Columns

My personal philosophy, “The Philosophy of Jubolaism” is spreading knowledge. It is the best way to give back for giving back by showing the integrity of you and your way of life.

Don’t lead your colleagues astray. It is a necessity to enlighten others on knowledge that will guide them to that of wisdom. If you touch one individual with that in which you know then you have taken a step into spreading in that of which you learned, terminology meaning when you plant your seed which is enlightening one person soon you will have a garden because the person you passed it on to may spread it to the masses.

A Very Old Cookbook

In the last few weeks I’ve been receiving Ms. Hope Calhoun’s collection of books delivered by her Niece, Cheryl Ryder Brightwell, from Cousin Tommy Calhoun AND it’s been a major undertaking. In the 24 boxes delivered I’ve been finding gardening books, bird and plant books, cookbooks and ,most importantly for the Museum, textbooks from the old Female College. Yes, actual text and reference books!

So far some interesting finds as I unpack are a 1924 book on Parliamentary Procedure, a set of “The Student’s Cyclopaedia” copyrighted 1893 most recently updated in 1919, volumes of the “Messages and Papers of the Presidents” with Volume II copyrighted in 1897 starting with James Madison … This is gonna be fun!

The (Food) War Between the States

Our friends up north are fine upstanding people, with fine upstanding dining. I mean, who doesn’t love a good succotash? How about some pastrami? Maybe a Philly cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz, or a soft pretzel? No? Yeah, me either.

I’m not knocking our friends on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon line, but (and maybe I’m prejudiced) if their way of living is so great, why aren’t more things named after that part of the country?

First of all, I’d put up any of our food against a sandwich made with fake cheese. Okay, maybe not chitlins, but hey, it’s America. Last I checked we’re still free to eat the intestine of a farm animal. Now, if that didn’t totally gross you out, you’re a true Southerner. And if you’re already hungry, you’d best skip down a couple of paragraphs. Because discussing our food is going to take a while. Actually, you might just wait until you’ve eaten before reading this article.

Does God have a word for us in His Holy Scriptures? Yes, He does. He always has a word for His people either audible or written down. We should be listening like Noah of old when God gave him the dimensions of the ark and how to build it, or when Jonah, was instructed to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Then there is Saul, who became Paul, on the road to Damascus.

Here is a strong word from the Lord in Jeremiah 4:7-8: “The lion has come up from the thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way.”

DeSoto Extension Agent

Give your garden a color splash with agastache

This year at the Southern Plant Trials, I fell in love with the herbaceous perennial agastache. This perennial stood out to me with its profuse blooms and delightful fragrance.

At each location I visited, the agastache was buzzing with pollinators. In the third week of June each year, Americans celebrate National Pollinator Week. So now is a perfect time to add a color splash of agastache to your garden.

Commonly known as giant hyssop or hummingbird mint, there are 22 species of agastache native to North America and some to China and Japan. This group of perennials is related to bee balm, salvias and coleus, and all belong to the mint family of plants. They all sport the typical square or angular stems of members of the Lamiaceae or mint family. Many are fragrant and have unique flower forms.

Ask Rusty – What If I Delay but Die Before Claiming Social Security?

DeSoto Extension Agent

Root rot disease creeping up in Louisiana lawns

LSU AgCenter plant doctor Raj Singh says homeowners around the state are beginning to see an increase in take-all patch, also known as take-all root rot.

The disease is caused by the soilborne fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis var. graminis (Ggg). The fungus is frequently found in association with turfgrass roots without causing significant disease.

“Take-all patch disease can be quite destructive,” Singh said. “The aboveground symptoms appear after the root system has already been severely compromised.”

The appearance of these symptoms generally coincides with periods of several abiotic stresses.

“The initial symptoms of takeall root rot are generally visible as an overall yellowing, thinning or drought-stressed appearance of the turf,” Singh said. “Diseased roots are often short, dark-colored and somewhat brittle.”

July 4th is approaching soon and it is one of the most sacred days for the American Citizen. On July 4th, 1776, delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Penn. voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. The 56 men who issued that famous document realized they were signing their own death warrants because the British would consider them traitors. A follow- up article next week will tell of the suffering and hardships each of the signers and their families went through.

Let’s get baking!!

I’ve never hid the fact I’m not much of a baker BUT apparently I also wasn’t great at picking spouses years ago either (shocker I know).

Carrion Crows?

A startling site the other afternoon as I sat on the back patio was two of these big black birds wheeling expertly through the dense forest of large pine trees. I thought that was pretty peculiar to see them flying so low and emitting a kinda clacking churring sound to each other.

I was used to seeing them wheeling around way up it the sky and remembered that there were different types here in Louisiana the Turkey Vulture and the Black Vulture. Wikipedia tells of early Spanish explorers hearing tails from the Atakapas Indians along the Atchafalaya River in south Louisiana of large red-headed vultures feasting on a Wooly Mammoth that had died on the banks of the Vermillion River. The explorers reported these birds as “Carencro Tete’ Rouge” and the little settlement took that Spanish name of Carencro.