Columns

By Josh Salley, DeSoto Extension Agent

Monarch mayday: Send in the Natives

The monarch butterfly has been listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on its Red List of Threatened Species. Habitat loss from devastating weather patterns and the use of pesticides have been cited as reasons leading to a severe decline in both the monarch and its host plant, milkweed.

Each year, the monarch population migrates from Canada and northern U.S. to Southern California and Mexico, where they overwinter. According to the Xerces Society, there has been a steep decline of 70% to upward of 95% of the migrating populations.

with Chef Hunter Lee Labor Day Relief

Let’s get shakin!!!

As I see the kiddos returning to school, my social media is flooded with first day back to school pictures; I reminisce. I don’t have children but most of my friends do.

I remember back to when I was young when their parents were young. Back to school shopping, moms and dads exhausted from the summer heat and let’s be honest, THE KIDS.

I remember Labor Day weekend, I remember it was the last hoorah, it meant the long hot days of our southern summer were coming slowly to an end. I remember growing up we never started school before Labor Day.

Grove Hill Community, very important in early DeSoto Parish history, is now known by most people as “Double Churches” and has a very rich history. Through the years, as with many communities, most of the citizens move away to cities and forget about the their original communities.

By the mid-1800’s settlers from the southeastern states in America homesteaded the area about ten miles southeast of Mansfield. The most prominent things in the community were Grove Hill Baptist Church, Bethel Methodist Church, a store, a one-room school and a post office. The area had been a part of the Spanish Land Grant of Pierre Dolet during the late 1700’s. Pierre Dolet was the largest cattleman in North Louisiana with several thousand cows spread over the entire southern portion of present-day DeSoto Parish. He drove his cattle all the way to Opelousas, LA to the market there.

During the middle and late 1930’s America was deep in the Great Depression but movies were in vogue. It was the one thing both the older and younger could go to for a few hours and dream of better times ahead. The possible filming of Margaret Mitchell’s bestseller “Gone With The Wind (GWTW)” was on everyone’s mind. Who could possibly be chosen to portray the Rhett Butler part other than Clark Gable? Almost everyone agree that Gable should be Rhett except Gable himself. It’s not that he didn’t want the role but he said, “It is simply that Rhett is too big an order for any actor to tackle who is in his right mind.” Clark realized he needed money to get a divorce in order to marry Carol Lombard so he signed on in August of 1938.

Y’all, why do people seem to think it’s okay to post their personal business on Facebook?

I mean, look, hundreds of folks do not need to know about your colonoscopy results.

Your date night with “the best hubby ever” does not need to be broadcast for thousands to peek in on.

Nobody cares about the filet mignon you had or the sexy things he whispered in your ear.

Can you imagine, back in the 80’s and 90’s before social media, if we had gone around showing random acquaintances snapshots of us “smooching our smoke show?”

Or the print-outs of our bloodwork results?

Or the private notes written just for our eyes?

People just have no boundaries these days.

And what about all those selfies of folks snuggled up to “the love of their life” in a Broken Bow cabin?

Look, nobody needs to witness your oh-so private moments with your sixth soulmate.

with Chef Hunter Lee The Summer S’more Let’s get shakin!!!

That’s right s’mores in the summer, it’s a thing, or it could be. I’ve never been considered completely sane and with it 100° or hotter outside, I probably got ya attention. But seriously if you like them, you like them, if you have ever made them with the kiddos, you know they love them. I grew up in the country and when we were kids out at the camp, we were always by the fire making s’mores!

They are perfect for those nights out by the fire when it’s cool out, camping, and perfect for family time. Well with one of the best kitchen inventions in a generation you don’t have wait until fall to toast that marshmallow! In fact, you don’t even have to go outside.

When my youngest child finished sixth grade back in May and was getting ready to transition to the middle school side of campus, I’m sorry (but not sorry) to say that my first thought was, “Good, because that elementary car line’s about to wear me out!”

I mean, I had to spiritually prepare every day for that 3 o’clock hot mess, where pony-tailed women in minivans suddenly become Luke Duke, revvin’ the motor of that Honda Odyssey like it’s the General Lee.

Where people with Jesus stickers on their back windshield have been known to rotate their necks 360 degrees and vomit green pea soup.

It’s three lanes deep, bottlenecks twice, and causes folks to wave at each other … with one finger.

I’ve witnessed manya- Memaw wheel that Buick around, cutting off people like it’s Black Friday, horns honking and tires squealing like Christmas Eve in Manhattan.

(Editor’s Note: Encore column from October 2017. Enjoy!)

Most people do not give much thought to names but that is one of the most important things about a person. His parents gave a lot of thought before naming him as a baby. The same thing is true about a place or town. So where did DeSoto Parish get its name?

By Jann Franklin Is Some Better Than None?

I love my friend Cindy-I truly do. She is amazing and fantastic and wonderful. The fact that she would tell you that’s not true just solidifies how amazing and fantastic and wonderful she is. I mean seriously- she invented The Cup Half Full Principle.

I hesitate to even share it with you-this information is beyond amazing. If I haven’t I told you about the Amazing Life Hack my friend Kristi shared with me, it’s coming. Believe me! I feel guilty sharing this tip as well. But Cindy changed my life.

Her son is my oldest son’s age. But oh my stars! Her son is the most grateful, appreciative human being on this planet. How did she do that? Please share Cindy!

with Chef Hunter Lee The Passive-Aggressive Pineapple

Let’s get Shakin!!!! I returned home this week from a cookbook promotional tour that included Asheville, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah Georgia. It was an amazing adventure but over 2,400 miles round trip, it was a lot of driving and let me tell y’all it’s just as HOT up there as it is here.

South Carolina and Georgia are both well known for the Pineapple. It’s not just them, like a lot of symbols it’s a southern thing!

“The Pineapple” is the southern symbol for hospitality and we all know you won’t find better down-home hospitality than right here in the GREAT state of Louisiana.

There are stories of how this came to be and why, a lot of them are just myth and a lot have been lost in history and time.