November 26, 2011 marks the second annual Small Business Saturday – a day we should all come together and support our local businesses by keeping our shopping dollars here in our own community.  Although started by the folks at American Express, it truly has little to do with a credit card company and loads to do with how we can each have a positive impact on our local economy while doing the shopping that we all need to get done at this time of year.

You are welcome to join the Amex Facebook page for Small Business Saturday, but the true focus needs to be on making the effort to help our friends and neighbors that own local businesses…whether it’s an art gallery, a small home based craft business or even grabbing a gift certificate to a West Bank restaurant, we can all find ways to keep our holiday budget dollars right here in our own community.

Need a place to start?  Visit StayLocal! for a list of businesses that are owned by Louisiana residents.

Do you have a small business in the New Orleans area?  Feel free to leave your information in the comments so all of our readers will know about you!

The store was filled with cupcakes and a whirlwind of activity as they were frosting and decorating pan after pan of hand held goodies.

This is definitely a family affair as moms and mother-in-laws were on hand, helping to set things up and get ready for customers.  How wonderful to see another locally owned business put down roots on the West Bank!  I hope that everyone will at least stop in to say hello and welcome the newest business to the Gretna/Terrytown area.

Petite Cupcakes, which is military owned, offers a 10% military discount on all orders.

Petite Cupcakes menu

This week’s winner is Tree Man Inc – a licensed arborist and tree service located in Algiers.  They’ve been in business practically forever and have been spraying (and now injecting) our oak trees for caterpillars for years.  So, when we allowed a Chinese tallow tree to take root and start growing near our fence after Katrina, we kept saying “we need to call the Tree Man”.  After almost 6 years, we finally called.

My biggest concern about the removal of this tree (and I use the term tree very loosely, since it’s basically a gigantic weed) was that my vegetable garden was going to be damaged in the process.  Not only were the guys that showed up professional and polite, but they did a fantastic job of making sure that not a single plant was damaged in my little plot that is now able to be expanded and will get enough sunlight to flourish.

If you need any tree services in the metro New Orleans area – pruning, spraying, removal, stump grinding and whatever else you might do to a tree – please give Tree Man Inc. a call at 504.394.4207.  They’ll give you great service and don’t even mind when you stalk them with a video camera while they work

In an ironic twist, I peeked at the calendar and realized that today is National Arbor Day…so we are replacing the tree we had removed with a Japanese Plum tree.   Or, as my kids would say, “one of those Japonica trees like Grandma used to have”.

Happy Arbor Day.  Now, go plant something.   The earth will love you for it.

We’d like to take a moment to encourage everyone to shop locally during the holidays and help support not just the small business owners, but the metro area economy as well.  The impact of spending your gift budget in locally owned businesses is huge.

According to the good folks at Stay Local!

If everyone in New Orleans shopped at locally owned businesses instead of chain stores for one day only, we would add $1.5 million to our local economy!

Leave the malls (and their horrendous parking and crowds) behind and set out to find unique gifts that you’ll never see at the chain stores.  Buy a piece of art or some handmade jewelry.  Pick your favorite T-shirt with a local vibe.  Give a gift of something fleur de lis, black & gold or New Orleans inspired.  Put a little extra thought into not only your gift giving, but where it’s coming from as well.

What’s your favorite local business to support? Leave a comment and share it with everyone!

To get an early start on the holiday weekend, we ran over to the Gretna Farmer’s Market to check out this week’s offerings and enjoy the outdoors.  If you haven’t been to the market, you’re missing out on some great locally grown produce, homemade wines, honey, snacks and more.  We had a taste of some crunchy green bean snacks that promptly ended up in our bag for later today – no preservatives, no pesticides – just tasty veggies and I’ll use any ploy to try to get more of them into my kids

Several vendors had some gorgeous tomatoes that were a welcome sight since my poor tomato plant was a dud this year.  And, check out those huge shallots!  At only $2 a bunch, I couldn’t pass them up.  My family doesn’t like eggplant, but they had some beauties and the purple ones were a first for me.

There was music, plants, relishes, salsa, jams, jellies, prepared food and more…

The Gretna Farmer’s Market is located on Huey P. Long Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets in downtown Gretna.  Open every Saturday from 8:30 to 12:30 – take a minute and stop in one weekend and support our local growers and businesses.

Designed by artist Steve Martin, the masks are part of a public arts project sponsored by Jefferson Parish.   I was lucky enough to catch the artist as he supervised the installation and he told me that the masks are created from Cor-Ten steel, which is typically used in the construction of bridges.

One of the requirements of the parish when they put out a call to local artists was that the designs needed to be maintenance free.  According to Steve, the metal is kiln fired, creating the rusty looking exterior.  But, it’s not the kind of rust that will cause the masks to deteriorate.  Instead, it provides a protective coating that will allow them to stand up to the elements and provide years of enjoyment to folks as they are driving through Terrytown.

Steve Martin has a local studio at 624 Julia Street in New Orleans that will be open for White Linen Night this Saturday and he is displaying the original models for the masks there.  If you stop in, be sure to thank him for designing a fantastic addition to the West Bank.

My friend Leesa, who happens to be a fantastic REALTOR in Wake Forest, NC, posted about a new site that emails you discounts from local businesses each day.  Surprisingly enough, when I went to check out Living Social, I found that they are also offering deals in New Orleans.

Past daily deals have included restaurants, pilates classes, wine, teeth whitening and more.  It’s an easy way to try a new place without spending a fortune and you can purchase deals as gifts too.  Signing up is as easy as providing your email address and daily deals will be sent directly to your inbox.  You can share them with friends via Facebook, Twitter or email – wouldn’t that make for a fun and inexpensive get together with friends? 

