By Patrick  Bonin

Branch, LA. – The temperature is rising, the humidity is increasing and the school year is almost done… That means Memorial Day is fast approaching, and summer is right around the corner here in south Louisiana!

Memorial Day will be celebrated this year on Monday, May 28^th, and is traditionally seen as the official start of the summer vacation season. The days leading up to that weekend are also a busy time here at Frugé Aquafarms in Branch, La., as crawfish are in high demand when families and friends gather to kick off the summer holidays.

“Crawfish play a big part in people’s holiday plans,” said Mike Frugé, co-owner of Frugé Aquafarms. “Getting the opportunity to sit down and visit at a crawfish boil on Good Friday or Memorial Day is a tradition for many families in south Louisiana.”

Here’s some “Memorial Day Trivia” that you can use to dazzle and amaze your friends while you wait for the crawfish to finish boiling in a few weeks!

• Memorial Day is a day of remembering all of the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
• It was formerly known as “Decoration Day,” and originated after the Civil War to commemorate fallen Union soldiers. “Memorial Day” was eventually declared the holiday’s official name by Federal law, but not until 1967!
• The first known observance of a Memorial Day-type ceremony was held in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865 in honor of Union soldiers who died there as prisoners of war.
• Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the U.S. on the last Monday of May. It kicks off summer, while Labor Day marks its end.
• The Indianapolis 500 has been held on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend since 1911. The Coca-Cola 600 Sprint Cup Series race has been held later that same day since 1961, and in golf, the Memorial Tournament has been held Memorial Day weekend since 1976.
• The holiday was originally celebrated on May 30^th, but Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill in 1968, which moved four holidays (including Memorial Day) to a specified Monday to create three-day weekends. That change officially moved the holiday to the last Monday in May each year.
• The National Memorial Day Concert, which is broadcast on PBS and NPR, takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol.

Whatever your plans this Memorial Day, everyone here at cajuncrawfish.com hopes you have a safe, fun day relaxing with your family and friends. And in the joy and excitement of summer finally getting here, please take time to remember all of the men and women who have given their lives so that we can be free!

What item can be described like this?

• Made from fresh ingredients
• Rich cheesy goodness
• Succulent Louisiana crawfish
• Jazzfest culinary must-have

If you said crawfish bread, you would be correct. And, if just the thought of crawfish bread makes you want to pack your bags your bags and head to the New Orleans Jazzfest , then you are not alone.

The gooey, cheesy, fragrant and certainly delicious, Louisiana crawfish bread has become a Jazzfest favorite. In fact, food critic, Tom Fitzmorris, touted LA crawfish bread as “a Jazzfest dish that should not be missed.” Of course, that is not to say that one should not indulge in the many other flavors of Jazzfest -just be sure to try this hometown fave!

However, if you are among the many who had crawfish bread, and now want to make this sumptuous delicacy for yourself, it does not mean you must be in Louisiana to enjoy it.  After all, while you may not have a nearby Panaroma Foods, the bakery where crawfish bread is made, it is possible to have a version of it at home.

Here at CajunCrawfish.com, we have found a couple of recipes that will get you started. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with culinary creativity (after all, how do you think LA crawfish bread was developed?), so should you make some substitutions or add some elements that enhance the amazing flavors of crawfish bread, we would love to hear about it. At any rate, the recipes below will help ease your craving for the delectable flavors of crawfish bread and the delightful sounds of the New Orleans Jazzfest.

The first one is a bit complex while the other has fewer ingredients and steps. However, both are amazing and sure to remind you of the easygoing pleasures of Jazzfest and New Orleans!

