If you follow The Agrarian’s Alcove on Facebook
you know that we recently visited New Orleans! Let me assure you: coming from
Texas, you can just tell when you cross the state line. It’s an amazing change.
The entire atmosphere is different. If you’ve ever been to Louisiana you
probably know that New Orleans is known for the mansions in the Garden
District, the amazing above ground cemeteries, and the old plantations. We
didn’t get to take a tour of the plantations this time since the tours were
between 5 and 8 hours long, and our short trip just didn’t allow for that. But
we did have a lot of fun and learned tons!!
When we first got into Louisiana we saw lots of fields with
standing water. Sticking out above the water were these little orange things,
and several blades of stuff that looks like grass. In doing further research,
these fields were rice fields. Not just any rice fields, though. The orange
things sticking out of the water are indicators of cages for crawfish. Louisiana
farmers really started capitalizing on crawfish in the 1970s and 80s. Before
that, any crawfish you ate were wild caught. They realized that these creatures
were living in their fields and eating their rice already, so why not use it to
their advantage? It helped Louisianan rice farmers stay relevant. You have to
be very efficient with farming these days anyway, but especially when you grow
rice. Keeping crawfish on your farm is very low maintenance: they have all the
food they need in the rice field and you just take them to market when the
critters are big enough. It’s a very simple way to make extra profit to benefit
your farm. For crawfish farmers though, the demand fluctuates greatly. First,
you have to wait for the right season. And then, there’s a reason stores like
H-E-B only sell crawfish on the weekend. People usually only want to boil
crawfish in large batches, because it’s easier and you usually consume at least
a pound per person. (If you’ve never had crawfish before and you’re like how can one person eat that much?!, don’t
be alarmed…once you actually get to the meat it’s nowhere near a pound. And also,
do yourself a favor and go try some crawfish at a restaurant.) So of course,
when you need to make a large batch, you invite your friends and make it a
gathering! People host these crawfish boils on weekends, simply because most
people are off on weekends and it takes a while to cook for several people.
Weekend sales of crawfish can be double or triple the sales made during the
week. Despite the fluctuation keeping crawfish is a great way for farmers to
make some extra cash even if they can’t steadily count on it all year long.
*side note: one of the high school food classes I observed
recently had a processed food project, and they made crawfish sausage yall. It was pork based, with crawfish and Cajun
seasonings in it. For real, some of the best sausage I’ve ever had.*
Okay, now for some slightly spooky stuff…because New Orleans
without spooky wouldn’t be New Orleans. We took these awesome tours in New
Orleans with Free Tours by Foot. I would like to say that this is by far the
best tour service I’ve ever used. The first one we took was for St. Louis
Cemetery #1, on the most dark and drizzly day of our trip. We paid a $2
deposit/person which was a maintenance fee for the cemetery. Then our guide
Elizabeth told us all the amazing history of the cemetery as well as some extra
tidbits. She was so enthusiastic and fun, and the guides from this company work
on tips based on how YOU enjoyed the tour and YOUR budget. You might be
thinking…this isn’t a travel blog, what does this have to do with agriculture?
Don’t worry, I’ll get there. History is essential to our way of life. I learned
amazing things on this tour that had nothing to do with agriculture. Such as:
Nicolas Cage built himself this plain white Egyptian Revival pyramid tomb for
when he dies, right in the heart of New Orleans for no apparent reason; Homer
Plessy is buried in St. Louis #1; and Marie Laveau the Voodoo Queen was (almost
99% likely) buried in this cemetery as well. We also learned about the burial
techniques and traditions of New Orleans and here’s where I made a connection
with agriculture: every year the ground gets lower and lower under sea level.
Elizabeth, said it sinks about an inch every year and as it sinks, the graves
sink. Creepy right? You can see the tops of segments of wall tombs that you can
no longer be used. This made me wonder how it affects agriculture there. How
does the sinking affect soil quality? Is the pH different now that we’re
farther under sea level? Well, it turns out that as their graves disappear, the
environment is disappearing too. Our coastal wetlands in that region (the
swamps and marshes) are extremely vital to the seafood industry of our
country-especially the southern states, as well as other agricultural
interests. We have lost about 50% of our country’s wetland habitats in the past
200 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website. For
Louisiana, this natural sinking of wetlands plays a large part, along with
human interaction. There’s a lot of coastal erosion that goes on in Louisiana
since it is close to the Gulf of Mexico, and since the Mississippi river drains
to the gulf. According to the USGS, it’s going to be a hard and costly fix. Protection
of these wetlands will affect irrigation for all types of farming, but without
protection and change the quality of water and soil will remain altered.
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| Nicolas Cage's Tomb |
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| Marie Laveau's Tomb |
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| The tombs at the bottom are now under ground |
The other amazing tour we took was of the Garden District. We actually used the self-guided tour option on www.freetoursbyfoot.com and walked it ourselves 100% free. This neighborhood was an amazing place complete with houses worth over 12 million dollars, homes and former homes of celebrities, houses used in movies, and an overall aesthetic appearance. One of the homes in particular caught my eye. It was the Robinson House, worth $12.5 million. This house, aside from its sheer size and elegance had one of the most interesting designs. The roof was completely flat, unlike any other roof in the neighborhood. The home was designed for a tobacco merchant, and took 6 years to complete. According to the online tour guide, the flat roof gathered rainwater during storms and this water was used for drinking water, and to run the indoor plumbing. What an innovative and eco-friendly idea! Obviously today it isn’t used for that, but with some modifications and filtering systems I think it could be a great design for modern homes to both save money and waste less water.
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| $12.5 million home with flat roof for collecting water |
The final tour we went on was the French Quarter Tour. This
tour had so many aspects, and again we did it on our own with the self-guided
tour from Free Tours by Foot. Louisiana has so much to offer with its French
and Spanish influences. Of course we stopped at Café Du Monde (go before 9am if
you don’t want to wait in a ridiculously long line!) and had beignets. We
watched boats on the Mississippi river, enjoyed the architecture of the
buildings on Jackson Square, and we passed by the Tabasco shop. If you love Tabasco,
I recommend going to this store. They have flavors of sauce and products you
wouldn’t believe exist. There was Tabasco Raspberry sauce and Tabasco jam. Do I
even need to mention how Tabasco and beignets associate with agriculture??
There are tons of other great things to see on this tour, just give yourself
ample time to see them all.
One day, I hope to go back and tour at least one of the many
old plantations that are in Louisiana to learn more about the amazing
agriculture that was a way of life. But until I do, I hope this excerpt on New
Orleans will suffice. Comment below if you’ve been to New Orleans, and what you
noticed while you were there!
* Free Tours By Foot did not sponsor this post; all opinions are my own*
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