Winter gardening in Louisiana

The pleasant temperatures we have had this past week, and expectation of pleasant temperatures for the week to come remind us that there is a portion of the year that Louisiana can be rather enjoyable, weatherwise. The onset of Fall and the start of the sugarcane harvest season usually coinside in southern Louisiana. This year, the sugarcane harvest season was somewhat delayed. Farmers were delayed in planting as a result of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and the planting needs to be largely completed before the harvesting begins. The weather has been as good as could be expected for harvesting sugarcane. Sunny days and especially cool evenings for this time of year both have contributed to a respectable sugar content in the crop in spite of the adverse impact that the two hurricanes had.

Another activity that occurs in the Fall in Louisiana is the planting of winter gardens. In our area, many vegetable crops actually do better when planted in the fall than when planted in the early spring. Popular winter-grown vegetable crops in southern Louisiana include beets, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, chard, kohlrabi, lettuce, leek, onions, shallots, potatoes, peas, and spinach. Last year, I couldn't believe the wonderful cabbage we had when it was fall-planted. Check out the growth of our fall-transplanted cabbage and broccoli this year. Believe it or not, these plants were transplanted only five weeks ago...on September 19. It's almost scary how fast they are growing.

Annual Crop Science Meeting and Megan's surgery

Last week, I was in Houston for the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of the following societies: ASA, CSSA, SSSA, GSA, GCAGS, and HGS. Don't worry, I don't know what at least two of these acronyms stand for either. The one I am most closely affiliated with is the CSSA or Crop Science Society of America. What was different about this year is that we linked up with the GSA (Geological Society of America) and the GCAGS and HGS, whatever they stand for. Check out the links at the above website, if curious. It was fun to see some new and different booths for a change. I got a little carried away at all the exhibitor booths selling rocks and gems, and ended up buying perhaps more than I should have. I was invited to be a Symposium speaker at one of the sessions this year, which was a first for me, and probably the last. No surprise...the topic had to do with energy cane.

Also, this week was eventful in our family in that our granddaughter, Megan had her first surgery (Bertasso Blogsite: October 10, 2008 entry) to correct her cleft lip and palate. It sounds like the surgery went as smoothly as could be expected. Matt and Julie's blogsite relate their experience, and of course with some great pictures. Matt's mom came out to baby sit during the surgery period and will be with the family for another week to help out.

Army of LDS volunteers provide hurricane relief in and around Houma

We had an exciting weekend. Quoting HoumaToday.com, "A yellow-shirted army of faith came to Houma and neighboring communities this weekend, with nearly 1,400- volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveling to the area to lend a hand with hurricane-relief cleanup projects." Anyone driving along Hwy 311 may have seen tents on the grounds of the LDS Church near Savanne Road or at the Living Word Church still under construction near Interstate 30. Staging site for the event was at the Living Word Church. Prior to the launching of the work, volunteers got to hear from Elder John Anderson (a high-ranking representative of the LDS church), Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, Louisiana Senate President Joel Chaisson II, and Martin Luther King III (eldest son of MLK Jr.). Kevin Voisin, VP of Motivatit Seafood, played an active role in organizing the Mormon Helping Hands volunteer event, and in identifying needs. When United Houma Nation Chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux got involved, the effort took on a whole new dimension. The United Houma Nation is affiliated with King's Realizing the Dream campaign, which seeks to assist and empower disadvantaged communities. Brenda called King, who, in turn, sought help from the LDS Church because of their ability to organize large numbers of volunteers for efforts such as this on short notice, and within days, the large-scale project was organized with volunteers coming from throughout the southeastern U.S. for the weekend. On Saturday morning, I took some photos including the tents surrounding our Church and the activities going on at the Living Word Church staging site. Then it was time to roll away the camera, roll down my sleeves, and jump into the action. Early Sunday morning, there was a brief LDS service held at the Living Word Church, then volunteers continued their work throughout the morning, focusing heavily on areas further down the bayou (Dulac, Dularge, etc.). I was not involved on Sunday.