Crawfish Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth or 1 cup clam juice
• 1/3 cup prepared roux
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon sweet basil
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 lbs crawfish tail meat, with fat
• 1/2 cup ripe tomato, finely diced
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can Campbell’s cream of shrimp soup
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup sliced green onion
• 1/4 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt (if needed)
• 8 ounces shredded Colby
• 8 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 loaves French bread, twin shorties

1.     In a large heavy skillet, melt the butter and heat it until it bubbles. Then lower the heat and add the chopped onions, bell pepper, and celery.
2.     Sauté the mixture until the veggies turn limp, but do not let them brown (figure that it should take about three minutes).
3.     Next add the wine to the seasoning base and bring it to a boil.
4.     Then, after about a minute, pour in the clam juice (or broth) and add to it the prepared roux, thyme, bay leaves, and garlic.
5.     At this point, return the mixture to a boil once again but immediately lower the heat and simmer everything together for about five minutes more or until thickened.
6.     Now add the crawfish tails, diced tomatoes, cream of shrimp soup, parsley, green onions, seafood seasoning, and salt (if needed).
7.     When everything is thoroughly combined, simmer the skillet for about 8 to 10 minutes or until you can pick up the sauce with a fork.
8.     All that’s left to do is to slice the loaves of bread lengthwise and sprinkle each half with a thin but complete layer of cheese.
9.     Then place the bread onto a sheet pan and slide it under a hot broiler or toaster oven until the cheese fully melts.
10.  Finally, take the bread halves out of the oven, generously spoon the crawfish sauce down the center of each loaf, then top them liberally with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
11.  Return the Crawfish Bread to the oven one more time, but only until the sauce begins to bubble.Z
12.  Then slice the “breads” into appropriate individual portions and serve the pieces piping hot.

Is this recipe too complicated and time consuming for you?
No worries. Try the following simple, to the point, yet delicious, Crawfish bread recipe to “keep it simple”.

Chef John Folse’s Crawfish Bread

Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Yields: 4–5 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups peeled crawfish tail meat
• 1 loaf French bread
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup diced red bell peppers
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup Cheddar cheese

Method:
Slice French bread in half lengthwise and scoop out the inside of the loaf. Set aside. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Sauté crawfish, onions, celery, bell peppers and garlic 15 minutes. Blend in dry mustard and mayonnaise. Add cheeses and blend until melted. Spread crawfish mixture inside the bread then put halves back together. Butter the top of the loaf, wrap it in foil and bake on a barbecue pit or in a 350°F oven for 20–30 minutes. Cut bread into slices and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Photo credit  D.L.

By Patrick D. Bonin

Long before crawfish and rice come together in a tasty etouffee on your dining room table, they’re a perfect match in the fields of countless farming operations throughout South Louisiana.

“They work really well together because rice is an aquatic plant, and the seasons are exactly opposite each other,” said Mark Frugé, with Frugé Aquafarms in Branch. “So you can grow rice and seed the crawfish into it during the slower part of the crawfish season. And the crawfish have no detrimental effect on the rice crop, so they go hand-in-hand perfectly.”

At Frugé Aquafarms, we typically farm about 1,200 acres of crawfish and 1,200 acres of rice each year.

In March, when the crawfish harvest is ramping up in our crawfish ponds, rice seed is planted in the fields designated for that year’s rice crop. When the rice gets to be about 6-inches tall, water is pumped in and the fields are kept in permanent flood until mid-summer, when preparations begin for the rice harvest in August.

As the rice continues to grow through the spring, it provides cooling shade to the water in the ponds. And in May, live mudbugs are seeded into those rice-cooled fields to create next year’s crawfish crop.

“The crawfish mate in the open waters of the rice field, then begin to burrow down beneath the rice to ride out the summer heat in the safety of their burrows,” Mark said. “That way they’re safe when the combines come through to harvest the rice in August.”

The rice crop continues to grow through the heat of summer, eventually topping out around waist-high. In mid-July, water in the rice fields is drained so the fields have time to dry out before harvest begins.

Combines harvest the upper one-third to one-half of the rice stalk, and then separate the grain from the stalk. The straw is blown back into the fields, while the grain is collected in a large hopper behind the combine.

Eventually the grain is transported to giant storage bins, where it’s dried with heated air.  When the moisture content reaches about 12%, it is ready to be transported to a local mill for processing.

