Master Naturalists – The Hermits' Rest

People can be rejuvenating

If you’ve read my writing before, you’ve probably realized I’ve gotten more like the hermit in our ranch name as time goes on. I get pretty drained in crowds nowadays, even Master Naturalist meetings. (Yet I am going to a convention soon, which I may regret.)

However, one-on-one interactions lift my spirits so much! Today I had many opportunities for good conversation. I’m thankful to all!

I’m even grateful for this large bold jumping spider who entertained us this morning.

This morning I spent a good while talking about some complicated stuff with Kathleen over our morning coffee, but soon the topics veered off into what an odd little family dynamic we have over here at the compound. For example, we keep repaying each other similar amounts of money, so it’s just floating around in circles. Much laughter ensued. Penney also found it funny.

Next, Terry the farrier came to trim the horses and Fiona. We had good conversation with him, too. I enjoy learning his stories of his interesting life and his own odd happenings, like someone just giving him a Jeep. He also found a weird thing growing on Spice, near her tests. Our guess is that it’s a skin tag or little melanoma. I need to find someone knowledgeable to look at it.

After a nice, quiet afternoon of work, Terri from Master Naturalists came over to get a blog software refresher so she can help on the Master Naturalist blog. We are supposed to have a backup for all our roles. We fed the horses, looked at all the ponds and outbuildings, and yes, practiced blogging. I tried to explain our family arrangements here, and once again realized how weird it sounds when you say it out loud. I enjoyed her stories of living on a sailboat with young children, too.

I know I share a lot of egrets. But they are so beautiful.

It was a very pleasant time with no deadlines or big agenda. The whole day was like that. Very little negativity and much supportive interaction. I wish you similar days!

What else is in Waco?

We’ve been to Waco a number of times before, about once a year. It’s one of the closest cities to us and is in a pretty setting. We also go to Bryan/College Station sometimes and Temple, but Temple has no very interesting spots to visit, while the other two, having large universities, feature museums and a lot of Texas-y stuff. We avoid most of the yee-haw places and still find plenty to do.

You know you’re in Waco when you see this. Like they always show the Eiffel Tower in France, the Alico building symbolizes Waco. I don’t know much about it other than it survived a hurricane.

Before you delve into your travel advice, we know all about Dr Pepper, the Texas Rangers. those down-home Gaines people, and such. We didn’t go to any Baylor museums, since I figure I’ll go there at the October Master Naturalist annual meeting. It’s right here at this hotel.

Where did we go? First we went to the Lake Waco Wetlands, since I’d really enjoyed it there on a field trip a few years ago. Back then it was lush and green and filled with aquatic plants, insects, and birds. The lake was full.

My Master Naturalist group—this was my first field trip.

This year, it looked very different.

There was no boardwalk, the lake was dry, and typical prairie plants were growing everywhere. All the systems that used to filter the water were broken. I didn’t have the heart to photograph those. So, the visit was different. Nonetheless, we enjoyed walking around. I got many plant and bird observations, including an Indigo Bunting duet.

I pondered and hypothesized about what had happened to this place. I knew it was probably in the news. Yes, back at the hotel I read that flooding two years ago took out most of the infrastructure of this fascinating natural water filtering system. Please read this excellent report from last March about the plans to rebuild it so the equipment is less vulnerable. The article also gives the history of the wetland. Worth taking a break to read.

The second place we went also has an interesting story and is a ways outside of Waco. It’s Homestead Heritage, an intentional community that has been going for 50 years. Being near Waco, one’s first thought might be, “Run! It’s a cult!” And there are spiritual aspects and they do wear simple clothing. But really it’s a community where they create and teach old ways of doing things.

Each building is a renovated old one of a different style.

There is a cafe selling farm-to-table food, a cheese place, glass blowing, pottery, a forge (real!), leather work and so on. You can even take quick classes in most of the trades. (They also have longer classes.) I met a lovely birder/water colorist who’s doing a series on Texas birds. And I loved the handmade brooms. But my favorite part was the mill.

This mill is hundreds of years old and was moved to this location.

I could have watched it slowly create flour for hours, with all its wheels, belts, and pulleys. They grow the corn and wheat in the community. I got some grits after we enjoyed some delightful lemonade. Mine was watermelon mint, and I got to watch the young woman make it by hand. Lots of watermelon squishing. The lemonade concentrate was pre-made, by them.

The woodworking area was so organized and perfect. The woodwright was sharpening a set of chisels to give his apprentice so he’d stop using his. Ha! They have some really intense woodworking classes. I know my coworker would enjoy that part of the shop area. The hand tools were fascinating.

Of course I saved the best for last and had lots of fun at the knitting, spinning, and weaving shop. There were so many huge looms making complicated patterns of cloth. A spinner patiently showed a little girl how plying worked, much to the girl’s delight. I wish I had photos of the place, but I was too busy looking.

I really enjoyed this place. It reminded me of Silver Dollar City in Branson, but with just the craft parts. it wasn’t crowded, so you could really talk to the community members. They were friendly but not in a scary way. You get a good feeling from them. I later read they are pacifists. That kind of old-fashioned Christians. Hmm. Read more about Homestead Heritage for yourself on their site. I’m glad Kathleen mentioned finding this place.

After a nap, we ate a lot of sushi at a little restaurant across the street from the hotel. I enjoyed a boba tea, too.

I went for a walk by the river and observed many unhoused people enjoying the river view. There were also plenty of invasive plant species, bits of garbage, and endless loud motorcycles and farting tiny sporty cars. I’ll stop complaining about loud pickup trucks at home. This is worse. Still, the Brazos is beautiful. I also enjoyed walking around the convention center area.

All in all, we had a fine day in the Waco area! There’s lots to do beyond the obvious.

Geez. I care about my phone.

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

Why do I hold my phone dear? It is my memory. It contains all my photos, all my communication with friends, access to my memories in the blog…and yes, I can get to all those things from my laptop. Yuck. I think I hold some bits and bytes or whatever cloud storage is made of. That’s really depressing. What else do I hold dear? Things made by my loved ones. My mom and stepmom’s art. Dad’s woodcraft stuff. Gifts they gave me. Things that tie me to them.

New thought: I’ve started letting myself write in incomplete sentences! They’ll soon be taking away my Grammar Police badge. My take is that the incomplete sentences are not as unpleasant as those two blogs I dictated and then was too woozy to properly review. Poor Sue had to endure proofreading that. I don’t pay her well enough for that! (I do not pay Sue; she’s just nice.)

Another part of the phone I love is the camera. I was at a Master Naturalist outing at my friend Carolyn’s place, which I’ve showed you before. I got some images I really liked there. I don’t need to show you all 125 species or 25 birds I recorded, but I want to share a few for those of you who always want more nature pictures.

Purple Pleatleaf (***Alophia drummondii)***

This one was new to me. It’s an evening primrose that grows five feet tall. Wow.

Four point evening primrose (***Oenothera rhombipetala)***

And here are a few more plants.

We also saw lots of animal life. There was more than I expected, especially the suspiciously friendly raccoon. But it’s harmless.

Other animal news? No one’s come looking for Benny. He’s still over here trying to hump Carlton.

Purple Martin Mania

I’m still easily tired and low on energy, but I’m glad I was able to go to see the incredible Purple Mountain colony maintained by Mike McCormick and his family near Buckholts. Not only were the birds (a type of swallow) beautiful to watch, but I enjoyed finding plenty of plants, too.

Two stunning males taking a break from insect hunting.

This huge setup of houses and a “condo” is one of the largest in the US. It’s the result of a lifetime of work. We are lucky to be nearby and that our Master Naturalist group has been friends for years.

The setting couldn’t be more beautiful, in a hilly ranch with mixed fields and woods. There are plenty of ponds to attract insects and keep the birds hydrated.

Pond, cattle, and chickens share the land with martins.

It’s a lot of work maintaining all the nest sites, but it’s a labor of love for the whole family. They’ve been responsible for many Martin housing innovations that they share with others, too. There’s a devoted group of Martin lovers throughout North America who provide homes for these birds while the raise their babies each summer who share information.

Two females in the condo, taking a break from egg incubation.

I enjoyed learning new things about these birds, which surprised me since I’ve been educated often about them. For example, larger hawks ignore them, but Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned find martins tasty. Ah, nature.

The houses and condo unit. It holds lots of birds. There are up to 2,000 pairs in good years.

I couldn’t resist the other life around the property. There were plenty of hens and roosters, plus chicks. And there were beautiful white domestic doves fluttering around (as well as Mourning, White Winged, and Inca Doves). The shed area had Barn Swallows nesting in it, so we got to watch them zooming around, too. And a pretty brave rabbit.

After I got tired of being around people, I walked on the little nature trail they’ve built since I was last there. It has very nice bathrooms, too. I had lots of fun adding 75 or so observations for iNaturalist on the trail and in the fields, when I wasn’t distracted by how beautiful the views of the countryside were.

It is a privilege to see this place again and to learn even more about these migratory birds and the environment where they spend their spring and summer, after flying in from Brazil.

Book Report: Foraging Texas

I got this book at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. I’m sure glad I did, because I thoroughly it and learned how many things right outside the house are delicious. Foraging Texas: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods, in Texas (2021), by Eric M. Knight and Stacy M. Coplin, is the most fun and sensible foraging guide I ever read.

The authors, who apparently know my friend Linda Jo, strike a great balance e between caution and curiosity as they teach about edible plants. First, they insist you read the chapter on toxic plants, some of which I could go take you to right now (very healthy poison ivy vines). I do now know my water hemlock and friends, and simply won’t eat anything growing in the water, at all. Even the yummy ones might have pollutants in them. Sigh.

The authors focus on plants that are plentiful (many, if not most, non-native) so as not to encourage folks to contribute to a species going extinct. You’re heartily encouraged to eat annoying plants like bastard cabbage (they tell you to pull it up after you harvest the flowers, which proves to me that they have met Linda Jo). That woman hates bastard cabbage.

Bastard cabbage submitted by me to iNaturalist.

For each plant there’s a map of where to find it, a thorough botanical description (there’s an index of terms), comparison with any toxic lookalikes, how to harvest, and a recipe. Some recipes are like, just eat it. Other plants seem so hard to harvest that I wonder if it’s worth it. So many stickers and prickles to remove in your prickly pear fruit (tuna) or heart-leaf nettles. I’d say I’ll pass, but those fruit are so tasty.

Prickly pear with developing fruit at top. 2024.

Very few other plants are described as tasting delicious (dewberries are!). Most are okay.

I think the fun is mostly finding edible plants around you and knowing what’s a good hiking snack.

Found these today. You can eat flowers and roots, pink evening primrose.

Today I ate plantain seeds, because there are many in the pasture right now. I’m not going to go gather a bunch to share with the family. I could sneak chickweed in a salad, though. It’s tasty.

Bracted plantain. Much prettier than the kind I ate.

I will probably keep this reference book in the RV for reference when traveling. There are more comprehensive foraging books out there, but I like that this one covers the area where I live and is enjoyable to read. Now enjoy some pasture flowers.

Visiting the Official Wildflowers

Yeah, yeah, I write about wildflowers all the time. But today four of my Master Naturalist friends and I traveled to the deepest depths of Austin, Texas (which only took 1.5 hours on a Saturday with no huge festival happening). There, we found the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a regular treasury of Texas wildflowers, many at their peak of bloom.

We were prepared for rain and dropping temperatures.

I used to be a member when my children were young and I only worked part time, but it had been quite a few years since my last visit. Seeing how well the plants have grown, as well as finding new places to look around, was a great experience for me.

One new area is a circle of young oak trees, all of which were grown from acorns of trees of historic importance in Texas. The tree shown here came from the Big Tree on Goose Island, which Lee and I visited recently.

I am a lot better at identifying native plants than I was 25 years ago, so I had fun figuring out what I was seeing before checking its sign or looking it up on iNaturalist. Of course, some plants were new surprises, which added to the fun. I think I ended up being the ID guide, though a couple of my companions were pretty good, too.

After enjoying the gardens, we went to the annual native plant sale, where the group picked up some interesting plants for the urban wildscape our group is making at the church where we meet.

We rewarded ourselves with a visit to the gift shop, where we found the Texas Master Naturalist textbook among the offerings. I got a book I can’t wait to read, with plant and insect mandalas.

When we were finished, we drove up to Georgetown for a late lunch at Wild Fire restaurant. It was pretty spectacular and a great ending to our trip. Plus! When I got home it started to rain. Yay! Let’s celebrate by looking at some plants I saw.

Looking forward to a cool day tomorrow and a good rain total!

I’m Reminded Not to Make Generalizations

You know how you sometimes say, “I can’t stand X,” or, “I hate Y?” I need to remember not to do that. Generalizations like that have a tendency to be proven wrong all too often.

I’m pretty sure I find all mushrooms interesting I think it’s an ink cap.

Example: I know I’ve said many times that I “hate” hush puppies. To me they are lumps of mush deep-fried into hot, brown rocks. Their goal is to fill you up so the restaurant doesn’t have to serve you so many shrimp. Or, so I say.

I do love this kind of puppy. Photo from Pexels.

This evening, I was reminded that not all hush puppies are the same. The ones made by the master of the pup, my fellow Master Naturalist Alan, are something else altogether.

They are golden brown, with a light but crunchy exterior that leads to an explosion of the creamy, moist flavor of green onions, corn, and magic. I had three of them tonight, and I didn’t care if it meant I ate less of the freshly fried catfish and bass.

Obviously, I made a sweeping generalization about hush puppies, and I was wrong. So remember the next time you say you hate some category of people or things, some shining example may well cause you to eat your words. Or your fried cornmeal product.

Um. I’ve also been known to disparage all fried food. Wrong again.

Out of My Comfort Zone

I have been thinking a lot about how I complain about the government here in Texas, but don’t do anything about it other than contribute small amounts of money to candidates I appreciate. So today I went way outside my comfort zone and volunteered to help out at the local level. I met some new and unusual people and also enjoyed time with friends. Whew, that took a lot of psychic energy. I’m proud of myself.

Lee says I’m getting more active while he stays more ensconced in his hermitage. Could be a worse hideout.

I’m glad that I had a chance to go hang out in nature afterwards, as Terri and I went back over to Carolyn’s ranch to get ready for the Master Naturalist field trip. All the signs Terri made look great!

I mostly scouted around for plants that weren’t damaged by last week’s freeze or were blooming. I’m afraid wildflower season is delayed. But I found a few things to point out. I hope some of the dogwood blossoms are still around. They were quite lovely.

Nature and friends helped my introvert self equalize a bit, but I still needed a nap and some horse hugs when I got home. Now, please enjoy a few more woodland plants

Speaking in Public Equals Fun

Something that always has interested me about myself is that I just love being on stage. I always wondered why that was. Did I inherit my dad’s drive to be the center of attention? Do I just love to perform (regardless of talent), or what? Do I just love the sound of my own voice? It’s true that I am chatty. You may be aware of that.

At least Kathleen enjoyed our coffee talk this morning enough to make one of those AI portraits of it. Those things are pretty good!

This evening I gave a short presentation on beavers for our Texas Master Naturalist chapter. I shared what I’ve learned from my reading, especially Beaverland, and observations from my friend’s ponds. I had so much fun standing up there and sharing what I found interesting and making jokes. It’s so freeing to give a presentation about something other than enterprise project and resource management software.

Who wouldn’t love learning about these guys?

Once I got home, I reflected on why I get so energized by giving a talk, singing, reading, or anything in front of an audience. I like to share what makes me happy! Music makes me happy, so I like to share it (or did when I could still sing adequately — I was never great). And things I’ve learned excite me, so I enjoy sharing. It’s too much fun to get anxious about.

The last time I sang in public. I needed practice.

My friend Michelle presented the results of the bat monitoring project our chapter did last year before my talk. It was a different kind of talk, so our audience got some variety. There were at least five species heard among our nine sites. I admire that Michelle analyzed so many sound files to find bat sounds. Admittedly, I’m glad I didn’t volunteer to do it once I un-retired, because it took a lot of time, but I’d have loved doing the analysis. It’s so fun finding the patterns.

My only complaint for today is that I had a hard time viewing sound waves today at work, because my external monitors kept flaking out. Trying to edit the sound track to videos is not easy on a small laptop screen. I just did other stuff. No performance there!

Frustrating work setup, but at least one monitor came back.

Wow. Already bedtime. I have an exciting day of hanging out with Anita, my friend from high school, tomorrow. Exciting may not be the best word choice. We will see!

Rain Daze

It finally rained again, which we needed. It waited until I was finished having baked goods with Martha, and chatting with Vicki and others at the bakery. Vicki rode her new horse almost to our house this morning.

Before it cooled off and got all windy, Lee and I enjoyed the porch, where all the plants are back outside.

Martha and I then went to the yearly Master Gardener plant sale. Since half the Master Gardeners are also Master Naturalists, we saw lots of people we knew and had a fun time catching up and looking at the few plants that were left. I did find a fig tree to buy, and my friend Lynn took it home with her and will bring it over here when it isn’t raining. Future visitors!

I hope this is in my future. Photo from Pexels.

The rest of the day, we stayed inside and I got all sorts of tasks completed that were perfect for a rainy day. I wrote a presentation on beavers for the next Master Naturalist meeting, catalogued the birds seen here from February, filled out my timesheet (yay, money), and did my nails. Maybe dull, but necessary. And I indulged in an old television series on the history of the first 55 years of Star Trek (it’s 60 this year).

The animals made it through the rain, so we just relaxed after feeding them. I’ve got more relaxing ahead of me tomorrow, but maybe a bit more creativity.

Speaking of creativity, here are January and February of 2026. No orange yet!

Sometimes a lack of excitement is just fine. This rain daze was pleasant.