(The men rode up front while the kids and I rode in the "wagon" that was pulled behind.)
Mr. Fuselier has been burning back his fields several years now because they do return fuller and stronger than before. This also keeps the prairie flowers and grasses from getting as tall as they could be if left to grow for several years. When the prairie was just getting settled, it wasn't uncommon for a man's head to barely be seen above the grasses WHILE he was sitting on his horse.
I'm not that brave. I'm sure that if my family/wagon/horses had come up to a prairie that tall, where that's all I could see for miles and miles and miles, I likely would have turned around!
(Every once in a while, Mr. Fuselier would hop out and pick some of the plants to show us. Some smelled like licorice, some like spearmint, some of the leaves were used to make shoes.)
The whole experience gave me even more respect and appreciation for the folks that first came to this area and settled here.
More pictures in the next blog post of the actual grasses and flowers that are native to the Cajun prairie.
3 comments:
That's very interesting. Makes me want to read those books again that tell about the settling of that part of the county!!
That would make a great school field trip...or should we call it a prairie trip?
That is really interesting! We have lived here all our lives and this is new info for me! I guess when you live here and this is all you ever see,we think its just a bunch of wild flowers and fields. But when we were in school we never learned about Louisiana History. I guess we should stop more and look at whats around us. Thanks for sharing this.:)
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