Cabbage sales ring in the New Year: Baseball team learns value of hard work
Published 12:05 am Wednesday, January 1, 2020
- From left to right, Ty Yoes, Nathan Rhodes, Cameron Dufrene and Keston Granier sell cabbages on River Road.
MONTZ — As 2019 rolls into 2020, many River Parishes residents are ringing in the New Year with a traditional meal of cabbage, greens and black-eyed peas as a wish for good fortune.
For the Destrehan High School baseball team, the days separating Christmas and New Year’s Day are reserved for the old-fashioned hard work involved in picking an assortment of vegetables at Perrilloux Farms in Montz. The boys set up stands around the region to sell cabbage, cauliflower, Romanesco and other farm fresh produce just in time for a New Year’s celebration, while raising funds for their baseball team in the process.
Timmy Perrilloux acquired the land now known as Perrilloux Farms in 1977. For 26 years, he worked at a plant and farmed on the side, perfecting each crop with seasons of meticulous trial and error. In 1985, he began a pumpkin patch that continues to bring excitement to families each year. It wasn’t until his retirement in 1997 that he decided to take on farming in a greater capacity.
Timmy Perrilloux tosses a cabbage to Destrehan baseball player Ty Yoes.
“I thought about what I wanted to do for about 10 seconds, and I decided I would keep on doing the pumpkin patch and a little bit of farming,” Perrilloux said.
A little bit of farming turned out to be a lot when he purchased more land and increased the acreage of his farm. When he’s not keeping up his New Year’s tradition of selling cabbages, Perrilloux shares his crops with the people of New Orleans by selling to chefs and participating in the Crescent City Farmer’s Market.
In winter 2010, Perrilloux’s son was on the Destrehan High School baseball team, and then-Coach Marty Luquet asked parents to brainstorm ideas for a team fundraiser.
Timmy Perrilloux hands mustard greens to the boys for a New Year’s vegetable stand.
“Right away, I knew what to do for a fundraiser because I have been farming for many years and selling cabbage for New Year’s alongside Airline Highway in LaPlace where Home Depot is,” Perrilloux said. “Knowing that, I presented the cabbage idea and selling World’s Finest Chocolate. They knocked down the chocolate idea, but they did go for the cabbage. I came up with a formula where they do very well dollar-wise. They couldn’t refuse that deal.”
Each year, the freshman baseball boys travel to Perrilloux Farms in the last week of September to transfer approximately 6,500 plants into the soil. Perrilloux sprays them, fertilizes them and tends to them for the next three months. By Dec. 28, the cabbages are ready to pick.
The cabbages can grow to 12 to 13 pounds apiece, sometimes reaching up to 18 pounds apiece. However, the end result is at the mercy of Mother Nature. The sale has been cancelled in the past when heavy rainfall impacted farming. While record-setting high temperatures in September and October of this year proved to be a challenge to the process, it did not stop the Wildcats baseball team from returning to the farm in the last week of December to harvest the vegetables.
Head Coach Chris Mire said the boys appreciate the chance to learn something new.
“Surprisingly, they enjoy it,” Mire said. “It gives them a chance to change environments. They get to spend the day at the farm getting dirty and being boys, and it forces them to work together and communicate.”
According to Mire, four or five boys follow Perrilloux as he drives a tractor down the field. Some of the teammates chop the cabbages, while others toss them into the wagon.
“It’s some old-fashioned hard work,” Mire said. “It’s a day that they enjoy and look forward to. We’ll pick three or four seniors each year that will work hand-in-hand with Mr. Timmy. Rather than selling, they will stay on the farm and continue to pick and wash crops.”
The harvest goes quickly; the boys are able to fill a large wagon with close to 700 oversized cabbages in just 90 minutes. From Dec. 28 to Dec. 31, the boys sell the cabbage and veggies in five locations on the East Bank of St. Charles Parish: Ormond Boulevard by the Shriners Hall, Ormond Boulevard at River Road, in St. Rose across from the Charlestown subdivision, and at two spots on Airline Highway near Apple Street in Norco.
Cabbages are sold cheaper than they are in the grocery store, yet the fundraiser is lucrative. It puts money toward the purchase of practice gear, baseballs and a set of team bats.
“It also gives us a chance to reach out to other people in the community and give back to the program,” Mire said.
As for Perrilloux, he intends to continue the tradition long after the boys currently on the team have graduated.
“People ask when I will retire,” Perrilloux said. “I say about three or four months…three or four months after I die.”
