The 5 of us (Bill, Ericka, Don, Carol, and I) left at 8:15 a.m. In order to drive to Crawley for a 9:30 agriculture tour. The tour was at the Crystal Rice Farm where 400 acres of rice and crawfish is grown. Our guide shared the history of the farm, how rice is grown and processed, and how the crawfish is integrated into the fields and harvested.
A season begins in March when the rice is planted either by crop dusting airplanes or drilled into the fields. The rice fields are flooded three times during April, May, and June. In May the rice fields are seeded with thumb sized crawfish, 50-100 pounds per acre. As the water gets hot on July, the crawfish burrow deep into the clay levees and stay for the rest of the summer and early fall. In August the fields have dried out and the rice is harvested. In October, the fields are flooded a final time forcing the crawfish with their babies out of the burrows. In January and February the crawfish are harvested and then the cycle begins again.
This desplay shows the different kinds of baskets/traps used to catch the crawfish.
These things are ugly, but much loved by the people who live in Louisiana.
Our guide explaining the rotation of crops.
Our guide, Don, Ericka, Bill, and Carol. The wind was blowing and we were freezing.
A man checking his traps. He had already harvested seven bags of crawfish that are in the front of the boat. These flatboats are pushed through the shallow water by the huge wheel in the back. The man guides the boat with his feet freeing his hands to pull up the traps, empty them, and put traps back into water. The traps are baited, crawfish crawl in and can't get out. We were told that water snakes also get into the traps. Yikes!! This is a job I will never do.
These egrets also enjoy a meal of crawfish.
The black birds love crawfish, as well.
The traps can be seen scattered across the rice fields. Hopefully they are all filled with crawfish and no water snakes! The blackbirds below also like to feed on the crawfish. These birds also like to sit in the top of the traps. A good place to rest after a big meal!
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