The bonsai tree creates connections in New Orleans
Hundreds of years and counting in Japanese practice
BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer
Carl Gilbert, president of the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society, found his love for bonsai trees while he was in Japan serving in the U.S. Navy He joined the society to learn from other bonsai enthusiasts in the area
Gilbert takes pride and joy in caring for his trees, and he has worked with some of the best bonsai artists in the country The bonsai society boasts visiting artists, lectures and demonstrations, workshops, study groups, and its annual bonsai auction and sale. How did the Bonsai Society get its start?
In 1972, Vaughn Banting, Johnny Martinez and Randy Bennett chose to start the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Society, and it’s been going ever since. Does the society host events and programs for its members?
We’re trying to have a guest artist come in every couple of months to do a demonstration on Fridays and a lecture on Saturday Then we would do a workshop where we put that demonstration and lecture into practice, making a new tree species we don’t normally work with, so people get to hone their skills.
What is the fascination with bonsai trees that would prompt a society in their name?
The bonsai tree has been around for hundreds of years.
The original idea was to bring nature into the home once larger cities started to develop. Today, a lot of those standards are kept
BEES
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ing sophomores to take part in the program too, Melissa Brumbaugh said.
“We’ll start getting those students involved now, so the subject isn’t brand-new next school year,” she said.
Melissa Brumbaugh will teach about bees in the classroom, but the experienced beekeeper juniors and seniors will help teach the sophomores in the field how to check the hives for unwelcome insects and make sure the queen bees and hives look healthy
“I truly think kids learn better from each other,” she said.
Even the students are excited about passing the torch
“For me, being a senior and leaving, it’s great to know there are people coming in behind me,” said Kaylea Marionneaux, a student in the beekeeping program who will graduate from Zachary High in May
This year’s grant funds will also provide participating schools with an extractor, a piece of equipment that spins a hive’s removable frames, where bees build their honeycombs, to extract the honey Meanwhile, Zachary High has been able to borrow an extractor from a student’s grandfather
“Beekeeping is an expensive hobby, but it’s so beneficial for our planet and the environment,” Melissa Brumbaugh said. “The students have become advocates for bees.”
Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said the grants are funded by federal monies that first became available to Louisiana high schools in 2019, with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of specialty crops and encouraging the longterm growth of the beekeeping industry
in practice in Japan and, really around the world.
Here, we try to practice some of the traditional skills, but also some of the newer skills that have been applied over the last couple of hundred years to keep some of the traditions alive
When you say skills, what do you mean by that?
There’s different techniques we use for bending branches or wiring a tree to get the branches where we want them to go. The other would be the horticulture of keeping a tree alive in a small tray
It’s not just as simple as throw it in a tray and it’ll take care of itself forever
They have to be repotted every couple of years, and the roots have to be trimmed. So, there is a decent amount of maintenance work that goes into the trees.
What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned about bonsai trees from being in this society?
I’m a veteran who struggled with PTSD for a long time For me, working on a tree brings me in the moment, keeps me present in what I’m doing. I hear that from a lot of other members. It brings you focus It teaches you patience and a new skill.
How has the group fostered a sense of community within New Orleans?
We do the City Park Garden Show twice a year, in spring and fall. We also do the Destrehan Spring Garden Show We put trees on display for people who want to come see them. Anyone is welcome to come, check it out and get insight on what you can create by learning a skill.
Sometimes, our club goes to other garden clubs around town to do a lecture and display trees for them. We do that a couple of times a year For me, personally, it has taught me that there’s a diverse group of people who are interested in hobbies like this. Our oldest
members are around 80-88 years old, and our youngest member is 19, so everybody in between that brings a different personality to the group. It’s not just working on trees, it’s meeting new people and figuring out what this person likes compared to what another person likes how one person does things compared to someone else. It’s fun meeting new people and giving them the information.
Some people say, “Oh, I saw trees in ‘The Karate Kid.’” These don’t look anything like that. How can people join the New Orleans Bonsai Society? We have a website, gnobs.org.
Like the students at Zachary High, the schools were “reluctant at first because it was bees,” said Strain, who is a beekeeper himself.
Covington High School was the first school to break the ice and apply for the 2019 grant, Strain said. Since then, students at nine other Louisiana high schools, including Zachary’s, have become bee experts, he said.
“They’re learning about bees from A to Z,” Strain said.
Zachary High has another bonus for its bee program: The ex-
pertise of volunteers Vaughn and Sienna Benoit, who have worked with bees for many years.
Melissa Brumbaugh reached out to the Benoits, the grandparents of Zachary High graduate Claire Chandler — who’s now studying animal science in college — and asked if they might be available to help coach the students on-site at the hives.
“Sure,” said the Benoits, now called Pop and Mimi by the students.
The Benoits meet the students at the hives every month at the Port Hudson Academy campus,
where the hives have plenty of room, undisturbed, on a big field where there’s a water source and wildflowers growing.
“The students are very attentive,” Sienna Benoit said. “It’s amazing what they can do.”
Vaugn Benoit noted that the students are learning a valuable skill. They are able to take what they learn and make a product out of it.
“We need future beekeepers,” Sienna Benoit said. “If we get just one beekeeper out of this group, it’s one more than there would have been.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP: VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
We meet on the second Tuesday of the month at the American Legion Hall at 1225 Hickory Ave., in Harahan Our next meeting is May 18, and we’re doing a lecture on deciduous trees. On Aug. 9, we have our annual bonsai auction. We have bargain tables with items from 50 cents or $1, and then there are proper bonsai trees that are auctioned off. They can go anywhere from $50 to $1,000. It’s quite a wide selection of trees.
Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. com.
RISHER
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illness and bad vibrations. When we were in Mexico City in January, I got one too. He also sent a story about the trunk of a dead 110-yearold cottonwood tree in Idaho that was transformed into a Little Free Library He knows I adore Little Free Libraries and became friends with Todd Bol who started them in 2009 I wrote a piece about them shortly thereafter, and Bol made a trip to Louisiana and ended up coming to our house for dinner
I’m not sure how my husband finds some of the things he sends me, but they help keep the conversation going 31 years into marriage
Most of the time, I naturally “turn toward” the bid for connection, but sometimes I’m busy or have a lot on my plate or I just forget — and I don’t give those efforts the attention they deserve.
But when I do, I realize that he knows me well, and it makes my heart flutter just a tiny bit. Each bid, whether a quirky photo, an intriguing article or a shared memory, is a way of him saying, “I see you.” Those moments are also a reminder that bids for connection can go both ways. Sending the note or tidbit to a friend or cousin or husband because I know it strikes a chord that they will appreciate it — is probably a good idea
The ways that we respond to the people we care about add up. In my relationship with my husband, these little messages, as opposed to the grand gestures, help us keep liking each other
These are the ways we turn toward each another, again and again.
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Acadiana
The Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic, 1317 Jefferson St., Lafayette, is a nonprofit organization that provides quality outpatient health care for the eligible working uninsured and develops and provides programs to address community health care needs through collaborative partnerships. For volunteer opportunities, visit cajunaaa.org
Baton Rouge The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, 10600 Choctaw Drive, Baton Rouge, has a mission to feed the hungry in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes by providing food and educational outreach through faith-based and other community partners.With community support, the agency has served the hungry in its 11-parish service area for more than 35 years. Volunteers are needed for sorting and packaging Visit brfoodbank.org
New Orleans Senior Medicare Patrol — AdviseWell, Inc., 201 St Charles Ave., New Orleans, helps Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries prevent, detect and report health care fraud. In doing so, the agency not only protects older persons but also helps preserve the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. For volunteer opportunities, visit stopmedicarefraud.org
