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Farmers Market

We visited the local farmer market in an effort to see how the weather and culture affected the local produce. The farmer’s market was smaller and had seasonal vegetables.

One woman talked about the late season freeze. She had lost a lot of her produce in the freeze but the leafy greens and spicy peppers made it through.

The people we bought our shellfish from were having a bad season for shrimp and crab. There is currently a ban on catching female blue crabs. The female crabs have rounder stomachs and carry the eggs under her shell. This ban was made in an effort to allow the crab populations to rebound.

One man I talked to grew his plants in a hydroponic system. Hydroponic systems involve growing food in tanks of water opposed to growing them in the dirt outside. During the winter he heated the house where he was growing the food. This allows him to have a wider variety of vegetables year round and not worry about the freezes. The downfall is the high energy intake.

There were also people selling honey, soap, popsicles, and other goods.

Thoughts from the plane

I am so excited to get to New Orleans. I have never been to the south and I have spent very little time outside of the western states. I want to see all the green plants and the alligators. I have lived in the California drought as long as I can remember so green plants are not something I am used to. I am used to woody plants with thick waxy leaves. I am also curious about the ocean. I heard that there are not as many waves in the Gulf of Mexico. As a surfer, this thought disturbs me.  I can’t imagine the ocean without huge waves and surfers. What do people do in water without waves? I am also used to beaches with steep cliffs and obvious tectonic uplift. The city of New Orleans only lies a few feet above sea level, so I imagine the beaches would be a soft slope. I am most excited to learn about the culture and music. I love to learn about the different ways people see things. My roommates are psychology, anthropology, art, communications, and political science majors and we are constantly talking about the new things we are learning about. This gives me a more diverse perspective than if I lived with only science majors. I am always looking for differences in the ways people, speak, interact with each other, read nonverbal cues, and stand. I am also interested in seeing how California, as a coastal state can learn from Louisiana and vice versa.