The “Maw-maw” of RealCajunRecipes.com, my mom, grew up working on various farms with her 8 siblings. Though now many Cajun families are smaller (I have 3 siblings), Cajun famlies back then were big because of their religion (Catholicism) and because children in poor families were needed to work on the farms. Mom started her mornings before the sun would even rise. She would work a few hours in the field (picking cotton or sugarcane), go to school then return in the afternoon to continue working in the fields. As you can imagine, she was one of the children that actually loved school; it was a well-earned break from the hard, hot work in the fields. During the 2004 sugar cane season, Mom offered to write about her experiences.

According to the USDA, Louisiana is the second-largest producer of sugar from cane in the United States, with the industry contributing $500 to $600 million to Louisiana’s annual economy. I was part of that industry as a young child. My siblings and I did some cane planting, cutting, and harvesting as younger children. Sugar cane was our winter crop; whereas we had cotton, peppers and a truck farm for our summer crop.

We would plant the cane in early October for next years harvest using the current years growth. You would cut the cane where the “eyes” of the cane were showing. The eyes is where the offshoot came from. In hand cutting the cane, our crop was generally all cut and in by the Thanksgiving holiday. After that we would work for hire at our neighbors’ field. In going to the fields you made sure that every area of your body was covered with clothing as the cane leaf had a tendency to cut skin along with as we know now for sun protection too. . And you never went in the sun unless you had your chapeau paille - straw hat. And you didn’t forget the Mule brand light blue colored gloves.

Originally we would use mules and a wagon to get the crop in. Working with mules you get to understand that you can communicate with animals. Our mules early on were named Luckay and Patsay’. There were 4 words/sounds we learned when working with our mules. Chk Chk, a sound made in your cheek pocket to get the mules moving, Gee used to make them turn left and Haw to make them turn right and Whoa to stop.

Later we turned in the mules for our Allis Chalmers tractor..Allis-Chalmers’ history as a manufacturer extends to the 1840’s in Milwaukee. In 1914 the growing company entered into the farm equipment business. Over the years Allis-Chalmers was responsible for many innovations in farm equipment and grew to become one of the largest and most diverse manufacturers in North America. We would crank our old tractor to get her started being careful to let the crank go right when the engine started. Otherwise, your arm got cranked (cracked) up also. My dad kept his “old” tractor quite a while after he retired. I guess you can attach to inanimate objects.

My Dad, “Coon” as his friends called him and my brothers, Raywood, Francis, Harold and Glenn (MawMaw did it a couple of times but preferred driving the tractor and mules better) pretty much cut cane like the cane soldiers, as they were called in that day, did. Using a hand held cane machete, you would first, cut the dry part of the sugar cane leaf at the bottom of the stalk referred to in Cajun French as “la paille de canne (cone)” - the straw of the cane. ; then you would cut of the greener top leaves of the cane referred to as “la feuille de canne”. The hand action was a fast swinging motion; breaking the momentum or going to fast would result in cutting or splitting open your thigh or shin. It usually was the shin. Everyone of us had that battle scar on one or two of our leg; yep my Dad too.

My brothers and father would walk along sugarcane rows and gather the stalks in their upright positions. They cut the stalks at their base, remove their sugarless tops, and drop the stalks across two adjacent rows, forming what is called a heap row. The old harvesters were called “soldiers” deriving their name from the way the stalks seem to march while they’re being collected. Piles of the harvested cane were collected in a wagon and trucked by tractor to a nearby factory for processing. Once the wagon was loaded to full capacity, you would take the heavy chains and throw them across the wagon to the person on the other side. Since you could not see on the other side of the cane load, you always “called out” the signal that the chain was being thrown so the person on the other side would be aware. That person would then lock the chain securing the load. Once my Dad forgot to call out and ended up hitting my brother Raywood on the head; knocked him out cold. Raywood was taken to the doctor, but being “hard head”, he was not seriously hurt.

We would then “haul” the wagon loads of a cane to a nearby wholesaler, Mr Floyd Boudoin. He would then using the huge cane trucks that we see today, haul and resell to the nearby syrup mills such as Steens Syrup and Barras Sugar Mill. One of the rural roads nearby where I was raised was named after the owner of the Barras Syrup Mill - Germain Barras; Germain Road.

The USDA reports that although soldier harvesting was the accepted method for more than five decades, during the last few years many Louisiana producers have shifted to combine—or chopper—harvesting. According to Ben Legendre, former research leader of ARS’ Sugarcane Research Unit at Houma, Louisiana, and current sugarcane specialist with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center (LSU AgCenter) at St. Gabriel, the shift corresponds with the introduction and expanded planting of a new, higher yielding crop variety known as LCP 85-384

Cane is steadily taken over rice production in Acadiana due to better weather conditions and crop prices.

