Prometheus 6

Plunking down traumatized people from the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans on a farm in the middle of nowhere may sound like the premise for a reality television show or, as Mr. Carmichael said, “an African-American version of ‘Green Acres,’ ” the television series in which Eva Gabor resisted going rustic. The village residents, in fact, while grateful for the generosity, suggest that the situation is odd, and sometimes uncomfortable.

Describing his thoughts when he arrived, [Allen C. Wyman] said: “Man, we’re in the country. That’s not going to last long. The whole kind of plantation vibe was going through people’s heads.”

Urban to Core, Storm Evacuees Give Farm a Try
By LESLIE EATON

SIMMESPORT, La. — Faced with the televised devastation of New Orleans and the despair of Hurricane Katrina victims, many people have sent them charitable checks.

Frank Stronach bought them a $2.4 million farm.

Well, more of a farm to be, 791 acres of sugar cane fields just outside this town 130 miles northwest of New Orleans. The property is one of the many items, including 49 mobile homes, two police cars and a flock of chickens, procured on behalf of hurricane evacuees by Mr. Stronach, a colorful and controversial Canadian automobile-parts magnate.

His goal was to create “an environment of opportunity,” where former residents of New Orleans could be helped to help themselves, said Dennis J. Mills, who spearheaded the effort and is vice chairman of several Stronach companies. A result is a small mobile home park and a fledgling organic farm that everyone here calls Canadaville.

The farm has about 190 residents, who have to perform eight hours a week of community service and look for work or go to school. In return, they can live rent free in a three-bedroom two-bath mobile home. A free shuttle bus takes residents to the local Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Weekly outings to the Wal-Mart in Marksville, 20 miles away, cost $5.

Although not all the residents will become organic farmers, said Shane Carmichael, an events planner from Toronto who manages the project, “the goal is for everybody at least to do a garden, collect the eggs.”