our owned acreage now stands at 400 acre of woods, water and fields and 300 leased acres. Our structures and amenities now include 8 cabins, gun club/pro shop, conference center, two pools, a terrific clays program, 15 acre trophy bass lake, duck ponds and miles of trails. Our newest venture, a 25 acre produce farm, was born out of a desire to get better utilization of Covey Rise’s land and equipment during the non shooting part of the year. Our idea was that the farm would draw people to Covey Rise to tour the gardens and participate in “field to table” dinners.
A phone call was made to our friend and celebrity chef John Besh to find out his thoughts on the concept. Chef John liked our ideas and went the extra step to provide a list of varieties that his 6 restaurants wanted us to grow. With guidance and advice from LSU Ag Center’s Regina Bracy and Jimmy Boudreaux and One Straw Farm’s Drew Norman, the individual plots were laid out following the contours of the land, the drip irrigation/fertigation system was installed, game proof fencing erected and a processing/cooler facility was built. Fields were prepped and the first seeds hit the ground in March. Beginning in May 2010, our vegetables were picked ripe and sized to the chef’s specifications and delivered twice weekly to the restaurant door. As production began to peak, it became apparent that we were overproducing Besh’s restaurants. We then added Dickie Brennan, Ralph Brennan and Donald Link’s restaurant groups as customers. As of this writing we are also growing for Matt Murphy (Ritz Carlton), Susan Spicer, Scot Boswell, Emeril Lagasse, Dante’s Kitchen and Amano/Rio Mar.
The spring crop brought a warm reception from our customers and friends who enjoyed the many vine ripened heirloom varieties we grew. Based on this success we increased our planting for the Fall 2010, added delivery dates to New Orleans, sought out new restaurant customers, rented a greenhouse to grow tomatoes out of season and are starting a community supported agriculture venture (CSA) which is another name for a subscription farm. Through the CSA our members can subscribe for a weekly basket of fresh local vegetables which will feature gourmet varieties not readily available in grocery stores. Though we have been farming a very short time, we are hooked and hope that you will support our efforts by frequenting the restaurants featuring our vegetables, booking a “field to table” dinner for your group or joining our CSA.
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