Young Cajuns generally do not work on sugarcane farms but we do eagerly look forward to sugarcane season each year. It’s during this time that farmers in big machines transport massive amounts of sugarcane on Louisiana’s sideroads. The large trucks carrying the sugarcane are open-topped and so lots of sugarcane falls into the road during transportation. Cajun kids love picking up that sugar cane, bringing it home and chewing on it. To eat sugarcane, you first have to wash it, then peel it, then cut it into cubes. Chewing the sugarcane extracts pure, unprocessed, delicious sugar. MMM, baw! I’ve seen those fields out here in California but have never taken the time to go out and grab some of the sugarcane laying on the road. Nobody else does either, as far as I can tell. Maybe they see it as a sort of road-kill. Either way, next time, I’m picking some up!

You can now find a detailed map of the various Daqauri drive-thrus around Lafayette over at CajunDrinks.com. Click on the link below to find out more!

LafayetteTravel.com has a wonderful article on Cajun vs. Creole. The article mostly focuses on food but talks a bit about the differences in culture too, clearing up a lot of the misconceptions about our distinct culture and food. The whole article is wonderful but this is my favorite part, as it rings so true:

But for day-in, day-out eating, there is nothing more popular than rice and gravy. In fact, a true Cajun can look at a field of growing rice and tell how gravy it will take to cover it when all the rice is cooked. Whole generations of people have lived and died in south Louisiana and never known that some people in other places serve a meal that does not include rice and gravy. Here, the concept never enters the mind.

When I first moved to California, I had no idea that people didn’t have rice and gravy for supper at least once a week, much less ever! To this day, when I say “gravy,” people think of the flour-based white gravy and cringe. I would too if I thought that’s what gravy was! The Cajun vs Creole article has this to say about the gravy “First of all, it is brown. With all due deference to Texans, Cajuns use that white stuff they put on top of chicken fried steaks to hang wallpaper. Gravy is brown, not white. That’s it.” I couldn’t find a picture of rice and gravy on our photo album but I did find a picture of the gravy before I gets poured onto the rice.

That’s my mom’s Stuffed Round Steak gravy. Talk about good!

Malcontent.biz has a headline that reads “Britney’s Cajun Cry-Out.” I’m sure they put that there just because she was raised in Louisiana but for Pete’s sake, she raised in Kentwood which is a town on the Southeastern border of Louisiana. Not everything born/raised in or touched by Louisiana is Cajun.

Internet bios state that Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. Her family background includes the surnames Bridges, Woolmoore, Spears and Forbes — names with Scottish and English roots. Britney, so far as I can tell, has not claimed any Acadian ancestry — the only heritage she has claimed publicly so far is that of Native American ancestry.

You can read more here about what it takes to be considered Cajun.

Today I stumbled onto the flickr album by Audrey Marks. Talk about some great pictures of Louisiana, yeah! You should check out the whole album but here’s a few just to pique your interest:

City of Breaux Bridge	B.B. Crawfish Festival	Lake Martin
South Louisiana Foods	Old Cypress Barns	Grand Chenier

Ms. Audrey has also got pictures of Holly Beach/Cameron/Creole, Jefferson Island, Avery Island, Lake Fausse Point and a whole bunch of others. Very nice!

Public Broadcasting is important, especially to Cajun Culture. Without it, we wouldn’t have Over 174 Articles on NPR which mention “Cajun” (more accurate Google search) including

• Acadian Congress
• Cajun Culture Slow to Fade
• Cajuns Hope for Revival of Battered Marshes
• The Cajuns: Americanization of a People book review
• Touring Louisiana’s Cameron Parish
• Evangeline Made
• The Pine Leaf Boys CD Review
• Surveying Rita’s Damage in Southwest Louisiana
• Hurricane Rita Victims Lost in the Shadow of Katrina
• Cajun Country Thick with Mosquitoes

And that’s just on NPR.org.. PBS.org has a few articles on Cajun Culture as well.

• Do You Speak American
• Make ‘em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers Story
• A Taste of Louisiana

And of course, LPB’s (Louisiana Public Broadcasting)

• Lost Louisiana
• Healing Secrets of the Cajuns, Creoles and Bayou Indians

The list goes on.. well, for the second time, public broadcasting is in trouble. Please tell your Congressperson that Public Broadcasting is important to you. You can find out more by visiting Tell Them Public Matters.org.

On June 13, 2006 the full House Appropriations Committee voted to restore $20 million of the previously-planned $115 million cuts to funding for public broadcasting, but left the remainder of the cuts in place in the FY 2007 budget bill making its way through the House.

Although the restoration of $20 million in FY 2007 funds is a welcome development, the committee left intact nearly $100 million in cuts to all of the other public broadcasting programs funded in this bill: CPB digital, interconnection, and Ready To Learn and Ready To Teach, No funds were provided for Ready to Learn and Ready to Teach, two critical early learning educational programs. Moreover, no advance appropriation for FY 2009 was included in the bill—which, if left unchallenged either on the House floor or in the Senate, would represent the first time two-year advance funding will not have been approved since the practice was begun 30 years ago.