When the rice harvest is complete, crawfish again take center stage here on the farm. Preparations are made to begin the process of re-flooding the rice fields so the crawfish burrowed beneath them will come out with their babies and begin feeding on the recently cut rice stubble.  Levees damaged during the rice harvest are repaired, and the old crawfish ponds are re-leveled to remove boat ruts in anticipation of the following year’s rice crop.

So that’s how a typical year is spent out here on Frugé Aquafarms. Things kick off with crawfish harvest from about January through June. Rice is planted in March, and harvested in August. In September, the rice fields are re-flooded and the crawfish come out of their burrows to feed on the rice stubble. Depending on weather conditions and temperatures, the crawfish harvest could begin late in the fall, and the whole process starts over.

There are lots of uncontrollable factors in the farming business, but under optimum conditions with Mother Nature’s help, we can produce up to 9,000,000 pounds of rice and 1,000,000 pounds of crawfish in a typical year out here on the farm.

Just think about how much etouffee that could make!

“♪♪…You get a line, I’ll get pole, we’ll go fishin’ at the crawdad hole…♪♫”

“♪♪…Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file’ gumbo…son of gun, we’ll have big fun on the bayou… ♪♪” -Hank Williams, Sr.

According to skatoolaki.com a true born Cajun wouldn’t even think about calling the small mud dwelling crustaceans found in freshwater locations, “crayfish”; and “crawdad” is completely unacceptable! However, just take a few minutes to listen to the songs above and you will quickly find that there are discrepancies in pronunciation. But, what exactly, is the correct way? Well, Cher, both crawfish and crayfish are technically correct.
Wit 98% of the crayfish eaten in the US coming from Louisiana crawfish farms, it is no surprise that these Southerners have strong opinions about how the word is pronounced. So without much further ado, here is the etymological history of the crayfish (as well as those all around the globe). It comes from an Old High German word krebiz, which when translated to English became crevise or  ecrevisse. The word was used to refer to the small lobster-like crustaceans found in freshwater in Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia and, of most importance to Cajun Crawfish, in North America. As the word krebiz began to be used, people began pronouncing the last syllable as “fish.”

By 1555, the English-speaking people were spelling, as well as pronouncing, the word as both crayfish and crawfish. However, there are some areas in the American west and central regions where the term crawdad is not uncommon. In fact, one may even hear the term mudbug used as well. Also of note, is that the word crawfish can be used as a verb meaning, “to withdraw from a position; to back down.” (For example, ”We need to crawfish out of this arrangement.”)

Here in Cajun country, how you pronounce the word (remember, we say crawfish) is just as important as knowing how to prepare and eat it. But that is another topic for another day. Meanwhile, consider these LA crawfish statements, borrowed from a list titled, “You Know You’re a Cajun When…”

• You know you recycled too much newspaper when there isn’t enough for the crawfish table.
• The four festival seasons in your year are Crawfish, Shrimp, Crab and King Cake.
• The smell of a crawfish or shrimp boil turns you on more than the Movie Channel or HBO.
• You “wrench” your hands in the sink with an onion bar to get the crawfish smell off.

As one travels the US, especially those areas where crayfish are enjoyed, you will certainly hear the various pronunciations for crawfish. But one thing is certain, whether you call then crayfish or crawfish, mudbugs or crawdads, these tiny crustaceans are definitely a food enjoyed by people everywhere.

Sources:
TheFreeDictionary.com
The American Heritage Dictionary, copyright 1994
FactMonster.com

May 2, 2012
By Patrick Bonin

Crawfish, like people, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some have big pincers. Others have small claws. Some crawfish are so big they look like little lobsters. Others never reach “monster” size and stay on the smaller side their entire lives.

Lots of factors, including water quality, available food supply, population, genetics and even the weather, can determine how big an individual eventually gets.

But regardless of their final size, all crawfish go through a specific life cycle as they grow and mature here at Frugé Aquafarms in Branch, LA.

As both the air and water temperature begin to steadily rise with the approach of summer here in south Louisiana, that process is about to start up again as the crawfish prepare to mate.

