Butte La Rose et Les Entourage

Bonjour!
I went by Georgette and Gary Louviere’s home on the Catahoula Highway last month. It was a first time for me visiting them and an enjoyable and educational one. They are your typical Cajun family with arms open wide for love of their offsprings.
I remember Georgette from many years ago when Roon and Candid Barras held a small grocery store across the road from where Emile Barras held a business. Those days and events are good ole memories. Georgette remembers a special room in the store where people played bourre. Someone made gumbo and cooked a big pot of rice and everyone told stories around the card table. Gee where has time gone? And of course we all remember working in the fields and especially picking cotton.
I got to admit I cheated by going visiting when I did, choosing fig season time. You can guess why! They’ve got fig trees tout partout. They gave me a grand tour of their back yard and garden. It is amazing. It’s not a big area but it produces all their vegetable needs and then some, including pear trees and other fruit bearing trees and bushes. Growing vegetables cover every inch of soil in their back yard. They have six different kinds of fig trees and all bear fruit.
It takes plenty of dedication and hard work to keep up and succeed with growing their food year round. Elbow grease produces fruits of their labor! You figure there are four seasons for planting different crops. Their area is well laid out and every plant has its own area for growing. Yet as small as the area, every plant produces its crop. The fig trees all have their own places, close to each other, yet have their own space. Georgette said they prune the fig trees every year. It is easier for picking when they’re shorter and produces as much as the ones that are tall and harder to reach.
Their back yard did not happen overnight. It took years of developing and planning and planting one veggie at a time to fit in this spot and that spot. And they all need and have sunshine. I found the okra peeping out above some shorter veggie plants. Gary uses Triple 8 fertilizer all around their garden claiming it’s the most reliable and has treated his garden well. We talked about les vieux temp.
There are some old wooden storage sheds and barns out back for storing their garden tools. Everything is in its place and there’s a place for everything. Georgette and Gary both work in the garden. And their grandkids are also learning the importance of growing their own food. Georgette said she plants by the moon. This is the way farmers plant crops is by the moon. There’s always been almanacs, but they still relied on the moon phases. Rayland Boudreaux says he plants anything at any time and does not worry about the moon.
Georgette and Gary have been lifelong sweethearts and married for 53 years. They had six children and very sad to say they lost a son. She energetically admits to her love of working in her yard. She says that her grandmother raised chickens and sold eggs. She canned fruits and went out and sold them. Her grandmother loved to talk with people and made friends everywhere.
They’ve also produced musically inclined grandchildren. Ten-year-old grandson William Louviere plays guitar and sings with me at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sundays in Catahoula. His parents Russ and Crystal are proud of Will. His younger brother plays fiddle but is not quite ready to join in yet. To say Catahoula has a few other talented children. In time they will all get it together.
“Amazing Grace!”

–Cousine Hélène
337-228-1714
helenboudreaux@juno.com