Skim across the surface of the warm, fecund waters of the shallow marshes of South Louisiana in midsummer and behold the gift of a floating field of the largest flowering plant in the state. The wind whips the giant leaves, some as broad as two feet across, making them appear to take wing. Their pale…
Recently I’ve noticed multiple warning posts on social media sites about Vibrio Vulnificus, a naturally-occurring, necrotizing bacteria found in our Gulf coastal and inland saline/brackish waters. These posts suggest things like “Be sure and keep Hydrogen Peroxide on your boat.” Of course, Mamma always cleaned our scrapes and cuts with it before applying a Band-aid, but back in…
Farm Alligator Returns. Sounds like the title of a children’s picture book, doesn’t it? Far from kids’ play, the return of alligators is big business in coastal Louisiana. Several times a year in the low-lying areas of brackish, intermediate, and freshwater marshes, a curious practice takes place. One must pay close to attention in order…
This morning I noticed a hand-painted sign near the road at a little old man’s house just up the road, so I whipped in and bought 9 beautiful, home-grown tomatoes for $3.50, and he threw in the fresh-picked “Improved Celeste” figs as lagniappe (lan-yap = “something extra”), and I couldn’t wait to get home and make…
Often overlooked as a landscaping choice when visiting your local nursery, the Dwarf Palmetto is a complex native palm of Louisiana that deserves a closer look. Able to grow in even the poorest soil conditions, this palmetto, Sabal minor, thrives in the heat and humidity and is even hardy enough to survive the chilly winters…
This is my favorite spring-time, berry-season dessert, and it was adapted by my Dotter from the Chantilly Cake baked by local Rouse’s supermarket bakeries and Whole Foods. We first tasted the cake at my oldest son’s birthday party several years ago, and it was definitely a keeper. I love this spin on it, though, which…