New Orleans Cottage Industry.
It may not look like it, but New Orleans is a real city. It is the Queen City of the South, a dowager of a place that still keeps its coquettish spirit. No one will ever mistake New Orleans for an ingenue, but neither is New Orleans a tramp. Sophistication is the New Orleans way, and this applies to the city’s cottage industry.
There are dozens of cottage workshops and storefronts throughout New Orleans. You have to know where to look. There are barber shops, but half the city’s barbers work out of their homes. There are bar barbers, too, who practice their tonsorial arts in the backrooms of bars.
There are popsicle shops, book stores, taquerias, boxing gyms, corset makers…. All sorts of trades are plied on the back streets of New Orleans, including voodoo. There is a man who deals in cowan, which is a Cajun word for snapping turtle. New Orleans is one of the few cities left in America where turtle soup regularly appears on the menu. There is a history of small business in New Orleans. There isn’t a black market so much as there is an informal economy. Follow a second line parade to see.
Cottage industry is artisanal by nature. Blue Expedite Oleander Water Perfume is crafted by hand. A machine has not yet been invented to harvest oleander blossoms. It is a labor of love. School is out in the summer. Children something to do. Idle hands are the Devil’s tools.
The grain of tradition guides the growth of New Orleans cottage industry. From the carpenters and furniture makers who still use century-old tools, to the brewers and bakers who wake up early every morning before the rest of the city is ready, News Orleans is a place that works with its hands. It is also a city that lives by its wits. It is impossible to keep a good city down. Blame it on the oleander, which is the official flower of New Orleans.
According to New Orleans, LA., Code of Ordinances, § 2-1 (1995) , "The flower known by the botanical name of "Nerium," commonly known as Oleander, is hereby declared to be the official flower of the city and as such may be displayed in the streets and parks of the city, and otherwise appropriately used."
To learn why the scent of oleander is associated with New Olreans, order yourself some Blue Expedite Oleander water today. The spirit of old New Orleans is now brought up to date.
