Legacy Garden & Corner Store

05/10/2022

The Ben D. Johnson is consolidating all accounts into one account. We will no longer use this account for updates. See pictures for more information.

Be sure to like Ben D. Johnson Educational Center and Legacy Cafe on Facebook for all updates on our community events, activities and programs.

04/13/2022

Due to inclement weather we are postponing today’s session of Healthy Cooking With and For Your Kids to a later date.

04/11/2022

Just a quick reminder that tonight at 5 pm is our “Healthy Cooking With and for Your Kids” class. To register call the Legacy Cafe at 318-460-7460.

Come out and cook with us! ⏲👩🏾‍🍳

04/05/2022

Good Roots Farm brought us pea shoots so what else to do but make a free sample and give out a recipe for how to cook these delicious veggies! Come by the Legacy Corner Store from 7:30-3 to pick up your own bunch for $1 (SNAP/EBT users buy 1, get 1 free).

04/05/2022

What a fun and beautiful celebration we had this weekend, celebrating the completion of our community mural and coming together in community! We had burgers with beef from Beef and lettuce from the Legacy Garden, lunches cooked by Legacy Cafe staff, music by DJ J’Corey Lamar, the portable park from City of Natchitoches, tables & activities put on by Cap At Cane River, Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana, Northwestern State University, Ben D. Johnson Educational Center, and the Women's Resource Center of Natchitoches. Talk about community coming together!

Thank you everyone for coming out, being apart of our family, and working with us to transform lives and build community. Special thanks to Kevin Shannahan of the Natchitoches Parish Journal for capturing the event!

04/01/2022

Today's the day!! It's Good Roots Farm first time stocking their produce in our store. We have beautiful lettuce, eggs, and pea shoots from them. Come by and get a load of these veggies for yourself!

Reminder: If you use SNAP/EBT, you can buy 1, get 1 free on these veggies!

03/25/2022

It's that time of year... fresh, homegrown lettuce is ready! Come eat at the cafe and get these gorgeous greens on your sandwich, burger, or salad. Thanks, Chef Karen Wallace

03/23/2022

Homegrown turnip top and bottoms giveaway!!! Come through the Legacy Cafe to pick up your free bag.

We're so excited to be partnering with local farmers and friends at Good Roots. Huge thanks to them for donating these beautiful turnips. We're looking forward to all the veggie-filled partnerships with them to come.

03/11/2022

We are so lucky that our garden is supported so wholly by the Good Food Project. On Wednesday, we got a surprise of an awesome toolbox, some shock cloth to protect our plants during the upcoming freeze, and best of all, chicken manure!!! It was like Christmas morning for our garden.

Thank you so much GFP for all that you do to make our garden and our community grow.

03/08/2022

Luckily for us, a little rain and a cold front won't stop our preparation for our spring garden. We're lucky enough to have a greenhouse that acts as the nursery for all our baby seedlings before they get transplanted into the garden beds to become food for the Legacy Cafe. Here's a look at some of the tomato, pepper, cabbage, and flower seedlings we have growing. What else would you like to see this spring?

Also, huge shout out to our avid community of support: ferrell and her children for helping us seed many of these seedlings and Sherman Vogel for donating the greenhouse and making our plant nursery a reality! We could not do this work without you guys. Thank you.

03/07/2022

Look at the fantastic new garden mural completed at the Ben D. Johnson Legacy Garden in Natchitoches! Here's a much deserved shout out to our community garden partner for their dedication to building community connections and teaching sustainable gardening! Beautiful work! 🥦🍆💚

03/04/2022

Last painting day today! Come out 10-4, even if it's just for 20 minutes, to co-create this community mural with us. We can't wait to see you and enjoy this beautiful day.

Christine Romain Ferrell Nicole Shunte Gray Karen Wallace Kelsy Davis Bridget Gustafson Neeru Deep Claire Prymus Edgar Cano Gabriela Campos Orta Northwestern State University Marcus Jones

03/03/2022

Yum! Spent the morning harvesting some beautiful lettuce for the Legacy Cafe salads and sandwiches. Enjoy the lettuce at the cafe or call (318) 460-7460 to buy some of this lettuce for your home.

02/28/2022

Today, we are shining a spotlight on Ben D. Johnson Educational Center advisory board member and West Natchitoches native, Candace Johnson. Candace and her son have come to several of our mural painting days, adding their paint strokes to those of the 100+ Natchitoches residents who have helped create the beautiful mural scene.

Candace grew up in the Natchitoches Thomas Apartments, across the street from where the mural is now located, and says that "the mural has brought light to this area of town. I was glad to be a participant in painting the mural by volunteering with my son to help make it happen.”

Thank you Candace and thank you to all our other volunteers who have worked to make this mural come to life and helped breathe life and beauty into this space.

