Well here is another first! I always new that they were crawfish (crayfish)ponds but had never actually seen someone working the pond and cultivating the product.
As we were on our way to Lafayette, LA to visit with Jodi of Rebuilding Together Lafayette and see her build week using Alternative Spring Break Kids in her district, we passed this guy collecting in the pond along I-10 in Crowley, LA.
Crowley happens to be the Rice Capitol of Louisiana. Now you should know that they do compatible cropping here in LA. The same ponds that they cultivate Crawfish in are the rice fields in season.
You would think that this is a great way to grow. As the crawfish actually fertilize the water in which the rice grows and then you can harvest the crawfish every year as well and obtain two cash crops from the same square acres of land. Sort of Natural Hydroponics, if you will.
This man was willing to sell us Crawfish for $1.00 per pound. They were currently selling in the stores for $3.79 up to $5.00 per pound depending on where you shopped. Of course we would have to drive to Crowley and pick them up adding to the cost per pound but when you are buying 160 lbs that transportation costs get spread out quite thinly over the total amount.
By the way Easter is one of the highest holidays for the largest consumption of Crawfish.
Getting the bait for the traps from the truck!
Loading the bait into the skiff!
He places the Crawfish in this bin as he empties the traps while out on the water!
When the bins are full he returns to shore and loads the Craws into these large bags ready for .....
You can see the trap heads in the pond beyond Susan and the tarp!
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