Sugar, Sugar

We're harvesting, please drive carefully! As if the billboards weren't enough, I lost count after two dozen sugarcane trucks driving toward the plant in Raceland on my way to Thibodaux today. The streets are littered with cane debris, and the town has a very different smell than it did when I was there last week, now that the plant is firing at full capacity for the harvest season.

I returned to Thibodaux to explore a dry swamp with Billy Taylor, the retired sawyer (please note, Bill Taylor Boat Launch Road is named after his father, not him, he insisted).


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While he's not an expert in ecology, he has a lot of knowledge about the trees and how they grow, and it's a lot easier for me to learn this stuff walking around with someone explaining it rather than just sticking to the books (no matter how much I love my very well worn copy of Trees of North America: a field identification guide). I can now add elm and tupelo gum to my list. I get the sense that he also appreciates being taken seriously for his knowledge. At the end of today's adventure, he gave me a hug and said, "I never thought I'd be this fond of a yankee."

So since I'd already driven out to Thibodaux, I decided I'd explore a little. Billy concluded my tour with a drive through Laurel Valley, an old abandoned sugarcane plantation just outside of town. There were dozens of dilapidated cypress board buildings, beautiful as deserted places often are.







 It was very peaceful and quiet.

Driving back toward Thibodaux, I noticed a little museum affiliated with this old plantation. I was hoping to visit the local branch of Jean Lafitte National Park, but you might have heard the government is currently closed... (It's actually putting a cramp on my efforts here, as I can't access any NRCS resources online that I've been using, nor can I work with the employees to plan my next projects, nor can I use the national park as my classroom!). So I went to the museum, which had a lot of wonderful antique farm equipment as well as some livestock, including a litter of kittens that I miraculously managed to leave without kidnapping*.



But it's sugarcane season in southern Louisiana. I'm curious to see that progress after weeks of driving amongst fields full of tall canes. It will be interesting to see and hear about something other than seafood and oil for a little while.

*Instead, I give you an updated photos of sweet little Red, a cat that I did successfully kidnap as a kitten, who is doing very well with Mike out in Arizona. She even helps with the laundry!