Nature Along the El Camino Real
Blog of the El Camino Real Chapter, Texas Master Naturalists, Milam County, Texas
Carolyn Henderson sent along some more photos from our field trip to Mother Neff State Park on April 15. Some are of the scenery and others are of our scenic group members! We thought you’d enjoy them, so we’re passing them along.
by Catherine Johnson
While we were hiking Mother Neff State Park, Patricia Coombs was coordinating chores at the Wildscape for the monthly workday.
The day became warm and bending over to plant resulted in Patricia becoming ill. Dorothy Mayer and her daughter, Traci, were there working as well. Dorothy poured water over Patricia’s head and cared for Traci after she was stung by something.
Much pruning was done and two flats of Mexican Hat and Black-eyed Susan were planted, plus a bed prepared for Texas wildflowers. Dorothy brought the workday to a successful end.
Note that we have a bunch of blogs to upload, because our blogging team (of one person) has been having computer issues then had the nerve to go camping. At least she did a lot of iNaturalist observations while she was there. Apologies that our blog entries weren’t entered in a timely manner.
by Donna Lewis
I took some photos today even though it was very windy.
Most of the Monarchs have already come through here in Central Texas and are on their way North. I am seeing one or two, but that is all.
So of course, just now the milkweed is blooming. Not a good situation for the Monarchs.
When the climate is off, the plants are off. And when the plants are off, so are the insects.
If you have been a lifelong gardener or a bird watcher, you have watched this scenario take place. Observing the natural world is better than reading a book on nature.
So, now what should we do?
All I can think of is to try to plant nectar plants that bloom earlier. I do not think that will work with the milkweed. though.
We can encourage others not to mow the native milkweed down and to leave it at least till the Monarchs have moved on, and the milkweed has seeded.
That would help a little.
If each of us did a little, great things could happen.
Remember who you are gardening for.
By Sue Ann Kendall
Saturday was an absolutely glorious day for a field trip and guided walk through Mother Neff State Park. It’s the closest state park to Milam County, so it wasn’t a bad drive at all for the carpoolers and separate drivers. Plus, we got to see lots and lots of wildflowers along the way!
We were very impressed with the new park headquarters that was built after the original one was flooded badly (some of the park is still inaccessible). There are very impressive native plantings all around it.
Once we were all gathered and checked in, the group motored over to the trail head and enjoyed a walk through wooded areas, led by a knowledgeable park intern who’s majoring in leisure or something like that.
The hike took us to a cave, a cool picnic table in the middle of nowhere built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a large cave that was used for years by indigenous residents, and a CCC tower that would give great views if the trees hadn’t grown up to block most of it. There was a lot of going up and down involved, so the hike was better for folks with good legs.
Two of our members were not very good participants in the hike, however. Linda Jo Conn and I were too enthralled by all the interesting plants and insects we saw that we could share on iNaturalist. This park is part of the Texas Master Naturalist GTWT Adopt-a-Loop trail project, so we wanted to add observations to that. Also, well, we are just that way. As Linda Jo states, we proceed at the pace of botany.
We found some very interesting plants and were impressed by the variety we saw. I wish we’d been there when the yellow passionflower was blooming. But I was impressed that I remembered what the leaves looked like and found it. We had a blast!
Everyone was pretty tired after we got back, but since I was driving, I forced my passengers to wait while we parked in the trail head for the walk through the meadow that my husband and I had walked last December.
We didn’t want to make them sit forever, so Linda Jo and I didn’t walk on the actual trail. We got all distracted by a sunny area surrounded by Ashe junipers. It looked like dismal scrub. But NO! It was filled with interesting and rare plants!
I was particularly excited to find a star milk vine. What beautiful, tiny flowers it has. The one Linda Jo was most excited about was a golden-eyed phlox, which is endemic to Texas. The other chapter members said they could hear us whooping when we found yet another interesting plant in the “bare” area.
We ended the expedition with a nice lunch on Lake Belton. We’re very lucky to have such a fun group to do our activities with and the perfect day to do it.
PS: Sorry for the lack of Latin names for plants. I had to hurry to finish this. Then a squirrel blew out our electricity and my Internet router.
by Carolyn Henderson
The El Camino Real chapter training class of 2023 completed its final class for the year Thursday night. There was great joy by all attending. Training Director Kathy Lester and Training Assistant Alan Rudd may have been the most gleeful. TPWD Biologist Bobby Allcorn finished the training with lots of information on Texas native mammals.
The class of five is off to a good start. They all have all 40 hours of training (some have a few extra) and are already reporting volunteer and AT hours. Patricia Coombs will not only graduate from the class, but she will also be fully certified as a Master Naturalist.
We will have a celebration for them on April 26 at the All Saints Episcopal Church at 6 p.m. The dinner will be catered by Barbara Dominguez, owner of Hot Corner Catering and The Venue on Main. She will provide vegetarian dishes to complement the main course. You may BYOB. Students and members who organized the class this year will be treated by the chapter. All others, including guests, will pay for their meals. Guests are welcome. We will need a head count at the regular meeting April 13.
Please come celebrate the class who survived several major weather events that seemed to always occur on Thursday nights, and give a pat on the back to Kathy Lester, Alan Rudd, Michelle Lopez, Ann Collins, and Marian Buegler for their service to keep the class on track every week. I might add that several members attended regularly for support and several of them also helped host.
Pictured in the photo: Front row – Patricia Coombs, Ellen Luckey, Michelle Pierce, Brenda Ferris
Back row – Alan Rudd, Bobby Allcorn, Neil Wettstein, Kathy Lester
