At last week's presentation on suburban permaculture, several people indicated an interest in working together to share ideas. I went to John Hirschi's house this past weekend to check out his front yard native landscaping. John's yard is beautiful. It was designed last year by Paul Dowlearn at Wichita Valley Nursery and is doing well. Many of the plants are multiplying. The only problem he is having now is a marauding wild pig which is rooting around in the yard and doing a lot of damage. John has traps out, trying to catch the critter. I hope he gets him soon, it is making a mess of a beautiful landscape.
We also discussed some of his ideas for his backyard. Because we had such a good time talking about what he had done and his ideas going forward, we discussed putting together a day to visit one another's yard and share ideas with other members of the permaculture group. Even if we haven't done anything, this would be a chance to share ideas and talk over what we're trying to do with others with similar interests.
If you're interested in joining in, email me at green.wichitafalls@gmail.com or "Like" the Living Green in Wichita Falls page on Facebook and join in.
Showing posts with label Paul Dowlearn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Dowlearn. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Edible Wild Plants
When I was a young 'un, I remember Euell Gibbons, who was widely considered a whack job by most. However, I also remember a lot of my relatives hunting and gathering wild mushrooms and plants to supplement the all-too-meager food budget. So it's not like no one ate wild plants. They did. They just seemed to think that harvesting wild foods was done because you were poor, not because you wanted to do it. To me, it seemed a psychological barrier to acceptance, not because they didn't accept wild plants as nutritious and tasty. No one wanted to admit eating wild plants because no one wanted to admit they couldn't afford to buy food.
My friend, Paul Dowlearn of Wichita Valley Nursery, gave me a book to read: Edible Wild Plants, by John Kallas, PhD. This is intended to be one of a series of books on edible wild plants. Lots of great pictures. Detailed information on who to recognize, harvest and prepare about a dozen wild plants (this book focused on greens.) Lots of recipes. One I found fascinating was making meringue from mallow seeds or mallowmallows.
Anyway, certainly worth a look. With the price of produce, harvesting free produce could help the wallet and the diet--where known, Dr. Kallas gave nutritional information for these plants. Many kicked (metaphorical) butt over the nutritional powerhouses of spinach and broccoli.
My friend, Paul Dowlearn of Wichita Valley Nursery, gave me a book to read: Edible Wild Plants, by John Kallas, PhD. This is intended to be one of a series of books on edible wild plants. Lots of great pictures. Detailed information on who to recognize, harvest and prepare about a dozen wild plants (this book focused on greens.) Lots of recipes. One I found fascinating was making meringue from mallow seeds or mallowmallows.
Anyway, certainly worth a look. With the price of produce, harvesting free produce could help the wallet and the diet--where known, Dr. Kallas gave nutritional information for these plants. Many kicked (metaphorical) butt over the nutritional powerhouses of spinach and broccoli.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Two Great River Bend Programs Saturday
River Bend Nature Center has two great programs coming up on Saturday.
The Science Saturday program continues with a program on freshwater fish. Science Saturday programs are targeted to the 5 - 12 year old age group, although anyone can attend. The program begins at 1:00 PM and ends at 2:00. Admission is $3 per participant--accompanying adults for children under 12 (required) are free. There is an art program following at 2:30 PM for those who are interested.
If you are interested in native plants, Paul Dowlearn of Wichita Valley Nursery will be doing a program, "Native Plants in the Conservatory," from 10 AM - noon. Admission is $3 per person; members and children under 2 are free.
The Science Saturday program continues with a program on freshwater fish. Science Saturday programs are targeted to the 5 - 12 year old age group, although anyone can attend. The program begins at 1:00 PM and ends at 2:00. Admission is $3 per participant--accompanying adults for children under 12 (required) are free. There is an art program following at 2:30 PM for those who are interested.
If you are interested in native plants, Paul Dowlearn of Wichita Valley Nursery will be doing a program, "Native Plants in the Conservatory," from 10 AM - noon. Admission is $3 per person; members and children under 2 are free.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Post from a Friend re Wichita River
I received an email from my friend, Paul Dowlearn, with Wichita Valley Nursery, about a news report concerning the Wichita River. The news report is currently available on Kauz.com. I am not sure how long it will be posted. I am presenting Paul's email content as sent to me. I will look into this further and post information later.
"I have heard several news reports concerning the results of a survey on flood control of the Wichita River. The last news report state a sense of urgency..."We must act quickly." Really? Let's not lose sight of the fact that the recent flood event was comparable to the flood of 1941...70 years ago!! The law of averages and current long range forecast show no imminent danger. Instead we may be headed into another drought cycle....This sense of urgency then may signify that there is some funding available and for whatever reason local engineers and contractors could certainly benefit from a nice, fat, expensive project.