But we do our best to stay one step ahead of the mudbugs: that’s why we’ve already begun seeding next year’s ponds with the crawfish that will create the 2013 crop. (To read more about pond stocking which is happening right now on the farm, click here.)

LSU Ag Center picture of a crawfish burrow.

In the coming weeks, crawfish will begin mating in the open waters of our rice fields. (The growing rice crop helps to shade the water and keep it cool, which is more to the crawfish’s liking.) After mating has occurred, both males and females will eventually begin to dig their individual burrows beneath the rice fields to escape the intense summer heat. As the female prepares her burrow and digs in, the eggs in her ovary are released, fertilized and attached to the swimmerets on the underside of her tail.

Once sealed in, crawfish are confined to the burrow until the hard plug that seals the entrance is softened by moisture from pond flooding or rainfall.

Flooded rice field

While all this is happening below ground, we are making preparations on the surface for our rice crop. The water that was in the rice fields is typically drained around the middle of July to prepare for the coming rice harvest. (Don’t worry: while the rice is harvested with large combines, the crawfish are safe in their burrows beneath the pond.)

It’s during this “dry period” in the pond in July and August that rainfall is critical for crawfish production. A drought can severely impact the survival rate of crawfish deep in their burrows.

LSU Ag Center picture of a femaie crawfish with eggs

After the rice crop is harvested in August, we wait until the cooler temperatures of late September to re-flood the fields. If everything went according to plan, we will begin seeing the females emerging from their burrows with baby crawfish the size of ants attached under their tails. (Each female can produce from 400 to 900 hatchlings, and can reproduce multiple times in a season.)

The young crawfish emerge each fall in a field of fresh water and rice stubble, a perfect environment for them to grow and mature quickly. In about 90 to 120 days, after molting several times, they will reach market size. That brings us to the November/December timeframe, and depending on the weather, the crawfish harvest will begin all over again and continue all the way into the following summer.

Under optimal conditions, crawfish typically live only about one to two years in the wild. But with any luck out here on the farm, they’ll make it to a pot near you one day during crawfish season here in south Louisiana!

Here at CajunCrawfish.com We’ve been eating boiled Crawfish so long that we sometimes forget that there’s a “trick” to peeling and eating them. We put together this handy infographic to show you just how to do it.

Laissez la CRAWFISH rouler (let the Crawfish Roll!)

Pond Prep Begins for 2013 Crawfish Harvest!

By Patrick Bonin

Heading into May, crawfish season is going strong, but preparations are already underway to make sure next year’s mudbug crop will keep folks busy pinching tails in 2013.

At Frugé Aquafarms in Branch, La., the process of stocking mature crawfish into next year’s ponds is just about to begin. The farm operates on 2,400 acres, with half producing rice and half producing crawfish in a typical year.

That means 1,200 acres of freshly planted rice fields are just about ready to accept the breeding stock of crawfish which will mature into next year’s mudbug crop. (Rice typically grows in flooded fields, which work out well for simultaneous crawfish production.)

“We planted rice in March, and it’s about 12 to 18 inches tall now, which is high enough to keep the water in those ponds cool,” said Mark Frugé, co-owner of Frugé Aquafarms. “Crawfish can’t survive if the water temperature gets too hot. At this time of year, they’re genetically programmed to start breeding and burrowing. It works out well because the crawfish are just about ready to go into the ground, and the rice is ready to accept them.”

On average, the ponds are seeded with about 50 pounds of mature red swamp crawfish per acre. At Frugé Aquafarms, that translates into about 60,000 pounds of crawfish necessary to stock all of the ponds for next year’s crop!

“Typically we use smaller mature crawfish to stock,” he said. “The smaller crawfish are not only harder to market, but you get more animals per pound, so that gives us a better percentage of stocking success.”

At the farm’s wholesale dock each afternoon, smaller crawfish that were harvested in the morning are sacked and then released along the levees of next year’s ponds that same afternoon. Over the next several weeks, all of the ponds will gradually receive the crawfish they need to create the 2013 crop. And even though they might be small, the crawfish are mature and can reproduce.

