Welcome to Our Blog

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Hello, friends. This blog is where the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists shares news, articles, and reflections. You’ll find our posts right under this introduction. We encourage your comments and likes, and of course, shares!

Texas Parks & Wildlife
AgriLife Extension

The Texas Master Naturalist program is sponsored by Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

Our chapter meets monthly on the second Thursday of the month in the fellowship hall at All Saints Episcopal Church, 200 North Travis Avenue, Cameron, Texas. Presentations begin at 6 pm, after a potluck meal. All are welcome to attend.

Our Mission: To develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the State of Texas.

Outreach at Blessing of the Animals

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By Linda Burgess

Last weekend, the All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Cameron held their annual Blessing of the Animals/Fall Festival. Our Master Naturalist Chapter was invited to have a table there this year, and we were thrilled to participate.  This was a great educational public outreach opportunity to discuss the importance of pollinators, promote our seed libraries, and recruit members for our upcoming Master Naturalist class to begin in January 2027.

Thank you to our TMN volunteers who helped at this event: Debbi Harris, Scott Berger, Alan Rudd, Terri Brickey, Liz Lewis, and myself. We gave away 100 wildflower seed packets, shared information about fall planting of wildflowers and planting native to promote conservation to create essential pollinator habitat, disseminated brochures about being a friend to pollinators, and also recruited prospective candidates for our upcoming TMN class. It was a great success!

Seed Sorting Fun for All

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by Linda Burgess

Volunteers of the El Camino Real Master Naturalists and the Little River Basin Master Gardeners met together Tuesday to collaborate and fill the card catalog drawers of the Sow & Grow: Milam Seed Library (located in the Cameron Public Library).

Hard working seed sorters

We meet monthly to provide Milam County residents with free access to native seeds. We also stock a free-standing seed library at the Milam Wildscape. We will be expanding and adding a second seed library at the Lucy Hill Patterson Memorial Library (Rockdale) later this month. This allows Millam County residents the opportunity to support pollinators and create their own natural habitat at home.

With fall approaching, it’s a great time to get your seeds in the ground to produce beautiful blooms in the spring. Just like nature does it, flowers drop their seeds onto the ground at the end of their blooming season. The seeds rest in the soil all winter and use a natural chilling process called cold stratification so the seeds sprout easily once spring arrives and the soil warms up. That’s how we get beautiful wildflowers in the spring!

Come get your seeds today!  Planting native maximizes wildlife benefit, conserves water, and creates essential pollinator habitat directly sustaining the food supply and our quality of life.

Cameron Public Library hours are Monday – Thursday, 10 am – 5 pm.

Would You Like to Join Us?

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By Sue Ann Kendall

The Texas Master Naturalist, El Camino Real Chapter invites all local lovers of the diverse and fascinating landscape of Texas to join us beginning in January for our next training class.

We have been gathering a selection of Texas plant, animal, water, and land experts to guide students through an in-depth introduction to our surroundings, with a special focus on Milam County and its immediate surroundings. Plus there will be field trips for immersive learning. You’ll never look at the land around you the same way again!

Learn about native plants and insects

As an accredited Texas Master Naturalist, you’ll get to attend monthly meetings, engage in fulfilling community outreach, and work on projects that benefit life around Milam County. Plus there’s a yearly annual meeting for more learning and networking opportunities among Texas Parks and Wildlife staff, AgriLife Extension staff, and nature lovers from all over Texas.

Participate in community projects

To learn more about the training and get on the list for more information, contact Alan Rudd at aerudd@yahoo.com or 979-220-3328.

Get close to nature!

September in the Wildscape

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by Catherine Johnson

The first windy cooler day found a friend of the Wildscape weeding, watering and collecting seeds for the Sow and Grow seed library. 

Before and after pictures show a re-landscaped bed in progress with flame acanthus and fall asters. We have many new native bushes and trees to plant.

One of the giant coneflowers is reblooming.

We are looking forward to some fun events in the garden.