Showing posts with label Ed Lester Farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Lester Farm. Show all posts

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Take a Trip to Coushatta, See the Lawnmower Man, and a Crop Duster

Living in the deep South has its advantages sometimes.

I will probably never have enough money to travel to Europe or take fancy cruises around the world and that's fine; I've always been pretty adept at making the best of where I am.

I'm reminded of how beautiful Louisiana can be whenever I drive Highway 1 south.  Steve and I drove down to Coushatta today for our annual pilgrimage to Ed Lester Farms and as is our way, we eschew the interstate and take the back roads.  Not that Highway 1 is exactly a "back road," but it is less traveled now that the folks in a hurry use I-49.  We are never in a hurry.

Long time readers may remember my 2010 post down this same road.

And 2011.

And 2012.

You get the idea.

Anyway, as we drove today you could certainly tell that we have had good rains this spring.  Everything is lush and green.   There was water in most of the roadside ditches and naturally we saw some guys crawfishing in one of them; they were pulling up nets filled with squirming crawfish.

Speaking of lush and green, when you get to Ed Lester's you're tempted to stay a while.


Take a seat among the caladiums, listen to music, and people watch.


We loaded up on peppers, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, and a bushel of pinto beans.


Oh and potatoes!


Not everything has come in yet, so I'll make a few more trips down there before summer is over.


From there we made our obligatory stop at Bailey's for big, greasy, delicious burgers.


We always end up sharing the picnic table with someone and today was no exception.  We met a nice couple from Shreveport who had hooked up their pop-up camper and hit the road.  We sat and ate our lunch together, had a nice visit, and parted ways.


Steve and I hit downtown Coushatta...


...and we went into an antique shop where I bought a nifty Murano whale.  His tale has a little chip so he only cost $10 but I don't care.  I liked it.


There was an odd mannequin:


We visited with the show owner for a while, pet the shop cat ("Pie") and then headed over to Nichols.  If you've never been to a Nichols, it's like a small town WalMart except everyone is friendly and the store is clean.  You can buy shotgun shells, baby clothes, and galvanized washtubs.  Steve bought weedeater string and some 30w motor oil.  I bought a gift bag and some super glue.  I love Nichols.



It was time to head back home so we made a pass through town and past an old school to get back to the highway and I had a "True Detective" deja-vu moment.  At this abandoned school there was a guy on a riding lawnmower cutting the grass, riding in a big circle.



We had to circle around the block several times before I could take the picture and I never did get it just right, but when I first saw him, well, it looked right out of "True Detective." (pay no attention to the red arrow; it's the only picture I could find that looked like what I saw).  I am easily amused.


The old school was neat, though.


I guess you had to be there.

There's a new funeral home in town; Now Open.



Good ol' Shakey Ray is still in business.


But, we had to get home and shell pinto beans.

What is it about driving over a river that makes me always want to take a picture?


Crop duster!


That was pretty cool.


Sometimes you have to take pleasure in the little things.  Like a lone tree in a field.


Or a swamp.


Or a relic from another life.


The corn looks good!


And, of course, there are cows.  I like cows.


Once back in town we stopped at Bergeron's for boudin balls and smoked chicken wings to go with our veggie dinner.



And you know, if you looked back at the posts from years past of this same trip, it seems that I always take pictures of the same things.  Vegetables.  Cows.  Bailey's.   And that's okay...I guess that's why I'm content and happy where I am because I always look at things with a different perspective or a different eye.  Sometimes we over look the fun in our own backyard as we look for loftier things.

Would I like to go to Italy or to Oktoberfest in Munich?  Sure, but meanwhile, I've got Coushatta!

Tomorrow we are going to a friend's birthday party.  The invitation said we would grill burgers and shoot skeet!  When I asked what I could bring, the answer was "Bring your gun and whatever you want to drink!"
Like I said, living in the Deep South has its advantages.  Where else would you get an invitation to bring a gun and alcohol to a party?

Gotta love it!



The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Along Highway 1


I took a drive to Coushatta today, down Highway 1 just a bit, to get some fresh vegetables at Ed Lester Farms.

To me, there is so much to see along Highway 1.  The simplest things fascinate me.

Like this house.  It's at the edge of a field, under a bunch of shade trees.

It looks abandoned...but is it?

But doesn't it look like it used to be a neat house?  What history is there?  Who lived there?  Who does it belong to?  Why has nobody taken care of it?  Why isn't anyone fixing it up?  What will happen to it?  

I'd love to see the inside.

It fascinates me.
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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Take A Stocking the Freezer Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Find a Cool Truck!

Ah, summer!

We're on baby watch around here - NO not me!  Horrors!  My beautiful daughter and her husband are expecting my first grandchild within the month so we are not getting too far away from the house these days in case we have to throw a suitcase in the Jeep and drive over to Texas for a few days.   Here she is at about 24 weeks in - I like this picture.


We are very blessed that things have gone smoothly so far!

Baby watch.

So, keeping close to the house but wanting fresh veggies from Ed Lester Farms, Steve and I headed down to Coushatta today to start stocking the freezer for the winter.  I love having fresh purple hull peas or butter beans year round (although Steve is about SICK of purple hull peas now).

