Here are some interesting blogs to check out about life in Acadiana

Stuff Cajun People Like Written by someone who really knows. Some great entries. My favorite is "#6 Getting Tickets Fixed"

LSU's Glossary of Cajun French

Cajun Self-Taught by Jules Daigle (Swallow, 1992)—3 audio CDs and companion book to help understand & speak the Cajun French Language

Cajun French-English, English-Cajun French Dictionary & Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebooks) (Paperback)
by Jennifer Gipson and Clint Bruce (Hippocrene Books; Bilingual edition (August 1, 2002)

Acadiana Resources

Louisiana Folk LIfe is a terrific website to learn about Louisiana's traditional history and culture. In its programs and projects, the Louisiana Folklife Program defines folklife as living traditions currently practiced and passed along by word of mouth, imitation, and observation over time and space within groups, such as family, ethnic, social class, regional, and others. Everyone and every group has folklore.


The Stonewood Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with big goals: In the face of what must be called a “literacy crisis,” Stonewood Foundation chooses to focus on this opportunity for change - the opportunity to promote, foster and raise literacy and quality of life standards in St. Landry & surrounding Parishes, by taking a holistic (child/family/community/environment) educational view and giving financial and programmic support to creative and effective educational and health programs.

Some good places to learn more about Acadiana History & Culture

Louisiana Folk LIfe is a terrific website to learn about Louisiana's traditional history and culture. In its programs and projects, the Louisiana Folklife Program defines folklife as living traditions currently practiced and passed along by word of mouth, imitation, and observation over time and space within groups, such as family, ethnic, social class, regional, and others. Everyone and every group has folklore.


A fun website, Cajun Crawfish Pie is a mix of Cajun history, culture, recipes and some pretty funnny jokes.

A list of places to find locally grown or produced food.

If you know of any other local growers/ sellers/ farmers' markets, or have any updates to this information, please email: andrea@sfbayou.com

ORGANIC

• Gotreaux Family Farms. 205 Facile Road, Scott, La 70583. 337-278-3444. http://www.gofamilyfarms.com/. Farm stand is open on Weds only from 2-6 pm.

Brian and Dawn Gotreaux operate an organic farm in Scott, Louisiana. They sell organic vegetables as well as eggs, fish (Tilapia), chickens, guinea hens, turkey lamb, grass-fed beef, sprouted cereal and bread.

You can also get a selection of Gotreaux’s produce, Tilapia and eggs at Sandra’s Health Food Store on 111 Rena Drive, Lafayette.

• EarthShare Gardens

A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization, located at 412 Carmel Avenue, Lafayette La behind the old Holy Rosary Institute, whose mission is to produce organic food as our way of caring for ourselves, each other and Earth.

A cooperatively run a Community Supported Agriculture garden, shareholders pay a subscription price each season to receive a portion of the harvests from the garden. Currently there is a waiting list for shares. A donation/market garden provides fresh, organic produce to donate and sell in the North Lafayette neighborhood. Email earthsharegardens@gmail.com for information regarding shares and market garden.

FARMERS MARKETS

• Acadiana Farmers Market. 801 Forman Drive, Lafayette, LA 70506 . Dulles Drive, behind Corner Pantry on Foreman Drive, near Lafayette High School.
Contact: David Richter (337) 948-8812. OPEN-AIR/YEAR-ROUND
Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday 5:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.

This is the longstanding farmer's market in Lafayette. Dave Richter, very long time manager of the market and local farmer par excellence, has made his entire living (yes, raising a family and putting kids through college) solely selling his vegetables weekly at this market!

• City Garden Market, Saturdays, 8am-noon, Oil Center on Heymann Boulevard across from Champagne’s Market. Joan Stear: 277-4322 jestear@louisiana.edu

• Coteau Ridge Farmer's Market. Arnaudville. Jack Hardy Lot, Hwy. 31. Locally raised meats, plants, herbs, flowers, baked goods, canned goods, fruits & veggies. Saturdays 7:30AM-12noon. Parking at Town Market Centre. (337) 754-5316.

• Eunice Farmer’s Market & Market Days, 100 block off S. 2nd St. Featuring garden veggies, fruits, baked goods, arts, crafts and more. 3:30-5 PM on Wed & Sat. Sponsored by Eunice Main St. Program. (337) 457-6502 or 457-6502.

• Jennings Farmer’s Market, 7-9:30 a.m., Founders Park, Local farmers bring in fresh produce. Info: 821-5521.

• New Iberia Farmer’s Market, Tues, 3-6 pm, and Sat. 6-10 am, Bouligny Plaza, West Main St., New Iberia. Fresh home grown fruits & vegetables for public sale. Info: (888) 942-3742.

• Opelousas Farmer’s Market, Tues, Thurs & Sat 7-11 AM (Seasonal), 828 E. Landry St. (Pavilion by Mikey’s Doughnuts). Featuring garden veggies, fruits, jams, jellies and more. Garden veggies, fruits, jellies & more! Tues, Thurs & Sat 7-11 AM. Sponsored by St. Landry Farmer's Assn. (337) 948-0561.

• St. Martinville Creole Farmers Market. Evangeline Boulevard (downtown St. Martinville) Saturday 8 a.m. - 12 noon Info: Wanda Barras at (337) 394-6683.

Product Markets

• Fresh Pickins Produce Market. 907 Kaliste Saloom Rd, Lafayette, LA 70508. 337-261-2607. Fresh Pickin’s buys directly from local farmers as well as sells out-of-state produce. It has signs designating homegrown vegetables and fruit. Open 7 days a week. Cash or checks only.

• Kevin Guidry Produce. 3619 Moss St., Lafayette, LA. (337) 269-4726. This family owned produce market buys directly from local farmers. While it also buys out-of-state items such as lettuce from California and apples from Washington, it has signs designating homegrown vegetables and fruit. Currently, Guidry's sells local okra, squash, watermelons and muscadine grapes, at the same price they are offered at the Acadiana Farmer's Market.


Pick-Your-Own Orchards

• Daniel and Anna Romero's Orchard. 337-365-1690. 5116 Freetown Road (Just south of Broussard off Hwy 90 ) Coteau, LA

This is a fabulous orchard--persimmons, asian pears, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, figs, etc. During peach season, there is a large PEACHES sign on the side of Highway 90. Call them and familiarize yourself with the ripening times for the various fruit because if you don't, the Asian community around Cade/ New Iberia will beat you to all the best!


• Eddie Romero’s Orchard. 337-364-3370. 5119 Freetown Road (Just south of Broussard off Hwy 90) Coteau, LA. Eddie grows fruit year round at his pick-your-own orchard. Summer: 20 varieties of figs!!, muscadine grapes and asian pears. Fall: persimmons, and citrus once it gets cool. It's best to call after 5 or on weekends, when he's off work.


• Kathy and Johnny Richard's Orchard. 337-893-5706. 1307 South Henry Street
Abbeville. Down the road from Richard's Seafood Restaurant.

• Unnamed Fruit Orchard in Breaux Bridge. Take the Breaux Bridge Highway (Carmel Ave.) to Breaux Bridge. When you arrive at the Fruit Stand, take a left towards the interstate (like you're going to Poche's) and just a short distance away, you'll see the very large and pretty grove of fig trees and citrus trees on your right side.

Lafayette's Backyard Growers

(You might want to ask them if they use chemicals....)

• Professor's on Mimosa Drive Don't know the address, but just turn off Congress onto Mimosa Drive (Street?) not far from Adrian's Supermarket. Can't miss it. A true Lafayette institution, now run by the grandchildren I believe. Lots of vegetables, strawberries, and other berries.

• Citrus Orchard Corner of La Neuville and Bonin Roads (at the 4-way Stop sign) (Between Verot School Road and town of Broussard) No sign, no name, but you can't miss the many large orange and kumquat trees (other fruit too, probably figs...) growing here. Pull in the driveway and knock on door, or honk. Good stuff.


• Mr. Comeaux's 1730 Dulles Drive, right where Domingue Road intersects. Almost in Scott He's been selling his backyard-grown vegetables and fruits for many many years in his front yard. He has a little handmade sign, or just look for a pile of fruits and vegetables piled up on a bucket at the road. Okra, figs, grapefruit and oranges, bananas (green plantains). He also sells homemade jars of pickled peppers, etc..

• Brockolli Patch, owned by Brock Barker in Scott, ph: 225.202.5905


DAIRY

• A Cow To Love. A grass-fed biodynamic farm in Maurice with hand-milked cows. It offers a cow share program, allowing you to own your own cow, along with other share owners. The farm boards and will milk the cow for you. It also offers pecans, pastured poultry and eggs. Contact Theresa Taylor at (337) 804-2983, 7539 Soop Road, Maurice

• Smith Creamery. Pasteurized, but not homogenized milk, cream, butter, Creole cream cheese, from grass fed cows raised on one of the only remaining family owned and operated dairies in Louisiana. Sold locally at Fresh Pickins, Kaliste Saloom. Call (985) 877-4445, 29184 Mt. Pisgah Road, Mt. Hermon. www.smithcreamery.com

• Belle Ecorse Farms. Owner Wanda Barras makes natural, old-world style goat cheeses without the use of preservatives, additives, hormones, or antibiotics. She offers fresh, ripened and aged (raw and pasteurized milk) goat cheeses using French-Acadian artisinal methods. Sold locally at Joey's Specialty Foods on Bertrand Drive. Contact Barras at (337) 394-6683, 6939-G Main Hwy, St. Martinville