When you order, you are given your own private link to share with friends.  If 3 or more of them buy the same deal, yours is FREE!  Pretty darn cool, right?

Living Social is currently operating in the following cities:

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Boston
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Dallas
• Denver
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis-Saint Paul
• New Orleans
• New York
• Oklahoma City
• Orange County
• Philadelphia
• Portland
• Raleigh-Durham
• San Antonio
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• San Fernando Valley
• St Louis
• Tampa
• Washington, D.C.

Hmmm…discounts while on vacation, anyone? 

Anyway, it’s fun, free and easy – give it a whirl!  If you’ve used Living Social, feel free to share with us how you like it.

It’s that time of year (before the heat sets in) that everyone is out in their yards and gardens, sprucing things up and showing off their curb appeal. The petunias I planted earlier in the year are in full bloom and I’m enjoying them while they last…soon it will be time to replace them with something a little more heat tolerant.  The black eyed Susans came back on their own, the salvia gave me a little surprise when it started sprouting up too and the first of the irises bloomed this week.

Are you ready to start working in your West Bank garden? Here are some recommendations for local nurseries that can not only provide you with a selection of plants and flowers that will grow well in our zone, but can usually give you a little free planting advice to go along with them.  You won’t get that at a big box store.

• New Orleans Garden Center and Landscape in Algiers
• Rose Garden Center in Marrero
• Banting’s Nursery in Bridge City
• Patio Gardens and Landscape in Marrero
• Nine Mile Point Nursery Farm in Westwego

No space for a garden? Plenty of plants do well in containers that can fit in even the smallest of spaces.  Or, you could search for homes for sale on the West Bank of New Orleans and find the perfect place to plant your own roots.

For more information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please

It’s not a plantation that you’ll find on the tour list, because over the years it has been a house of ill repute, a restaurant and now is the scene of weddings and parties throughout the year.

We recently had the opportunity to attend a wedding and rehearsal at the Plantation and I was so impressed with the facility and the grounds. The wedding guests all remarked what a beautiful setting it provided and the majority had never even heard of the place before, much less peeked behind the scenes to the gorgeous grounds that surround the house.

The front yard is filled with shade trees, including oaks dripping with spanish moss, and the front porch provides a respite from not only the heat, but from the noise of a crowded party as well.

Every where I walked, there were flowers and statues tucked into corners and into the landscaping. Anyone that has ever met me knows that I’m a sucker for flowers, so I couldn’t resist taking photos along the way.

I tried to do some research on the property, but had very little luck digging up anything of substance.  The current owners do have a Facebook fan page, where I found this:

A Little History: In the early 1950′s a madam named Norma Wallace was chased out of New Orleans. She “set up shop” in Waggaman at Cedar Grove Plantation. In 1963 she went to jail for her “dating service”. In 1964 she wanted to become an “honest” women. She opened a steak house at the same location. Feeling that the name Cedar Grove was boring, she named the restaurant Tchoupitoualas. She actually “stole” this name from the plantation across the river now called Colonial Country Club. Today we honor both names to represent all of the plantation’s 220 year history. We also still have the Red Room where the ladies of the evening were introduced to their dates.

Weddings can be held in the parlor or under the covered outdoor pavilion that offers a bucolic view. Don’t worry about the menu for your event, either.  We were stuffed to the gills with entrees, salads and passed hors d’ouevres and the staff was still making their way through the room offering more food.  According to the bride, the prices were very reasonable and the management was easy to work with when planning the wedding and reception.

The Cedar Grove Tchoupitoulas Plantation is located at 6533 River Road in Waggaman, LA.  For more information about holding a party, wedding, reception or other event, visit the website or contact Jill Mercer at (504) 431-5743.

See this mean looking little guy?  That’s a Buck Moth caterpillar. Not only will he munch on the leaves of your oak trees, he packs a punch in those little spines.  Touch one and you’ll quickly find yourself in pain and probably with a whelp to show for it too.  If they stayed in the trees it might not be so bad (for me anyway – the tree might disagree), but they have a tendency to drop right out…into the yard and onto unsuspecting people.

flickr photo credit: mullica

If you’ve been stung before, you’ll understand why I was happy when the guys from Tree Man Inc showed up today. In the past, they have sprayed our trees each spring.  The downside to spraying is that we would worry about overspray onto vehicles and pets AND it could only be done once the caterpillars were present.  Each year, I’d bring the dogs inside and move my car down the street while they were using huge spray wands to coat the leaves (and caterpillars).  If my neighbors didn’t spray as well, then we would still see some of the critters as they migrated over to our trees after the spray wore off in about 3 or 4 days.

Starting this year, they have a very cool new injection application and they were kind enough to explain it to me when I interrupted their work.

First, several small holes are punched in the tree, leaving behind little grommets.  I was a little concerned about this at first, but was informed that it’s not a deep hole and doesn’t do any harm to the tree at all.

Next, the tree is injected with the magical stuff that makes caterpillars disappear.  (OK, that’s not the scientific explanation, but it’s the end result).  Because it’s not a topical application, the tree is resistant to the caterpillars for a much longer time and it can be treated before they make their first appearance.

Now, even if some of those bad boys migrate from a neighboring yard over to our trees we are still protected.  While nothing is 100%, I feel better knowing that it won’t be raining creepy, crawly, stingy bugs in my yard.

If you want to get your trees treated, now is the time to do it. Contact the Tree Man and tell him West Bank Living sent you

For information about home buying or selling on the West Bank of New Orleans, or relocating to or from NAS JRB New Orleans, please contact the West Bank Living Team. It would be our pleasure to have the opportunity to welcome you to our community, assist you with any of your real estate needs and have a little fun while doing it!