Once at Lesters I could hardly pay attention to the produce because I kept looking at this gorgeous 1952 Chevy truck sitting there:


My goodness but that thing was gorgeous!  The interior was spectacular!  Beautiful!

I did finally manage to focus on the task at hand and starting picking up veggies:


This trip we got new potatoes, sweet corn, tomatoes, a bushel of purple hulls (already shelled!), pinto beans (not shelled), yellow squash, okra, cucumbers, hot peppers, and peaches.  We're going to make at least one more trip down because the butter beans aren't in yet, there's more corn coming, and I like the larger freestone peaches that are still to come.  And always more tomatoes!

We can never go to Coushatta without our regular stop at Bailey's for a big ol' greasy cheeseburger.  They have other things, too...


...but I do love those burgers!

After we ate we checked out a recently opened antique shop on Front Street:


It's in a grand old building and check out that tin ceiling!  Love it!  I bought these funky glass candlesticks for $10:


When we got home Steve and I set to work shelling pinto beans...


...some of which I cooked for dinner:


I love summer!




The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Take a Trip to Coushatta Down Louisiana Backroads

It's Memorial Day weekend so that means a trip to Ed Lester Farms for the first veggie haul of the season at our house.

Steve and I pulled the windows out of the Jeep today and headed south, down La. Highway 1, to Coushatta.

 If you've ever read this blog before you know that Steve and I always go places on the back roads and shun the interstate whenever possible.  Highway 1 isn't exactly a back road but it's less traveled ever since I49 opened.  The Haynesville Shale has brought a lot more traffic to Highway 1 in the past few years but not before lots of little towns and communities dried up.

Both Highway 1 and I49 go south out of Shreveport but it's a little hard to tell from this map:



At any rate, we headed south and in about 45 minutes we were at Ed Lester Farms on the Red River in Coushatta.

It's a little early and they aren't fully stocked just yet, but we loaded up with enough to last up for a couple of weeks until their full spread comes in.

I got some fresh pinto beans (which Steve had to shell when we got home):


I got some Armistead sweet onions and a new variety called Cajun Spice; we're told that's "a hot onion."



We stocked up on fresh yellow squash:



And Steve filled two brown paper bags with new potatoes and sweet corn:


Of course, you can always just sit among the caladiums and catch the breeze off the river while you listen to the jazz or big band swing coming from the speakers:


This is what is coming:


We'll be back in a couple of weeks to fill the freezer!

We paid for our veggies, climbed in the Jeep and crossed the river into town:



It was lunch time and that means Bailey's hamburgers:


It's hard to explain how great these hamburgers are.  Steve says when he eats one he can feel his arteries clogging up.  They're the messiest, juiciest hamburgers I've ever seen.  They're just good old homemade burgers.  We discovered this place by watching one day to see where the locals go.  They go to Bailey's when it's lunchtime; the place is an institution.


You just walk up to the window, place your order, and hang out until it's ready.  You can sit at the picnic table and eat or in your car, or you can take it with you.  They've got burgers, chili dogs, hot dogs, that sort of thing.  Bring cash - they don't take debit or credit cards.

After our fine meal we drove through Coushatta (pop. about 2,300) headed toward Nichols store.  We passed Shakey Rays and I gave a little thought to going inside; maybe next time:



Nichols has everything from Wranglers and white rubber oyster boots to high end home decor - (heavy on the fleur de lis motif); you can get candles, baby clothes, ammo, toys, toothpaste...just your typical dry goods store.

Steve especially enjoyed what we called the Redneck section.  On that aisle you can get a fish mailbox:


Shotgun shell salt and pepper shakers:


Decor for your man cave:


Or for your bathroom:


How about a rope lamp:


And for the budding hunter in training you can get this nifty set with windup animals that he can shoot with a rubber dart gun.  I think Steve really wanted this.  I could just see little white tailed deer marching across his desk at work while he shoots them down with his dart gun.



Steve was a little disappointed that he is too big to ride "Sandy":



I bought an oil lamp and some cherry sour balls and Steve bought a couple of t-shirts and we headed north.

Instead of our usual return route up U.S. Highway 71 we turned off onto La. Highway 515 which runs a little closer to the river and through the community of East Point.  It's a pretty little drive through swampy areas:


and pastures:



Did you know if you stop the car and say "Hey Cows!" they'll stop eating and look right at you?


RIGHT at you:


We crossed a bayou:


Soon we hooked back up to Hwy. 71 which led us right to the Red River Lock and Dam No. 5 and since we were right there, we turned off to see how high the river is.



We visited with a park ranger that was there for a bit and we watched the egrets fly over the water:


We found a walking stick:


and I made a one minute video of the water.  I love the sound of the water coming through the spillway:



Finally we climbed back in the Jeep and headed home.  The hay bales reminded me of Iowa, where Steve is from:


Now we're settled in for the evening watching baseball (Rangers then the Cubs) and I'm cooking fresh pinto beans, sweet corn, squash and cornbread.  If I'd only gone inside Shakey Rays I could be fixing turtle meat, too.  Oh well, hindsight.  (I've never actually had turtle meat.)

Another successful day trip!


The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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