AVERY ISLAND'S RICHES

 Edmund McIlhenny settled on Avery Island in the late 1800;s  and discovered a pillar of salt. It was a natural formation as deep as Mt. Everest is tall. However, a friend gave him a handful of peppers from South America. He planted them and decided to make a sauce. The result? Tabasco Sauce, a unique hot sauce no one has duplicated. It takes so little to flavor food I was amazed that 700,000 bottles a day go through the McIlhenny Plant on Avery Island, which is still operated by Edmund's decendants.

The process is pretty simple. The peppers at the peak of ripeness are ground with local salt and aged in barrels. The barrels have holes drilled in the top, covered with a thick layer of salt, and the fermentation process takes about 3 years. When its removed, the mixture is stirred for 28 days with vinegar before bottling.

One grandson,  E.A. McIlhenny, a botanist, saved egrets from extinction. The birds were slaughtered by the millions by hat making hunters for their beautiful feathers. His breeding grounds today, used by egrets and herons, attracts 10,000 birds to the nesting platforms he built for them. The bird preserve and botanical garden E.A. McIlhenny built,  hauls in tons of twigs for the birds nesting materials each year since their isn't enough natural growth to support them on the island.

The egrets recognize there is not enough food on the island to support them and their babies so they do not eat any food from the island. They range far and wide over the bayous to feed leaving the island food for the weaker hatchlings.

The Jungle Garden and bird sanctuary is open all year for tourists. Over 1,000 different specimens of camellias, many bamboos, shrubs, and plants from all over the world are kept here. Old natural oaks dominate the scene along with man made lagoons that attract much wildlife. Beauty is the result.

  

After leaving the island, we drove to Del Cambre, the jumbo shrimp capital of the United States. The shrimpers gather here at the peak of shrimp season by the hundreds. Their festival is held in August.

ALLIGATOR SWAMP TOUR

Alligator Annie’s Swamp Tours were “famous” in this area. (We are in Houma.) She was the only woman, and one of the first to offer alligator tours. Annie died in 2004. Her son John now does the tours. They begin at a restaurant called Bayou Delight, on Highway 182, where many pictures of Annie, with alligators and guests,

cover the walls. Stories are many that she was a remarkable woman.

We set out with John knowing the water was unusually high; much of the bird feeding grounds are flooded and the alligators at this time of year lay pretty low. In other words, a good chance we wouldn’t see any.

No more than spoken when a small alligator was spotted right across from the restaurant.

An hour out, John spotted this nice fellow…

… and this crusty older specimen. John joked that he has been accused of putting out a rubber alligator, so he is always thankful when they move. They tend to look like a bunch of cut up rubber tires; mostly inactive and motionless in the water during this cold time of year. Nearby was another small alligator almost invisible in the grasses and floating plants.

Less foliage in the swamp provides a better view of the birds. John nicknamed the ibis above “lady slipper”. She looks like she is about to dance.

This little blue egret was enjoying a fine crawfish or crab lunch when we spotted him.

Spanish moss hangs in great gray swathes, the cypress and other trees are stark ghosts without leaves, but even so, there is color and beauty of a different kind with the red maple seeding; large exposed tracts of water with reflections from the banks.

Great gray egrets, 22 ibis, (heavy birds) roosting in the top of one tree, many turtles sunning on logs, a bald eagle, snake birds, ducks, cormorants, pelicans and a panapoly of huge graceful birds in flight, all provided us a memorable afternoon. One fellow on the tour failed to duck his head when we went under a low bridge, his tour will be even more memorable. There were two people from London, three from France, Jim and I and six members of the Diethrich Family.

After the tour, we enjoyed lunch with JoAnn & Jim Diethrich of Stuke Nursery Co. from Gridley, CA. They were on the tour with their son, Rob, and wife Christa and grandchildren, who live in the area. JoAnn is a conservative agriculture activist, a talented speaker, and we hope we’ve convinced her to become a blogger. Watch for it.