“At this time of year, all of the crawfish we catch are mature, whereas a month ago, it was a smaller percentage,” Mark said. “They’re converting to a reproductive mode right now. When they’re introduced into the new ponds, they’ll move around a bit and then start burrowing.”

After they breed, burrowing allows the crawfish to escape the heat of summer and also stay out of harm’s way during harvesting of the rice crop.

“When the rice matures around mid-July, we will release the water from the fields and dry them out,” Mark said. “The rice harvest typically starts in the first week of August. “

After the rice harvest is completed, any necessary levee repairs are completed before re-flooding the rice stubble in late September.

“That water draws them up out of their burrows, and provides the baby crawfish with an excellent food source and ideal growing conditions in the cooler fall months,” he said. “They’ll be ready for harvest when crawfish season starts back up next January. Then we’ll start the whole process all over again.”

So enjoy the rest of this year’s season – there’s still plenty of great crawfish to be had in the coming weeks. But rest assured we’re already hard at work to make 2013 a banner year for crawfish lovers everywhere!

So you’ve had Jambalaya before, you may have even made it before , but I’m willing to bet that you’ve never had it quite like this! This recipe has all the goodness of Jambalaya stuffed inside the delicious shell of a sweet pepper, and with country gravy to top it all off. Pure down-home Cajun goodness! Steve Cylka from The Black Peppercorn was good enough to share this original recipe with us.

Stuffed pepper ingredients
● 1 pound crawfish tails
● ¼ cup butter
● 1 large onion, diced
● 3 celery stalks, diced
● 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
● 4 garlic cloves, minced
● 3 tsp Cajun seasoning (or more to taste)
● ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
● 2 tbsp tomato paste
● ¼ cup water
● 3 cups of cooked rice
● 6 sweet peppers (green, red, yellow or orange)

Country gravy ingredients
● 1/3 cup butter
● 1/3 cup flour
● 3 cups milk
● 1 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
1. Cut the top off the sweet peppers. Removes the seeds and cores from the peppers and discard. Set the peppers with the tops aside for later.
2. To make the jambalaya, sauté the butter, onion, celery, jalapeno, and garlic in a large skillet on medium heat. After sautéing a few minutes, stir in the Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, crawfish tails, tomato paste and water. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and remove from heat.
3. Stuff the sweet peppers with the crawfish jambalaya until starting to overflow and place the top of the pepper back on. Bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.
4. While the peppers are in the oven, make the country gravy. Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir for a few minutes allowing the colour of the roux to turn a very light brown. Stir in the milk until it is a smooth even consistency. Add the black pepper. Cook for a few more minutes to allow the gravy to thicken.
5. Serve the stuffed peppers on a plate with gravy ladled around it. If you have some extra cooked crawfish tails, toss a few on the gravy around the pepper.

Steve Cylka is a recipe developer and food blogger, continually working in the kitchen to make new food creations. As the author of The Black Peppercorn, Steve shares his specialization in grilling, smoking and baking through recipes than span various regional cuisines from around the world.

By Patrick Bonin

Unfortunately, humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy a tasty meal of delicious Louisiana crawfish… It turns out plenty of wild animals do, too!

Before they ever make it into your favorite pot, crawfish have to avoid a whole host of predators while they grow up in our ponds, including herons, bullfrogs, snakes, turtles, raccoons and fish. Obviously, we do everything we can to keep our mudbugs safe and sound through harvest!

“With 1,200 acres of crawfish ponds here on the farm, you can bet there are all sorts of critters around who love crawfish just as much as people do,” said Mark Frugé, co-owner of Frugé Aquafarms in Branch, LA. “We don’t have too many issues, but it’s something we definitely have to stay on top of.”

One of the peskiest troublemakers on the farm is the raccoon, who can walk out into a pond and easily turn over 50 crawfish traps in a single night.

“That’s 50 traps that we can’t harvest the next day,” Mark said. “The raccoon might actually eat just a few crawfish, but they cost us money because they prevent us from harvesting our crop.”

Birds like herons and egrets sometimes perch on top of the crawfish traps, and simply stick their heads inside to eat the available crawfish or bait.  But a unique solution helps alleviate that problem.

