We had the most amazing experience listening to the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. It’s one thing to experience the music but another to be born into it, and watching this band perform was absolutely amazing and it showed
me that difference. I absolutely loved watching the orchestra play tonight.
We spent the night at Woodlands Plantation and in the morning had a tour of the grounds. We learned that the house we stayed in is the one featured in the Southern Comfort whiskey label. After a delicious breakfast, we had a tour of the grounds, learned some history, and fed some alligators.
In the evening we enjoyed the Chinese Lights festival in the New Orleans botanical gardens.
Wednesday night we stayed at the Woodland Plantation, and it was ideal. After a day of planting a garden from scratch, coming to this place was better than any of us could imagine.
The Main House
The Porch
Yesterday we traveled farther south to aid a man named Carol with creating a vegetable garden. After Katrina he was an active community servant helping others with rebuilding. During his service he saved his son from falling in a hole by pushing him away and falling in the hole himself. By doing this he broke many bone and had to have his knee replaced. As a result of his surgery he can no long bend over and plant his own gardens. We all came out and dug up a garden; we tilled the land and planted a big variety of vegetables.
After we left Carol’s, we drove the the Southernmost tip of Lousiana and saw a Cyprus forest that I was being overtaken by saltwater intrusion from the Gulf Of Mexico.
then headed to the Woodland Plantation where we partook in a crayfish boil. It was the first time I tried crayfish and it was delicious!
We worked on making a community garden which was most if our day. Afterwards we drove to the southernmost point of Louisiana, where the Gulf of Mexico is close to meeting with the Mississippi. We noticed the wetland loss where freshwater is turning brackish as salt water moves in from the gulf. As a result of the change in water consistency and content, wetlands and cypress forests have seen drastic change and damage. Afterwards, we had a delicious crawfish boil at Woodlands Plantation, which was absolutely delicious (and spicy).
At the southern most point of Louisiana, we stopped by a dying Cypress Forest. At the farthest point in the Mississippi, the salt water is seeping into the land, due to subsidence, which is causing the Cypress to die. We also noticed a lot of oil refineries and Oil Business in this part of Louisiana.
Our Saturday started the way all good Saturday’s start–with a six course meal.
We arrived at the New Orleans School of Cooking early in the morning and walked to the local farmers market. On our walk, our guide and head chef Michael, told us about the importance of food and culture in any city’s history. We learned the true meaning of creole. We were split up into groups and each group made a portion of the meal.
After our amazing meal, we were let loose in the French Quarter for the rest of the day.
Even though it was a bit rainy and wet, the French Quarter was one of the best days I’ve ever had. In New Orleans they have something called a second line, that is basically a parade in the street that is led by a marching band. They do a second line for weddings, births, holidays, even funerals. After about an hour of all of us going our separate ways adventuring through the French Quarter, a second line was marching with their band through the middle of the street.
After this day, I thought there wouldn’t be much more excitement. There couldn’t possibly be more excitement, right?
Maybe excitement isn’t the right word, but I fell mildly in love with John Boutte.
Here is a link to him performing one of his songs at Jazz Fest, that actually is the theme song for an HBO series Treme that, of course, takes place in New Orleans.
‘Twas a day well spent, dousing myself in culture. A great transition into how we will be spending the rest of our time here–doing fieldwork!
Stay tuned…
Awsome day helping out at the Capstone Community Garden ! We helped do a bunch of random activities such as prepping the house for paint, weeding, gardening, and help build the aquaculture. The aquaculture uses catfish tank which feeds into the plant tank that takes out all the nutrients and cleans the water; this is brought back into the catfish tank. The food produced goes to the local community that is mostly in poverty.
We also met up with local env lawyers and news reporters that talked about the events surrounding the hurricane.
We had a long day of helping the Capstone community through various different activities. I helped first by de-weeding a small plot and planted a few small plants like kale and lettuce. Afterwards we helped with clearing out a plot of land from all of the vegetation that had overgrown. This was challenging because of how thick the weeds had grown in. It took quite a while to complete this task. Once finished we also helped with the cleaning of clay rocks that the the man in charge of the organization would use for his aquaculture system that he had set up the the side of his building. Once we left Capstone, we went to talk to a lawyer about the pending lawsuit that was filed against the oil and gas business for their part in the damage that they played through their actions. Afterwards, we went to discuss the flooding with an environmental editor to discuss his involvement and experience of hurricane Katrina. It’s very interesting to see and hear how different people’s opinions are of the ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how things happened during that time.
Jay William & I
Today we went to the lower ninth ward and assisted with a program called Capstone. Capstone is a program that makes food gardens to support the local community. As a part of our day we were split into a few different groups. We started off weeding a small garden in the front yard of the house. I planted a baby head of lettuce.
Next, one team was helping to improve the house of the founder David so he can get ready to paint it. Another team was sent to a lot down the street to mow the lawn (mini forest) and clean the area. I was with this group and I was one of the people who mowed the lawn. It was very hard but really fun because it was very satisfying to see the end result. The last group was a group that everyone ended up helping in the end because they had the duty of washing the clay rocks so they could be put in a filtration system for David’s Aqua Farm. His Aqua Farm held 200 catfish and helped to support the growth of the plants. David had two different types of lettuce and kale.
After we left Capstone we went into the Central Business District and went to a law firm that discussed a case between 97 oil and gas companies and the SLFPA (Southern Louisiana Flood Protection Agency). Our last stop was at the NOLA.org news office and we talked to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who talked about what he deals with on a daily basis in regards to the politics and repercussions of Katrina.
