Common Edible Wild Plants - Part II

Common Edible Wild Plants - Part II

by Jerilee Wei @ HubPages

From Denny: Learn about edible goodies in the wild, where to find them, how to cook them, recipes provided, cultural history and several good videos about medicinal uses for the plants.

Jerilee Wei grew up Cajun with training as a traiteuse (healer). Just click on this link to take you to her article.



jerilee wei, hubpages, cajun culture

Confessions of a Cajun Traiteuse - More Than Herbs - Part IV

Photo by *L*u*z*a* @ flickr

Confessions of a Cajun Traiteuse - More Than Herbs - Part IV: "When I was a nine year old girl, I found myself sitting in the confessional booth of St. Lawrence Church, in Chacahoula, Louisiana without any sin I was readily willing to own up to. The priest on the other side kept clearing his throat in impatience. I felt the cold knot of dread in my stomach, accompanied by my sweaty palms, and feelings similar to the major anxiety of a prisoner about to be executed.

On the other side of the stifling hot creaky booth sat Father Charles prepared to listen to my penitents and mete out my penalties. I certainly wasn't going to tell him I was the girl who stole the cookies and blamed it on her little brother. I wasn't going to admit I'd sassed my mama. Nor, was I willing to concede that my prayers of late, were more along the lines of, 'Please send me a new dress for the first day of school,' when I knew we were supposed to pray for the sick and the poor." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei @ HubPages

Confessions of A Cajun Traiteuse - Saving Seeds and Making Wine Part II

Confessions of A Cajun Traiteuse - Saving Seeds and Making Wine Part II: "As I continue to share inside stories of my journey as a child Cajun traiteuse, I've thought a lot about everything that this entailed, and wrestled with what I was taught to tell others and what don't you tell. As a girl, I remember thinking time and time again -- 'What does all of this have to do with being a faith healer?' as my Grandpere would have me doing tasks, that seemed to have nothing to do with folk remedies and helping people get well.

I also wrestled with myself over, 'If you have knowledge that can help others, why keep it to yourself and only share with one other person (ie. the one you train to replace you)?'

Two key two key alternative medicine practices of his -- haunt and follow me to this day. The first, was the very involved process of seed saving. This is something that people have been doing all over the world for tens of thousands of years out of necessity.

The other passion had to do with making various homemade wines. These practices haunt and follow me, because I lived long enough to know how important knowing how to do both are to being self-sufficient."

By Jerilee Wei

From Denny: The generation of the cultural folk faith healer is fading. There was a time when knowledge of herbs as medicine was common throughout America and Europe. Since drug companies moved in and began growing, producing and selling the results of the healers' knowledge much of the knowledge has ceased to be passed down.

As Americans began moving from the farm in the 1950's into city and suburban situations a lot of knowledge has no longer been taught or cultivated. This article is a look into a fading world with an eye to write down what was once orally taught only to small groups or one individual per generation. This is a special treat for someone to be writing on this subject without monetary gain.

How Long Will You Live?

How Long Will You Live?: "There is an old-timey Cajun way of contemplating sunsets, by measuring and knowing the number of sunsets you've been given. It changes the way you'll look at your personal sunsets. If you were to live one hundred years, you'll only have 36,500 sunsets in your personal century. Doesn't sound like a lot of sunsets for one hundred years of wisdom, does it?" 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei
Photo by William Dalton @ flickr

Taming Wild Roosters

Taming Wild Roosters: "There are bee charmers, snake charmers, dog whisperers, and horse whisperers -- and then there are those who can tame a rooster. From the very moment I met the rooster tamer, I was both jealous and in awe. Admittedly, I tend to be a know-it-all, when it comes to some subjects -- and the subject of poultry was one of my areas of expertise. Highly competitive, I was being upstaged, out-witted, and humbled. It's true, the older you get, the more you realize how little you really know." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Confessions of a Cajun Traiteuse - Faith Healer - Part I

Confessions of a Cajun Traiteuse - Faith Healer - Part I: "I am a woman of the past, a past I cannot and should not escape. I was born and raised to be a French traiteuse -- part spiritual visionary and sometimes, a healer of the heart, but never a sorcerer, not believing in them. My ways are those of the old ones and the only things I know well, are what they taught me. I knew them even as a child, just as I still know them as an old woman. I cannot forget them or their teachings." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Proven Methods of Shucking Oysters

Proven Methods of Shucking Oysters: "My Cajun Grandpere Emile used to say in Cadien, 'If it swims or lives in the water and it doesn't eat us first, we eat it.' Oysters certainly fit this category. Since we lived near the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary, many of our relatives were employed in the wholesale oyster harvesting industry. Learning the various methods of shucking oysters was almost a right of passage once we were adults.

