Growing Goodness

Houma native Tonilynn Brown is bringing fresh food from her farm to your table! She is the owner and operator of Cajun Boots Farm, an aquaponics farm located in Houma which specializes in leafy greens, microgreens, raising catfish, and more.

Tonilynn was not always a farmer, and underwent a unique journey to find her true calling. “I wasn’t a farmer to begin with—I graduated from LSU in 2004 with a degree in chemical engineering, and worked as a chemical engineer for around 15 years,” she explained. “Most of that time I spent in Utah, where I had a really great job and met my husband Mark. We made a great team—he was a mechanic and the go-to guy at the chemical plant where I worked.” Tonilynn detailed how after a while of working at the chemical plant, she and her husband began to feel disheartened by the whole corporate structure and vision. “We watched our CEO run the company into bankruptcy, and still make millions in his severance package. Meanwhile, the rest of us are working day in and out trying to deal with the issues, and seeing no improvements,” she shared. “That was our wakeup call when we realized this life was no longer for us.”

Tonilynn explained that as her interest in chemical engineering and corporate life was waning, she began to grow interested in gardening, farming, and using her hands. “I grew, like, one single tomato plant and was hooked,” she said with a laugh. “I think I had three tomatoes in total and I loved it. I knew I didn’t want to keep working in corporate, so I said to my husband, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could be farmers?’ and he agreed. My good friend Katie told me soon after that I needed to stop dreaming about it and talking about it, but research, read, learn, and make it happen. So we did!” After that boost from their friend, the couple got down to business planning how they could pursue their idea of starting a farm down in southern Louisiana. Tonilynn remembered reading through the magazine Modern Farmer, a gift from her friend Katie, and seeing a full-page ad for an aquaponics workshop in North Carolina. “I opened the page and showed it to Mark—without even saying anything to him, he looked at me and said, ‘This is it!’ she shared. “We knew that was what we needed to be doing. I convinced my parents to join us in North Carolina for this workshop, and it was just so fascinating. So for the next two years, we worked on a serious financial plan for how we could start our aquaponics farm.”

Fast forward to 2020, and Cajun Boots Farm was officially established in Houma. “We started small, at first establishing our greenhouse and aquaponics system and then growing microgreens,” said Tonilynn. Cajun Boots Farm now sells various vegetables and products such as tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, ochre, homemade salad dressing, and more, alongside raising catfish. “We are an aquaponics farm, so everything works together,” she explained. “For example, the water that the catfish are raised in has ammonia from their waste, which is converted into usable nitrogen for plants—which we use to water our other crops. Aquaponics is all about converting and reusing.” Tonilynn explained that as the farm began to see success with their microgreens, vegetables, and more, she and her husband started taking samples to different local chefs, farmer’s markets, and food professionals. “We got really positive responses from everyone and wanted to continue to expand, so we began figuring out how to have a steady presence in local farmer’s markets,” she said. Cajun Boots Farm products are now consistently present in several local farmer’s markets such as Market at the Marina, the Live Healthy Thibodaux Market, the Maker’s Market at the Terrebonne Parish Library, and the Cajun Farmer’s Market on Tunnel Boulevard in Houma.

Tonilynn went on to explain that while farming is extremely rewarding, the transition into this new career was not without its challenges. “We undertook Cajun Boots Farm entirely debt-free—so I would say the most difficult part of our journey so far has just been running the finances,” she said. “We are very lucky that we have so much support from my parents to undertake this venture. With farming, you are really doing everything yourself, which makes it tricky. Finances combined with inflation is definitely a challenge!” However, despite the stress of finances, running Cajun Boots Farm has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for the couple. “Mark and I are both very hands-on people. We love building things, growing things—nothing is more rewarding than creating something that is good for us, the community, and everyone around us,” said Tonilynn. “We love sharing that with people, and showing community members that this is what good, fresh produce should be. The reward is definitely in the harvest.”

Cajun Boots Farm is also in for a bright and expansive future thanks to its current successes. “We have some more land around Houma, and we definitely see ourselves expanding,” she said. “I see us growing lots more fruit, vegetables, maybe even citrus, and more.” Tonilynn explained that one of her biggest dreams for the farm is to begin an annual or semi-annual farm-to-table event for the community to come and enjoy. “We would host a dinner, and the idea is that the vast majority of everything you sit down to eat would be freshly grown from our farm, or other local farms from around the parish. I would love to host something like that to give people more opportunity to support locally grown food,” she said happily. Overall, Tonilynn and Cajun Boots Farm are looking forward to a bright, beautiful, home-grown future and are excited to continue providing fresh, delicious food to all those in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes.