Here I am standing in one of my 16 crawfish ponds on my farm in southern Louisiana--the 220 acre paradise we call "Serenity Farm." It is crawfish season (November - July), and I go there each Friday and bait my crawfish traps. The following Sunday morning, each trap is then full of those tasty, colossal "baby lobsters!" There are anywhere from 6-12 jumbo, dark red crawfish inside. I empty them into one of the buckets with me, then I bait it with the other bucket. I then keep walking in the pond, wearing those waterproof waders, and harvest the crawfish from as many traps as I need. I raise enough to bring back to my house, which is where I boil them for my family and friends. The crawfish are FREE...costs me and my friends nothing, as they are in my ponds. I never have to buy them at the store or restaurant anymore...which is where they cost at least $30 per person for only 5 lbs! I catch at least 15 lbs of live, very fresh, organic crawfish in about 45 minutes are less. My ponds are clean, no pollution, and the crawfish did not have to be trucked in from different parts of the state or other states!. All it costs me is time...less than one hour of walking in my ponds to catch enough for all of my guests to eat. Now, THAT is living Cajun style, baby!
Some of the crawfish I personally harvested on my farm one evening after work...just a few yards behind my house! I don't even have to go to a restaurant and order them anymore...living off the land--Cajun style!They were big and so easy to peel, because they're fresh and farm-raised!
Taken at the gym; body weight of 215 lbs.
I have started building a $127,000 hunting camp on my 220 acre farmstead near Church Point, LA. Each weekend, we go out there and make more progress. So far, it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms; it has a screened-in Cypress wood front porch that is perfect for having parties in the evenings; it has a huge covered cement patio in the back with a large barbecue pit that is perfect for grilling a variety of wild game, deer, beef steaks, fresh fish, etc. Located next to the camp is my "slaughter house"--a very long covered building, steel-framed, with cement floor and a centrally-located drain in the floor where I can spray wash the blood and viscera into, and it leads to a septic tank. This is where all of the fish cleaning and wildlife dressing will occur; it has both electricity (heater for the winters and ceiling fan for the summers) and running water! It is 18 feet wide and over 40 feet long and is completely covered to provide shelter for my 22 foot long commercial fishing boat--The Catfish Assassin. I have a large dog kennel (fenced-in) that will house my Golden Retriever hunting dog and my friends' dogs when they bring them over for the weekends. The front yard is a perfect place to relax late at night with a bonfire beneath the moonlit and star kissed sky above. This is paradise: this is Serenity. This is living--Cajun and Southern Country-style living! Back to nature. Laissez les bon temps rouler, mes amis! My brother and I have been renovating my great-great grandfather's home next door each weekend--Francois Joseph Vautrot's homestead. I will register it as a National Historical Landmark sometime next year, as it was constructed in 1871 and is still standing and in good condition...140 years later! Anyway, my family, friends, and I enjoy hunting and fishing on this large piece of family property that I now solely own--it is 220 acres of forests, rice fields, crawfish harvesting ponds, 2 fishing lakes, and one small river. I built this hunting camp on it for me, my family, and my friends to come and visit and play every weekend and on holidays! It's so awesome; everyone loves to leave the city and come out there. My property is full of Wood ducks, Teal ducks, Mallards, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, big deer, wild bobcats, two black panthers, hawks, Mourning doves, White doves, owls, coyotes, some wild horses (about 6 so far that I've counted), and Box turtles. It's an enjoyable adventure every time all of us (family and friends) go out exploring in the woods!
Here I am out in my woods, chopping down a new trail!
No comments:
Post a Comment