Columns

Bug Collections

Way back when I was in Ms. Hilda Ricks science class in 1966 when I was a Wolverine and a “Bronking Buck with a pickup Truck” (actually my Dad’s Ford Fairlane) I did an Insect Collection for extra credit. I’d always been interested in pretty-big or dangerous bugs and when I asked her about the collection she agreed. Ms. Ricks was always so cool about things like that and agreed to let me do the project on them but only if I had a theme and labeled all of the specimens correctly with the full scientific name.

When we moved to Grand Cane, we looked at building a house on family land just outside of the village. My heart soared as I pictured a farmhouse with a long winding porch encircling our home, cows in the nearby pasture grazing contentedly, and even a pond in our front yard.

Until my husband said, “Well, the Wi-Fi will be spotty at best.” Say what? “Um, honey, what exactly do those words mean?” My inside city girl voice kicked in. Which, at that time, was also my outside city girl voice. Let’s be honest…I was 100% city girl, inside and out. My city girl tendencies couldn’t fathom a place on earth where Wi-Fi didn’t exist. Didn’t that only happen in third world countries? Louisiana is one of the fifty states of the greatest country in the world! How could there be places that didn’t have Wi-Fi?

DeSoto Extension Agent

Stay Cool, Stay Green and Beat the Heat with These Tips for Healthy Summer Plants

As the scorching summer sun takes center stage, it’s not just us that feel the heat. Our leafy friends also need some extra TLC during these sweltering months. High temperatures, intense sunlight and dry conditions can take a toll on their health and vitality.

With a little care and attention, you can help your plants beat the heat and thrive throughout the summer. Here are some tips that will keep your plants cool, healthy and vibrant during the hottest time of the year.

When plants are stressed by excessive heat and do not receive adequate water, several negative effects can occur, ultimately impacting their overall health and survival. It is important to know the signs and symptoms of heat stress and water deficiency in plants.

In the early 1930’s times were stressful in some ways like today but in different kinds of way. Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, felt the need for a more jovial spirit and humor. As the Great Depression became more stressful Long started a little word battle with the Governor of Georgia and the Editor of the Atlanta Constitution. The proper way to eat “cornpone” or cornbread was with soup or milk or potlikker. Long contended the proper way was to dunk the cornpone in the “potlikker” which you younger readers may not know was the juice from boiled vegetables like mustard, turnip or collard greens cooked with salt and pepper and fat pork. The above concoction was a favorite meal of most southern families.

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?