02/25/2022

Edit: We are postponing tomorrow's painting day to next week due to the cold and rain expected in tomorrow's forecast. Thanks and stay warm!

We're painting tomorrow!! Come join us and sign up at the link below.
https://signup.com/go/Yywtqqh

SignUp.com makes it easy to coordinate school events & classroom activities, fundraisers, snack schedules, potlucks & more!

02/22/2022

This is your last week to enter a $1 ticket into the raffle to receive an original drawing by Edgar Cano, the artist who designed our community mural. Stop by the Legacy Cafe for breakfast or lunch and get a ticket. This is an incredible opportunity to get a piece of artwork from an internationally-renowned artist. This is a $1 investment you don't want to miss!

Pictured here is NSU's president, Marcus Jones, highlighting the value of Edgar's drawing. Thank you Marcus and Edgar.

02/21/2022

Huge thank you to the Good Food Project, one of our biggest supporters, advisors, and the organization that keeps our wheels (and soil) turning, for dropping off this amazing assortment of pots and trays for us to start our seeds in and donate to community members who come to our gardening workshops/events. We appreciate you... and dang, those pots look good with the mural as a backdrop.

Keep your eyes open for our upcoming events and don't forget to join us this Saturday for our final community painting day!

02/18/2022

We're so excited to have Cap At Cane River and Joy Dove out in the garden every day next week running a children's camp about "How to Express Stress." We'll have activities, like how to make stress balls and lava lamps, and have discussions about how to cope with difficult emotions. It's going to be a great week... and you know us and the kids are going to try the carrots that are popping out of the garden now!

02/18/2022

A behind the scenes look at the Legacy Garden Community Mural project! Edgar Cano snuck into the garden one day this week to add details and bring life to the figures and scenes our volunteers have been working so hard to paint.

Join us, with paintbrush in hand or just to watch, as we get back to painting this Friday and Saturday from 10-4.

02/15/2022

Progress update on our community mural! Thank you so much to all of our volunteers for their dedication to this project. It has been such a blast! Stop by to check it out for yourself

02/10/2022

Lots happening at the Legacy Garden this weekend! Come by the Legacy Garden tomorrow from 11-1 to get carrots and turnips from the Mobile Market, courtesy of the City of Natchitoches. We'll have volunteers helping our mural artist Edgar Cano with the community mural from 1-4.
Grab yourself some fish from the Legacy Cafe, pick up your veggies, and watch the creation of some beautiful art.

02/04/2022

We are so happy to announce that we are now stocking local beef producer, Trotter Beef! Stop by the store Tuesday-Sunday from 7-3 and get products from cows that were raised in Southern Natchitoches using no hormones or harmful antibiotics. Yum!

01/31/2022

Free learning opportunity!

Join us next week for another virtual learning opportunity! NCAT's Felicia Bell will explore the topic of cover crops and how to use them to build soil health and improve water infiltration.

This workshop is free. For more information and to register, go to: https://www.ncat.org/events/ =69153096;instance=20220201180000

Questions? Contact Felicia Bell at [email protected].

01/31/2022

First painting day is in the books! Join us and Edgar Cano as he leads us in community painting days for the next several Fridays and Saturdays. Sign up with your family, organization, or as an individual at the link below and get painting!
https://signup.com/go/Yywtqqh

01/25/2022

Hey y'all! We're looking for recyclables that we can use to mix paint for our Legacy Garden mural project. Think old yogurt containers, gallon jugs, etc. Please call 318-460-7460 to schedule a drop off or come by the Legacy Garden and give us your recyclables.

Thanks so much :)

01/21/2022

Legacy Garden & Corner Store's Volunteer Opportunity
In person volunteer sign-ups
Volunteer
What a wonderful, busy weekend we had! The Legacy Garden hosted TWO work days thanks to well over 120 volunteers on Saturday and Monday, in honor of MLK's day of service. We had students representing their clubs, sororities, and fraternities from the university, prominent community members, and many neighborhood kids out to help.
On Saturday, we moved our new greenhouse, picked up trash around the neighborhood, and organized the Legacy Cafe storage area.
Monday, we unveiled the mural design created for us by Edgar Cano, celebrated the life of MLK, put the walls on the greenhouse up and worked in the garden.
We cannot say how truly thankful we are for each and every one of the individuals who came together this weekend to support our work and to help strengthen our community. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming painting days.
We're just getting started!

01/11/2022

This may sound like an odd request but... the Legacy Garden is looking for bunny p**p! We are currently winterizing our garden, which means adding nutrients, like compost, sea kelp, and bunny droppings to our soil. If you or anyone you know has bunnies and would be able to collect their droppings, please message us or comment below!

As they say... one person's (or bunny's) trash is another person's treasure!