Question is...Have we (citizens) been given the opportunity to consider the impact of such a project? Do we really want our river to resemble a much larger version of Holiday Creek? This is a river...not a creek. I am among those who lament the Holiday Creek project regardless of the obvious relief of those living in low areas historically prone to flooding. I still recall summer picnics in Weeks Park, splashing up and down the creek trying to capture minnows and crawdads. Today, there is little is an aesthetic value of Holiday Creek save the Hike and Bike Trail. At normal flow, one has to negotiate a good 50 feet or more of ankle twisting stone (placed there for man made erosion control) to get to the water. IF you are brave enough to walk down you wil find the native marine life that once existed has all but disappeared. Algae, a few plants...maybe a golf ball?
So what about the aesthetic value of the Wichita River? Consider the history of our namesake. What about the River Walk, The Falls, Lucy Park, Williams Park, Bicycling and Equestrian Trail, Wee-chi-tah Park, Front Street Bridge and Berend's Landing. How will these be impacted? How about tourism, adjacent hotels, RV parks, fishing, canoeing, or kids just having fun? Will we be able to enjoy the river with no shallow rapids or deeper holes for fish? Well....judging from the news reports, that's exactly what the experts that submitted the report are proposing. I say let's leave the felling of trees to the beaver population.
I am not an expert at hydrology, but common sense and simple physics tell me that water actually backs up on itself regardless of the channel capacity. In other words, if enough rain falls on any given location, there will be flooding. Furthermore, if the goal is to relieve flooding in the downtown area, the removal of obstacles should occur downstream and not in the city itself. Finally, Nature controls erosion by slowing runoff with her trees, shrubs and grasses. While this does cause occasional flooding it also reduces current strength. An increase of unrestricted current could cause the river to change course. Historical evidence of this is easily seen in the occurrence of numerous oxbos along the length of the Wichita. True, there has not been major flooding in Holiday Creek since the channelization...yet. So chalk one p for the engineers at the loss of a few (?) picnickers, kids chasing crawdads, and golfers who would rather lose a ball than risk an ankle injury."
Paul Dowlearn, citizen, email: wvmail@aol.com
"I have heard several news reports concerning the results of a survey on flood control of the Wichita River. The last news report state a sense of urgency..."We must act quickly." Really? Let's not lose sight of the fact that the recent flood event was comparable to the flood of 1941...70 years ago!! The law of averages and current long range forecast show no imminent danger. Instead we may be headed into another drought cycle....This sense of urgency then may signify that there is some funding available and for whatever reason local engineers and contractors could certainly benefit from a nice, fat, expensive project.
Question is...Have we (citizens) been given the opportunity to consider the impact of such a project? Do we really want our river to resemble a much larger version of Holiday Creek? This is a river...not a creek. I am among those who lament the Holiday Creek project regardless of the obvious relief of those living in low areas historically prone to flooding. I still recall summer picnics in Weeks Park, splashing up and down the creek trying to capture minnows and crawdads. Today, there is little is an aesthetic value of Holiday Creek save the Hike and Bike Trail. At normal flow, one has to negotiate a good 50 feet or more of ankle twisting stone (placed there for man made erosion control) to get to the water. IF you are brave enough to walk down you wil find the native marine life that once existed has all but disappeared. Algae, a few plants...maybe a golf ball?
So what about the aesthetic value of the Wichita River? Consider the history of our namesake. What about the River Walk, The Falls, Lucy Park, Williams Park, Bicycling and Equestrian Trail, Wee-chi-tah Park, Front Street Bridge and Berend's Landing. How will these be impacted? How about tourism, adjacent hotels, RV parks, fishing, canoeing, or kids just having fun? Will we be able to enjoy the river with no shallow rapids or deeper holes for fish? Well....judging from the news reports, that's exactly what the experts that submitted the report are proposing. I say let's leave the felling of trees to the beaver population.
I am not an expert at hydrology, but common sense and simple physics tell me that water actually backs up on itself regardless of the channel capacity. In other words, if enough rain falls on any given location, there will be flooding. Furthermore, if the goal is to relieve flooding in the downtown area, the removal of obstacles should occur downstream and not in the city itself. Finally, Nature controls erosion by slowing runoff with her trees, shrubs and grasses. While this does cause occasional flooding it also reduces current strength. An increase of unrestricted current could cause the river to change course. Historical evidence of this is easily seen in the occurrence of numerous oxbos along the length of the Wichita. True, there has not been major flooding in Holiday Creek since the channelization...yet. So chalk one p for the engineers at the loss of a few (?) picnickers, kids chasing crawdads, and golfers who would rather lose a ball than risk an ankle injury."
Paul Dowlearn, citizen, email: wvmail@aol.com
Monday, March 1, 2010
New Blog Added to Blog Roll
I went back out to the Wichita Valley website today and remembered that Paul Dowlearn has a sporadic blog. Coming as we are into the busy season for the nursery crowd, I am not sure how faithful he will be, but the articles are interesting and the blog reflects Paul's personality very well, so I am including it on the blog roll and hope he will continue to post occasionally. And now that I have the feed on the blog roll, I'll read it more often too!
River Bend Program on Xeriscapes is Tonight!
The next in a series of programs relating to water will be tonight at River Bend Nature Center. Paul Dowlearn, from Wichita Valley Landscaping will be presenting a program on Xeriscaping. Be there at 7:00 PM. Members of River Bend may attend for free; non-members pay $3.
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