Reminder: Sierra Club Meeting Tuesday Night

Just another reminder that the Red River Sierra Club Group meets Tuesday, April 12, 7:15 PM at Chili's, on Call Field Rd. The group has established an email address: RedRiverSierra@gmail.com so feel free to email for more information.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Volunteer Index

I noticed Texas Parks and Wildlife posted a link to their Volunteer Index. It explains the many opportunities to volunteer for various projects to support Texas Parks and Wildlife in their mission. It's unfortunate that there are never enough funds to do everything that needs to be done, but that is the way it is. In our area we have the Rolling Plains Texas Master Naturalists and the newly formed Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park. Certainly with the budget picture shaping up in Texas will mean even less money for needed projects. That means if we want to have state parks with good amenities for the public, to know more about our state's environment and to monitor our resources, the extra effort is going to have to come from us. Get acquainted with these groups and others that are so important and think about volunteering. None of us can do everything, but we can all do something that will have a positive impact on our community and our environment.

City Cleanup Saturday

I can tell in moving around the city that we didn't have the huge turnout for the community cleanup we needed, but some areas look a lot better than they did before. When I was on my way to Scotland Park to register our group, I passed a group of about 50 men who were cleaning up the horrible mess under the overhead at the Kell intersection. If there was an area that needed to be cleaned up, that was it. A big thank you to whatever group tackled that area. The Texas Master Naturalists had Lucy Park. The city had already done a very good job of cleaning up the main area of the park due to a community activity that afternoon, so our group concentrated on the rear, wooded area of the park. We spent nearly 3 hours and hauled out a lot of trash and some aluminum cans for recycling. We didn't get it as neat as we would have liked, but other projects had us leaving shortly after noon, so we had to stop. Many thanks to the Keep Wichita Falls Beautiful organization for sponsoring this event and to the many volunteers that came out that day.

The Joke's on Me

Well, the joke is on me this morning. I was talking to Jim Miller of the Rolling Plains Journal this morning at a Chamber of Commerce and Industry event and he asked me about Restless Prairie Farms. I told him that I noticed the name on the followers list for this blog, but I didn't know the person. He was telling me about all of the great things she was doing, and I decided I had to meet her. So when I got home, I shot off a "we need to get acquainted" email, and then start googling. Surprise! I know the author of the Restless Prairie Farm blog. Once I found it and started looking through old posts, I found a picture of one of the trainees in our current Texas Master Naturalists spring training class. We have talked some--not a lot, as there isn't a lot of spare time in the classes. I just never put the two together. Those living in Wichita Falls wanting to know more about sustainable living need to check out her blog, so I am adding a link on the blog roll. Sign up! I also found another local blog on baking I thought was interesting and added it to the blog roll as well. We are slowing building a community. Hurray! Spread the word and let other like-minded folks know about some of these interesting blogs and people.

Red River Sierra Group Meeting

The Red River Sierra Group meets the second Tuesday of each month. It does change locations, which can make it tricky to keep up. However, the group will meet this coming Tuesday, April 12 at Chili's at 7:15 PM. They chose Chili's this month because of the PETS Pantry fundraiser taking place at the restaurant that night. The Sierra group is relatively small, although there are many Sierra Club members in the area. The group will be talking about several upcoming activities so plan to attend. For more information, contact Joanna Bonnheim, the group chair, at hirschikiss@sbcglobal.com.

River Bend Lecture Series

The next presentation in River Bend Nature Center's Lecture Series will be Monday, April 11 at 7:00 PM. Daniel Nix, Utilities Operations Manager in Wichita Falls, will be talking about water conservation. This is an important topic, so I hope many of you can come out.

Heirloom Tomatoes Have Arrived

You'll recall a few days ago I posted a link to a Craig's List ad for heirloom tomatoes. My heirloom tomatoes arrived Saturday, and I am looking forward to getting them into the ground. After a high of 98 yesterday and an expected low in the 30's tonight, I am probably going to move my plants to the covered back porch and cover them tonight and then plant them later in the week. Jim Miller wrote a neat blog post about his tomatoes and the lady who sells them. Check it out--just goes to show most people have a story. In the meantime, I will probably either have to transplant all of my veggies into pots or try to transplant them later as our landlady has decided to sell our house, so the ones I have out will not be able to finish here. Anyway, we're looking for a place in Wichita Falls, to if you know of anything, email green.wichitafalls@gmail.com. We have pets.