The Twisted Sisters Ride On - Baton Rouge

We just returned from a whirlwind tour of Baton Rouge, led by the intrepid Sarah Liberta, and her terrific accomplice Charlene Bishop. Those two women know where all the best food can be found, and were determined that we should get a sampling. It was a delicious trip - in every way. The purpose of the trip was to present a program at White Oak Plantation, owned and operated by Chef John Folse. I'll be writing an article in the next few days for the July/August issue of The Essential Herbal, so I won't go into too much detail, but that place is a plant lover's heaven on earth. Sarah is Director of Education on the plantation, and we took the still down for a demo, and did a quickie demo on making balms and salves while we were at it. Here you see Charlene resting under the jasmine arbor. Sigh....
We walked around the grounds a bit the first day to get a feel for the place. This is a view of a tiny portion of the lake. The plants that grow there are not seen in our part of the country, and we were astounded.
After finishing up the program, we headed back to Sarah's to hang out for a little while before heading out for yet another smorgasbord of Cajun gastronomical delights. They were lamenting the fact that lavender doesn't grow well in the humid weather of Baton Rouge, and they had never had the pleasure of making lavender wands - although both had a desire to try it. We came up with the idea of using another fragrant plant that does grow well there (again, gotta save some stuff for the article) and we sat around the table trying our hands at it. They turned out beautifully. Here, Charlene, Maryanne, and Sarah work on the wands and share in friendly chatter. Did I mention that this was a simply wonderful visit?
On the trip home, I looked out the plane window to see the quiltwork of farmland below that we call home. The windows were a little misty, and there was a slight cloud cover, but you can see Dauphin County, PA below. The fields are just beginning to fill out, and in another month will be varying shades of green, amber, and tans.
It was so much fun to be out as the Twisted Sisters again. It had been a while since we'd been introduced that way, and you know... that's just who we are :-).