If you've never shucked an oyster, it may seem like a daunting task. Don't get disheartened if after your first few tries, you have a horde of minced up oysters -- just pretend you did that on purpose, as part of your secret recipe for oyster stew. However, once you've gotten the hang of it with a few practice oysters, be assured that you'll be able to shuck oysters competently, quickly, and come off looking like a professional oyster shucking champion." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Slurping Raw Oysters

Slurping Raw Oysters: "No kid or grown up kid, in Cajun bayou country doesn't know how to slurp oysters. Just for the record, we didn't learn this from drinking in bars. We learned it in the backyard, sitting at a newspaper draped picnic table, daring and double daring each other to eat a raw oyster.

Grandpere Navarre would egg us on, with his home version of the Acme World Oyster Eating championships. This age-old art, one that admittedly some of the more refined will disgusting -- is both a right of passage, and a form of frugal family fun." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Comparison of Oyster Shucking Knives

Comparison of Oyster Shucking Knives: "The first thing anyone wishing to shuck oysters should do, is obtain the best oyster knife that they can afford. This is a purchase that ensures that not only will you have the right tool for the job, but also will be helping to make the process of shucking a little less dangerous.

Far too often, oyster harvesters purchase cheap oyster knives and find themselves with a nasty cut or nick, when the flimsy knife breaks. As with anything, do your research before you buy a good quality oyster knife." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Introduction to Common Cajun Instruments -- Part IV -- The Triangle or Ti-fer (and other)

Introduction to Common Cajun Instruments -- Part IV -- The Triangle or Ti-fer (and other): "In the history of traditional Cajun music, the loud and attention getting 'triangle or ti-fer' (little iron) is often an overlooked part of the sound and feel of this musical genre (pronounced tee fair)." 6 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Overview of Common Cajun Instruments -- Part II -- The Cajun Fiddle

Overview of Common Cajun Instruments -- Part II -- The Cajun Fiddle: "The backbone of any Cajun music, is the Cajun fiddle. Basically, any violin is technically called a fiddle, no matter what genre of music is being played. The difference with Cajun fiddling is that traditionally, there are two fiddlers. One Cajun fiddler plays the melody, while the other echoes with the rhythmic complement (sometimes called bassing or seconding).



The Cajun fiddle came to Louisiana with our Acadian ancestors. In reality, it was the only instrument used in our early music." 4 videos.

by Jerilee Wei

Overview of Common Cajun Instruments - Part I -- The Cajun Accordion

Overview of Common Cajun Instruments - Part I -- The Cajun Accordion: "In the beginning, Cajun music originated in the late 1800s, in South Louisiana. I'm not going to rehash the whole story of how our Acadian ancestors came to Louisiana, here in this hub. Let's just say our ancestors transported many pleasing ballads of old Acadian stories. Some of those songs came from Old World France. They are the foundation of Cajun music.



Our neighbors, other settlers to Louisiana, were primarily German settlers. They were the ones that gave us the Cajun accordion. It wasn't always a part of our music, just a delightful addition to it. In the days before amplifiers, no doubt it's popular addition to Cajun bands had a lot to do with it's ability to be played loud over the noise of a typical dance hall." 8 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Guide to Traditional Cajun Songs

Guide to Traditional Cajun Songs: "Much like the raconteur tales of old, according to the tastes of the performer, the lyrics of the songs were often improvised or made up as they went along. This created an on-going evolution as the songs were in a constant flow of change. These early Cajun songs were generally performed as unaccompanied ballads. They were narrative songs."

Serious in depth article about the evolution of Cajun folk songs. 5 videos for your listening pleasure too!

By Jerilee Wei
Video above of Bruce Springsteen, rock version of Cajun Jole Blon

Swamp Dragons

Photo by William A. Franklin @ flickr

Swamp Dragons - You will enjoy this Louisiana native's tale of her growing up years! Alligators can get up to 14 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds!