cleanup – Nature Along the El Camino Real

Preparing to Add Pollinators

November 2, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Sue Ann Kendall and Carolyn Henderson

As part of our grant from the H-E-B Pollinators Across Texas Project, members of our chapter spent the morning at the Milam Wildscape making sure invasives have been removed and preparing for planting the native plants we hope will attract the set of pollinators we want to document over the coming months.

Chad, Scott, Bill, Liz, and Kit shoveled and moved a whole lot of crushed granite. Luckily, we had multiple shovels and wheelbarrows to get the work done.

Meanwhile, Tina, Catherine, and Carolyn spread the gravel and stomped on it. It was quite satisfying to stomp, and the rose bush did not permanently injure any volunteers. The end result is beautiful and will make the area safer for visitors.

Don’t worry, we need more gravel spread- for our chapter members who missed the opportunity!

Patsy and Sue Ann recorded the whole event for reporting purposes. They even found a few pollinators lurking around the Wildscape.

Donna, Ann, and Kim greeted visitors who wondered just what we were doing. The visitors got free wildflower seeds and pollinator brochures to answer all their questions.

The most impressive achievement of the morning was that the excessively aggressive (though native) Cypress vine that took over the awning was removed – again. Kit, Tina, Liz, Scott, Chad and Carolyn slayed it – for the moment. This will probably need to be repeated. The vine is beautiful but very aggressive.

We look forward to sharing the progress of this project and are grateful to H-E-B for the Pollinators across Texas grant.

Red Mountain Preparation Visit

June 17, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Michelle Lopez

Here are some pictures from our trip to Red Mountain, where we prepped for the Tonkawa Powwow and did some trash pickup. What a spot!

None of us had climbed the mountain before, but when we spotted some ribbons on trees, we figured that was our cue to start climbing.

Let’s just say it was more of a challenge than we bargained for, but we all reached the summit. The kicker? Those ribbons were actually indicating where a trail was supposed to go. Who knew?

Anyway, our detour led to some neat discoveries, like some clay handles that could’ve been part of ancient clay pots. I took some photos and left the artifacts in place for the ongoing archaeological dig.

This may be a fossilized gourd in a rock!

Being a Texas Master Naturalist is a real treat, and our crew is fantastic. Love it!

Pulling Weeds at the Wildscape

April 5, 2022 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Carolyn Henderson

Aren’t all weeds native? Ha!

Weeds were the call of the day when a dedicated group of El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist members showed up at the Birds and Bees Wildscape Saturday. There were plenty of them calling.

Eric gets the malabar spinach area under control

Members Gene and Cindy Rek own the Bird and Bee Farm, and they have allotted space to ECRTMN to grow a wildscape for use in educating people and spreading native plants to interested citizens. They are converting the acreage they have to native plants and grasses. These efforts have brought about an award from the Texas Environmental Quality Commission.

The TEQC is going to come out and video interviews with the Reks and a couple other members of ECRTMN. Catherine Johnson, manager of the ECR part, called for a clean-up day to make the wildscape more presentable for its “two minutes” of fame. More information on the award will be discussed when more is known about it.

Donna weeds, prunes, and imparts plant information

Catherine, Donna Lewis, Scott Berger, Linda Burgess, Eric Neubauer, Debra Sorenson, Alan Rudd and his son, Adam, Cindy Rek, Jackie Thornton, and I knocked out a good portion of the clean-up but had to avoid some for ant treatments. Bees, unusual flies, spiders, and a few butterflies were already there, too. There are not yet many flowers. Everything is slow coming back this year, and I believe that is statewide, according to Texas Nature Trackers – TMN. In another week or so, I believe it will be in full growth mode.

Linda volunteered for weed dumping. She took many trips.

Alan and Adam finished a storage building they had started at the wildscape. It is a great building for the site, and now all the planting pots that we save to share with others will not blow all over the place.

There was also a good amount of fellowship – especially around the table where all the goodies were that Catherine baked and brought for us. We went home having eaten a lot of chocolate and honey tea from Cindy.

There’s more to be done in a short period of time, so if any members have time and an urge to pull weeds (Catherine treated the two spaces that had ant problems), the gate is usually open.