To beat the Louisiana sun’s scorch, Tammy Shannon starts her farm days at 5:00 a.m. The sixty-five-year-old Sergeant First Class served in the U.S. Army for twenty-five years and now proudly bears the title of okra farmer in New Iberia, Louisiana. Early spring means planting time, with harvests beginning in late May and lasting through September.
Shannon lives with her father, Willis Jacob, a.k.a. Mr. Okra, who owns a fifteen-acre plot of land lined with some seventy-five rows of okra plants. They sell the harvest at local markets, co-ops, and individually to chefs who come to the farm and buy them when they’ve just been picked. Just one of Tammy’s notable fans is Emeril Lagasse, who included her on his Roku show Emeril Cooks in 2023.
“Our customers are addicted to okra. They have us on speed dial; they call in the morning and they call at twelve midnight because okra is essential to Louisiana cooking. I believe it’s a tradition that began in Louisiana when the slaves brought in seeds in their hair,” Shannon explains, recounting a story passed down through the oral histories of African women, a powerful culinary legacy of the transatlantic slave route.
Her father grew up picking okra. When he retired as head gardener at the Iberia Parish Jail, he took up okra farming because he wanted to do something that he knew as a child. He also loves working his body and getting his hands dirty, he says. And Shannon loves working with her father because she loves his energy. Here are a few of their tips:
When to plant: The family always plants after winter’s last freeze. “It won’t have a chance to grow if another freeze comes because the earth is too cold,” Shannon says. And she shares a lesser-known tip: “Planting begins when there’s a full moon because it pulls up more moisture from the ground, giving the tiny seeds a better chance of survival.”
How to plant: “It can be planted by machine; with a tractor—the way my dad does it; or hand-planted,” she says. “To me, the machine drops too many seeds in the hole. I prefer to manage my seeds, so I dig a hole and drop a couple of seeds in by hand.”
The importance of picking often: During summer harvest, the entire family shows up to pick. “The secret is to keep picking,” Shannon says. “If you pick it, okra will continue to grow.”
The difference between small and large pods: “The large okra pods are normally used for canning, and they’re easier to cut when they’re all long and the same size,” Shannon says. “We line them up and chop them. Small pods are normally used for pickling or for salads. People eat okra in summer, but we can it for the winter.”
Should people give raw okra a try? “It doesn’t have to be cooked,” Shannon says. “It can be eaten raw, like in a salad. And you can fry it, also. Okra can be stewed with sausage, chicken, and meat. We cook up an okra stew, and then we can also do okra gumbo. We also make okra water: small okra pods soaked for over fourteen hours in a sixteen-ounce mason jar. [According to some sources] okra water helps with weight loss, reduces cholesterol, regulates blood sugar levels, and aids in digestion. Okra is very versatile. That’s what we love about it.”
