We’ve all heard the buzz words lately of gut health, probiotics and whatever else is trending across social media these days. But a Louisiana husband and wife team has made it their mission through their brand Cultured Guru to educate the masses on fermented foods, its benefits and how it’s extremely accessible and practical for Louisianians and our cooking. Kaitlynn Fenley is a microbiologist who, along with her husband Jon Scott Chachere, has taken her passion and they’ve transformed it into one of Louisiana’s first commercial fermented food companies and now into a multimedia brand with online courses, recipes and so much more. This week, I chat with the duo about their company, the road it took to get here, why their commercial food company wasn’t filling their cup like their passion for education and so much more.

Louisiana native Peggy Martin never imagined her love of gardening, starting as a child in the 1940's with her mother and grandmother, would lead to a flower being named after her - but it did. This year not only did the Plaquemines Parish Council official name a specific variety of rose after her, but so did the Louisiana legislature. The official rose of the state of Louisiana is the Peggy Martin Rose. This week, we chat with Peggy about her love of gardening, why this type of rose is so special and what it means to have her legacy cemented in Louisiana state history.

Did you know that June is National Rivers Month? And Louisiana is home to the delta of one of the more important – and second longest - rivers in the country. The Mississippi River is a vital piece of transportation for the country and the river and Louisiana are home to one of the largest volume ports in the United States. For centuries, the river and the state have been vital to the economy, agriculture, transportation and even heavy influences in literature and other art forms for not only our country but the world at large.

This week, I had an amazing conversation with Simone Maloz. Simone is the campaign director of Restore the Mississippi River Delta.

Together we talk about the river’s importance to our state and the country at large and ways that the organization and its partners are trying to help keep the river healthy and here for generations to come.