Your immediate help is needed to reverse these draconian funding cuts. Please scroll down to send a message to your U.S. Representative to urge that funds for public broadcasting be fully restored.

There is an easy to fill out form that allows you to either email or print a letter to your US House Representative.

One of the biggest things I missed about Louisiana when I moved out here to California was Zapps potato chips. A few years later, I was thrilled when I tried some potato chips called “Dirty’s.” It tasted JUST like Zapps and it even had “Cajun” flavor. I became a bit suspicious so I turned the bag around and sure enough, “Dirty” potato chips came from Gramercy, Louisiana — the same place where Zapps are produced. Upon viewing their respective webpages, it became obvious that Dirty’s is just Zapps rebranded.

Unfortunately, my favorite flavor “Cajun Dill” is not sold around the country. In the Dirty line-up, it’s been replaced with something a little more sophisticated — Roasted Garlic and Herb. Check out the marketing of each (Zapps, Dirty) — seems that Zapps marketing is a little more laid back and mentions beer way more than the Dirty national brand.

A few of the descriptions include

• Dirtys - Cajun Spice - Developed By Our Cousin Boudreaux Who Plays The Fiddle Ina Zydeco Band. Note This Flavor Does Contain Artificial Shrimp Flavoring Because Some Folks Are Allergic To Shellfish. It Makes Them Puff Up Like A Blowfish.
• Zapps - Cajun Crawtator - The Taste Of A Cajun Boiled Seafood Feast That Goes Crunch And Your Mouth Goes Wow. Zapp’s Was The First Cajun Flavored Anything And Is Still Our #1 Seller!
• Zapps - Salt & Vinegar - A Tangy, Salty Taste With A Pucker That Will Knock Your Socks Off! A Bag Of These And Cold One And Life’s Pretty Good.
• Dirtys - Mesquite BBQ - Everyone Knows That Mesquite Wood Makes The Best Bar-B-Que And Ours Captures The True Flavor Of The Old Southwest.
• Zapps - Mesquite BBQ - Yippee Cowhands, Our Sweet Mesquite Flavor Tastes Like An Old Wild West Cookout. It’ll Make Ya Want To Kiss Your Horse…Or Spouse…Or Both.

The marketing differences are interesting.. I’m just glad I found Zapps here in California. Salt & Cracked Pepper isn’t mentioned on Dirtys website but they’ve got it out here and it’s my favorite. Dirtys is my girlfriend, Delia’s, “best” brand of chips. Of course Cajun Spice is her favorite flavor

This is a bit of a repetitive rant but I notice it all the time. Many people act like Katrina only happened to New Orleans and Rita never even occurred. I went watch An Inconvenient Truth tonight. The logo of the movie is pretty cool, it’s a factory emitting smoke in the shape of a hurricane. The movie, of course, talks about global warming and makes numerous mentions about hurricanes (though most of it focuses on the polar ice caps).

Many of the hurricanes leading up to Katrina were mentioned and after the 5 minute or so segment that focused on the people of New Orleans, I expected Gore to state what would be so helpful to his argument — two category 5 hurricanes hit the gulf within one month. But that would have required a mention of Rita and, apparently, people go out of their way to avoid mentioning her. It just drives me plum crazy. Plum!

Well, the story titled “Last year’s floods give way to drought” isn’t so upbeat but a picture of Kaplan is featured.

By Claudia B. Laws, The Daily Advertiser

Maw-Maw saw the above picture and said to herself “That looks just like Kaplan!” Sure enough, the caption reads “A farmer drives down a dusty dirt road north of Kaplan, La. Southern Louisiana, much of which was underwater after last year’s hurricanes is now in the throes of a severe to extreme drought.” This part wasn’t underwater, but the verrry south end of Kaplan was. I believe that’s the Adams’ property. It’s either that or the Herpins. North of Kaplan is sometimes referred to as Herpinville because of all the Herpin familes that live there. It’s official community name, however, is “Cossinade.”

Maw-Maw sent me this amazing 5 minute clip from a documentary on the History Channel about the 1980 Lake Peigneur disaster in which Texaco engineers pierced a hole in an underwater salt mine and created a massive whirlpool. It was the only time in history that the “Gulf of Mexico flowed backwards.” This link has the storyline of the 1980 incident at Lake Peigneur, Jefferson Island and Diamond salt mine. Maw-Maw writes:

From my country home in Erath, as a child we could see the highlights of the buildings at Jefferson Island. The attached video tells the rest. There was also footage that Jefferson Island used to show when you visited but the last time I went they weren’t showing it.

The man and his nephew fishing my Dad knew real well. We had heard though, that the man and his nephew had stopped right at the top of the hole; this disproves it as HUGE barges were actually sucked into the mine.

As kids in Vermilion Parish, we were often told the tale of Jefferson Island and going there on field trips of just family outings was always super exciting.

You can read more at damninteresting.com. Be sure to watch the video too, around the fourth minute you’ll hear an old Cajun saying, with a real ‘tick’ accent, “I tought it was de end of de world.” Too cute!