• Chef John Folse’s Bittersweet Plantation Dairy. European style yogurt and Creole cream cheese made from Louisiana dairy farm milk. Sold locally at Champagne's Market in the Oil Center (and Whole Foods in Baton Rouge). Check out Folse's Web site for more items and outlets outside of Lafayette. www.jfolse.com/bittersweet_dairy

BAKED GOODS

• Pourpart’s French Bakery. Classic French baguettes, sourdough, buckwheat and whole grain loaves, hand made daily in the family run bakery. Call 232-7921, 1902 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette www.poupartsbakery.com

• LeJeune’s Bakery. Hand made french bread, ginger bread, individual fruit pies, in a historic bakery run by fifth-generation bakers. Sold locally at Winn Dixie stores. Contact Matt Lejeune at (337) 276-5690, 1510 West Main St., Jeanerette

• Great Harvest Breads. 854A Kaliste Saloom Rd. Lafayette, LA 70508. Tuesday – Friday: 7am - 6pm · Saturday : 7am - 5 pm · Closed Sun. & Mon. · (337) 236-8966. Great Harvest handcrafts bread daily using only pure and simple ingredients. Each morning they fresh-grind premium whole wheat in the bakery and blend it with ingredients from nature, like yeast, salt and local honey. Great Harvest never uses chemicals or additives.


MEATS & SEAFOOD:

• Brookshire Farm. Grass finished, dry aged beef, pastured veal and meat goats. Contact Anne Blanchet at (337) 893-5115, 8916 Brookshire Road, Abbeville, LA brookshirefarm.com

• Kirk Martin Slaughter House, 403 Beau Basin Rd, Carencro, LA 70520 (Beau Basin is off Gloria Switch between Moss St and Wilderness Trail) and , (337) 896-8223, (337) 896-3962‎. Grass-fed beef than can be bought in small quantities.

• Gotreaux Family Farms. 205 Facile Road, Scott, La 70583. 337-278-3444. Farm stand is open on Weds only from 2-6 pm. Organic eggs, fish (Tilapia), chickens, guinea hens, turkey lamb, grass-fed beef (call to find out what’s available). (See main entry under Organic.)

• Louisiana Seafood. Go to: http://www.louisianaseafood.com


Cajun Food

• Cajungrocer.com, located in Lafayette, is a website that carries local brands, plus a large selection of their
own fresh prepared foods. On-line orders only.

Acadiana Mailing Lists

SFBayou Acadiana mailing lists:

Due to increased membership and usage the Acadiana email lists have been converted to a restricted Google Group. I approve all users and posts.

The majority of postings are for Acadiana area announcements (including last minute event announcements). If you sign up for this list, you might get between 5-10 emails a day (which you can now consolidate to 1 email per day). The subject matter focuses on music, art & theater events, fundraisers & benefits, but may also occasionally include music jams, parties, instruments for sale, houses for sale or rent, lost dogs, garage sales, and other things of interest to the Acadiana community.

To subscribe to the Acadiana Community List, see the link on the sidebar:

Once you are a member of the Google Group, you can post your own announcements. Requests to post announcements can also be sent to sfbayou "at" gmail.com.


Other Mailing Lists:

Cajun Fun is a website that lists all kinds of events and festivals in and around Acadiana. You can subscribe to its email list.

Facebook has an active community based in Lafayette. Many of the local cultural organizations have Facebook pages where they post event information, reminders and calendars. A very good way to stay in touch with the pulse of the community.

Louisiana Radio on the Web

(For more extensive listings, go to www.cajunradio.org )

KRVS Radio Acadie, is a regional public radio service. Operating on 88.7MHz, the station serves much of Acadiana including Lake Charles. They have lots of local music programming...you can find their complete schedule here. KRVS also broadcasts live from Grant Street Music Hall in Lafayette most Saturday nights. I've listened to their live coverage on the web of Festival International & Festivals Acadiens as well as the Louisiana Crossroads concerts. They also cover the Plaisance Zydeco Festival over Labor Day. It's the next best thing to a plane ticket to Lafayette (and lots cheaper).

WRKF is the Baton Rouge public radio station, with more news coverage and national NPR and PRI shows than KRVS.

WWOZ 90.7 FM , the best radio station in New Orleans. Listener supported.

KBON 101.1 FM Eunice, LA.  70% of the music on KBON is the music of Louisiana recording artists.

Gumbo Radio. Reese Fuller's on-line radio stream is a savory blend of Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, blues, R&B, jazz, rock, funk, soul, brass bands or whatever else tastes good. Live from Lafayette, it's Louisiana's music and then some. Reese produced one of the original Louisiana based web radio stations in the 1990s, Louisianaradio.com. His 24-hour audio stream can be found here: http://www.live365.com/stations/gumboradio

American Routes on National Public Radio, hosted by Nick Spitzer, frequently features musicians from Acadiana. The American Routes website archives are worth exploring.