Judia Dugas and her family had always grown their own vegetables to fill the family pantry. But after a chance comment from one of her daughter’s college professors years ago, the family converted its hobby into a business.
As 225 reports in a feature from the new issue, it all started when Dugas’ daughter was pursuing a degree in animal science at Southern University around 2005.
A professor had asked in one of her classes, ‘Who has land?’” Dugas recalls. “And when my daughter raised her hand, the next question was, ‘OK, what are you doing with it?’ We started raising laying chickens.”
In fact, the family lived on a plot of land that had been farmed by six generations of family members, Dugas says. With demand for local food on the rise, the timing seemed right to transition from personal farming to face-to-face sales. They named the operation Lena Farms for Dugas’ great-grandmother, and they began selling fresh eggs at the Clinton farmers market.
Over the next several years, the family slowly expanded operations. They started selling at the Zachary farmers market, and from there, the Red Stick Farmers Market’s mobile market, selling produce and goods on Plank Road in north Baton Rouge and on Washington Street in Old South Baton Rouge. As volume continued to expand, Lena Farms was asked about two years ago to become a regular vendor at the Thursday and Saturday Red Stick Farmers Markets.
Dugas says Lena Farms will soon offer a new item to customers: free-range poultry.
“We are excited to be growing,” she says. “The market has been a good experience, and we love to hear what customers are making.”