12/16/2021

See this wall?? It is located in the back of Legacy Garden. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 17th), we will be transforming it into a community mural under the guidance of Edgar Cano! We will be hosting multiple work and painting days to bring this vision to life and beautify our little corner of Natchitoches.

Join us in building our community up by coming to paint with us, providing financial support for the artist and supplies, and/or donating paint, snacks, paintbrushes, and more. We are especially looking for businesses or organizations to partner with us in our efforts.

Call (318) 460-7460 or comment below with suggestions, questions, or ideas for collaboration. We're in this together, and there's no place we'd rather be!

12/10/2021

The title says it all! If you, a loved one, or friend need any information on SNAP food benefits/WIC, this is the resource for you.

https://www.benefits.gov/news/article/438?utm_source=enewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Editors%20Picks%20Selection%20Issue

12/06/2021

For your produce convenience, we are going to start weekly posts about which fresh vegetables/herbs are available in the garden! Just call 318-760-7460 or comment on this post what you would like and our garden team will have it ready for pick-up for you. This list will also be available in the Legacy Cafe.

We are looking forward to sharing our produce with you in this new way! Please help us spread the word and continue to bring fresh produce to our neighborhood.

12/01/2021

Guess what time it is!! Broccoli harvest time :) Pictured here is our one-time Ben D. Johnson Educational Center student, turned Legacy Cafe employee, Emilee, harvesting our first broccoli of the season. Yum

11/25/2021

Today, the Legacy Garden & Corner Store and its staff are feeling grateful for the abundance that comes out of our garden and onto our shelves, for our customers, and for you!

We're holding Mr. Ben Johnson's words close today... and every day. Join with us as we help our neighbors and friends help themselves.

11/23/2021

We enjoyed this article about taking a healthier approach to Thanksgiving this year. Let's first clear something up... being "healthy" is not necessarily about what we eat, but instead, it can be about how we eat. “It’s not just taking a category of food and pointing a finger at it as being good or bad. [...] Try to keep in mind that balanced eating could really make a big difference even in terms of the way you feel emotionally, not just physically.”

The Legacy Corner Store wishes you and your loved ones a full, balanced, and delicious Thanksgiving!

https://news.yahoo.com/health-factor-thanksgiving-meal-tips-183000340.html

If you want to eat healthier this holiday season, we have the dish on simple swaps so you know how to make a healthy Thanksgiving meal.

11/17/2021

At the Legacy Garden & Corner Store, we deeply value the wisdom and learned experiences of our local elders who have grown food and worked to build personal and community resilience in Natchitoches.

Please watch this short video we created last year, featuring the stories/perspectives of Mr. Elvin Shields, Mr. Kevin Walker, and Ms. Donna Isaacs. They discuss the history of growing food for subsistence in Natchitoches since the time of sharecropping to the present day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnF61msnVc
Campti Field of Dreams, Inc.

The BDJ Center is honored to introduce you to three Natchitoches farmers. This video features interviews where we meet Mr. Elvin Shields & Mr. Kevin Walker w...

11/17/2021

Want to know at what age you need to go for health screenings for things like diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease? Check out this resource by the Natchitoches Parish Journal

https://natchitochesparishjournal.com/2021/11/17/take-control-of-your-health/

The path to good health includes staying up-to-date on health screenings and diagnostic exams. Timely care and early detection can prevent serious illnesses and improve outcomes. The following are …

11/15/2021

We have a HUGE announcement... As of the start of this month, the Legacy Garden has grown over 1,000 pounds of produce for the Legacy Cafe and our West Natchitoches neighbors!!

Every day we're trying to provide food security and access to fresh, nutritious produce for our community. We're not stopping here! Join us in our mission by shopping at the corner store, getting your hands dirty in the garden during our weekly volunteer hours from 9-11 every Tu/Thu or scheduling a different volunteer time with Bridget Gustafson.

Check out the photos to see some of the different things we've been growing.

11/11/2021

We had a wonderful evening last night at our herbal workshop. We enjoyed healing ginger tea from the Legacy Garden, learned how to substitute herbs for salt in recipes with a lemon-thyme salad dressing on garden greens, and made herbal salves to ease ailments and promote healing.

Overall, it was a night spent reconnecting to the wisdom and practices of those who've gone before us... and what a gift it was to get to share with an intergenerational crowd!

Be on the lookout for more events.

11/08/2021

This Wednesday!! Come learn all about herbs and their powerful benefits from certified Doula, Shequan Zavala. We'll learn how to make soup, teas, and healing salves that all feature herbs. Invite a friend and come ready to steep in self-care and knowledge sharing. Women's Resource Center of Natchitoches Legacy Cafe Natchitoches Regional Medical Center Natchitoches Parish Library Natchitoches Parish Journal