“We use scare away cannons,” Mark said. “They’re powered by propane, and they have a timer you can set to determine how often they fire. The ‘boom’ keeps them moving, and helps to limit the damage they cause.”

And although the ponds are drained each year for about three to four months over the summer to allow for the rice harvest, perch, catfish and carp all manage to find their way into the water. For them, young crawfish make an ideal meal.

“I don’t think the fish are too much of a problem because they just don’t have the opportunity to get really big before the ponds are drained each summer, so they probably don’t have much of an impact,” he said.

But the most impactful troublemaker on the farm isn’t a direct threat to crawfish at all. Believe it or not, beavers and the dams they build cost the farm lots of time and manpower.

“The beavers live in drainage canals adjacent to our crawfish ponds,” Mark said. “But they dam up our ponds’ overflow lines, which creates big problems for us. If we can’t drain our ponds, and they end up flooding over the levees, that’s a mess.”

The beavers’ aggressive dam building makes them especially troublesome.

“You can remove a dam from a pipe one day, and the beaver will replace it that night,” he said. “They’re very persistent, and they’re a real hassle to deal with.”

Typically, offending beavers and raccoons are trapped and relocated off of farm property. Bullfrogs and snapping turtles, two additional fans of crawfish commonly found out on the farm, are taken in accordance with hunting regulations here in south Louisiana.

So as you can tell, we aren’t the only ones with an appetite for fresh mudbugs. But rest assured we’ll keep doing our best to take care of them, so nothing else makes a meal out of ‘em before you do!

And the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door!

By Patrick Bonin

There are sand traps, mousetraps, steel traps, speed traps and trap doors… even Venus Flytraps!

But at Frugé Aquafarms, one of the most important pieces of equipment we use is the simple crawfish trap. It’s how we physically remove the mudbugs from the 1,200-acres of rice fields on our farm in Branch, La. and get them to our wholesale dock.

But to do the job right, it takes a lot of ‘em: we use about 11,000 traps in our farming operation! And during the peak of the season right now, each and every one of them is baited and emptied just about every single day!

At Frugé, we use a locally made pyramid trap, which has a triangular base that sits on the pond bottom. (An attached stake keeps the trap upright.) Three funnels located about 4-5 inches from the bottom of the trap are where the crawfish enter to eat the bait. Once the crawfish get in, it’s very difficult for them to hang on to the mesh and climb upside down to escape.

“Some people refer to a trap as a restaurant, and you’re only catching the ones that are still at the table,” said Mark Frugé, co-owner of Frugé Aquafarms. “There is probably a small percentage that find their way out. The smaller ones will eat and leave and pass through the wire. The ones that are marketable size stay in the trap because of the diameter of the mesh.”

Earlier in the season when the water temperatures are cool, cut fish like pogies, mackerel or shad are used to entice the mudbugs inside. Later, when water temps reach 70 degrees and above, we use an artificial bait pellet inside the traps.

“We use about a quarter-pound of bait per trap per day,” Frugé said. “During peak production times, we like to see a pound of crawfish per day inside each trap.”

At Frugé Aquafarms, we put out about 10 traps per surface acre. Traps are spaced about 50-feet apart in rows that are about 100-feet apart throughout the ponds. Crawfish are not territorial, so they move freely throughout the ponds every day, which increases the likelihood they’ll encounter a trap.

“The little crawfish get to the trap first and start feeding,” Frugé explained. “When the big ones come, they run the little ones off.”

Traps are worked each morning, then the crawfish are cleaned, graded and sacked at our wholesale dock on the farm that afternoon. To make sure we have enough mudbugs to keep everyone happy, that’s pretty much the process we stick to every day during crawfish season.

But what happens to the 11,000 or so traps when crawfish season ends in late June?

“Well, we used to clean them up and stockpile them in one spot on the farm,” Marks said with a laugh. “That just got to be too much. Now we spread them out in seven or eight locations. But don’t worry – they’ll be ready to go for next year.”