Hurricane Ike's devastation

Words cannot describe the devastation of storms like Hurricane Ike as well as pictures can. Check out the pictures of the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, taken mostly in Texas, that were and are continuing to be compiled by Gary and Teri Trayler of Corpus Christi, TX at their website. Thanks goes to my daughter Lori for bringing this website to my attention. Former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton have once again linked arms and established a fund, as they did after Hurricane Katrina and after the deadly tsunami that occurred in SE Asia. Supporting this fund, called the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund, will help communities and families living along the Gulf Coast that were affected by Hurricane Ike.

Restoring Louisiana's vanishing coastline

Last night, I had the opportunity to view a compelling documentary entitled "Harvest to Restore America's Coastal Heartland." This documentary eloquently described how important the coastal region of Louisiana is to the entire nation, then introduced the concept of "pipeline sediment delivery" as a means of saving our coastline, wetlands, livelihood and lifestyle in this region. Quoting from the website, "...pipeline sediment delivery holds the promise of expeditiously recreating the natural system of barrier islands, marshes, and ridgelands that provide the only practical long term hurricane protection both to America’s energy hub and to the port and city of New Orleans." The documentary showed how pipeline sediment delivery works, how it’s being used in other countries around the world such as in Dubai. The documentary is well worth watching, and shows what can be done if we put our minds to it. Governor Bobby Jindal just returned from Washington, where he met with the Louisiana congressional delegation and, among other things, discussed the need to move ahead as quickly as possible on projects that will help to save our vanishing coastline.

Making better use of disaster debris

In 2004, after Ivan the Terrible made landfall on the Gulf Coast between Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL as a strong category 3 hurricane, I joined others in assisting in the cleanup in and around Pensacola. I couldn't believe the height that the tree debris was piled up on both sides of street after street as far as the eye could see. On some streets, I couldn't even see residents' homes behind the debris because it was piled so high. After Katrina, the sheer number and height of the piles of tree debris placed in open areas of New Orleans, such as in school football fields, was astounding. When I saw the damage done to trees in and around Houma after Gustav, there was no doubt that the same phenomenon of piling of debris was about happen once again (see above photo). I told some of my friends, watch how much debris gets piled on the streets in Houma, Thibodaux, and other severely affected areas. This leads to the question, "Where does all of this debris ultimately end up? Unfortunately, for the most part, no good use is made of it. Most of it is either burned up or removed out of the public eye to decompose. It is fitting that Biomass Magazine this month has a lead article that addresses this very issue, discussing the possible conversion of debris left behind by catastrophic events to more useful products. Detractors of biomass bring up energy costs associated with growing and harvesting biomass crops to convert to biofuels or to burn for electricity. In the case of debris, we have a readily available biomass source that is already sitting on the side of the road, waiting to be picked up and utilized, if we had appropriate infrastructure in place to deal with it. Another article in Biomass Magazine discusses a venture at Raceland Raw Sugars (a sugarcane milling operation located between Houma and New Orleans) to produce briquettes from excess sugarcane bagasse. Both articles directly address the all-important issue of transportion costs that currently prevents the utilization of potentially valuable biomass products that currently largely go to waste.

Ike's impact on Terrebonne Parish

While it is understandable that much of Hurricane Ike's impact in the gulf region is focused on Texas, it's impact on Louisiana should not be overlooked. In Terrebonne Parish alone, some 15,000 homes were swamped by storm surge created by Ike. Governor Jindal has been very vocal about the false economy of not taking action toward coastal restoration and strengthening the levee system, then spending fantastic amounts of money to repeatedly repair flooded homes and businesses. Rita was far more devastating in Terrebonne Parish than was Katrina in 2005. Similarly, even though Terrebonne Parish took a direct hit from Gustav, the flooding that was created by Ike will be harder to recover from. Imagine having a home flooded out by a hurricane, only to see it get flooded out again only three years later. Ike exacted a severe psychological blow to those living in vulnerable communities in lower Terrebonne Parish. Experts on coastal restoration point out that 40 years ago, Ike wouldn't have had anywhere near the impact that it did in 2008 in southern Louisiana. They also have pointed out that a stronger levee only two feet higher would have prevented almost all of the flooding that occurred in Terrebonne Parish.

Consider this. We will be paying in excess of $400 million to complete the 700-mile partially built border fence between Mexico and the U.S., not to mention the billions it costs each year to patrol the border. Perhaps we should take this money and spend it on coastal protection projects and let the illegals do the building. Sounds like a win-win solution to me.

Above picture was taken from the Houma Courier.