Country Roads

1 month ago | countryroadsmagazine.com | Megan Broussard

I can’t remember a time when I didn't know what the word “couillon” (pronounced “coo-yon”) meant. It was programmed into my Cajun DNA in the same way that my tolerance for cayenne pepper was, or my ability to peel a crawfish tail. I heard the word early, around the same time other words just embedded themselves in my brain without explanation, like “lagniappe,” “pirogue,” or “cher.” Words that weren’t taught so much as absorbed, like steam off a boiling pot.

1 month ago | countryroadsmagazine.com | Susan Marquez

Michael Deas is likely one of the most famous artists you’ve never heard of. As a master realist painter and one of the nation’s premier illustrators, prints of his work are bought by thousands of people every day—for pennies. Deas works from his studio in the historic French Quarter, where he creates paintings and drawings for magazine and book covers, advertisements, and postage stamps for the United States Postal Service.

2 months ago | countryroadsmagazine.com | Chris Turner-Neal

On one of my first days working in the Country Roads office, I took a walk to clear my head. It turned out I had very much bright-sided my familiarity with desktop publishing software, and I was wound a bit tight trying to get the monthly events calendar laid out. As I talked myself out of trying to thumb a ride upriver on the next barge, I saw a man casually pluck a little orange fruit off a tree in front of me and pop it into his mouth.

2 months ago | countryroadsmagazine.com | Ned Randolph

Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has published more than 170 articles on forest science and plant intelligence, but she is best known for her theory of the “Mother Tree”—a phenomenon that suggests forests are sustained in large part by central, large trees that share nutrients with younger saplings through networks of mycorrhiza fungi. Facing an uncertain future for themselves, Mother Trees pass their life force to their offspring to help them prepare for changes ahead.

2 months ago | countryroadsmagazine.com | Susan Marquez

As the artist Robin Whitfield slowly paddles through a dense wetland in Grenada, Mississippi, she glides past ancient cypress trees rising out of the smooth water, and the sunlight appears dappled on her kayak. A dragonfly lights upon her sketchpad, and she stops to observe its delicate wings. Around her, a pair of butterflies flitter, dipping and soaring before flying away. Birdsong fills the air, along with an occasionally croaking frog.