Change the World; Grow a Garden

I came across this short little video encouraging people to plant a backyard garden to address the major environmental issues of our time. Just 2 minutes.

Miscellany

I have several short things today, so thought I would just spit them all out in one post instead of doing separate posts for each.

I bought some garden seeds this week. I am still harvesting food from my garden from the fall planting and am getting ready to start some plants for the spring garden. It won't be that long before the chance of frost is pretty low.

Spinach still going strong

Small green tomatoes ripened nicely

Broccoli almost ready for harvest

It sure is nice to make an omelet using fresh spinach picked just that morning with tomatoes from the garden (in this case, ripened on the counter from green tomatoes picked just before the one freeze we've had.) I still have parsley and kale producing from the plants I harvested from weeks ago. Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower heads are still growing.

Green leaf lettuce

Kale about ready for a second harvest

Lettuce and spinach are also still producing. Interested in starting some seeds yourself? Here is a basic how-to from Mother Earth News.

Although I have some herbs still in the garden and one lone basil plant on the windowsill in the laundry room, I will be starting several more plants this weekend and next week. Some to incorporate into the landscape and some to put into pots. Although this author is in a snowbound location, her hints for growing herbs indoors are pertinent to everyone, so I thought I would share the link.

Remember I said before I wasn't able to find alfalfa seeds for sprouting in town? I did find a good online source for sprouting seeds and ordered some alfalfa and broccoli seeds. The seeds arrived within a couple of days, even though I didn't pay for special shipping. I am getting ready to start some. The seed price was very good--the shipping doubled the price. However, when compared to the price of buying the sprouts at the grocery, it's still a super bargain.

I like loose leaf tea. If you're a tea drinker, you know how much better the flavor is. Wichita Falls is not a mecca for tea drinkers, so if you like good tea, you have to order it from somewhere else.
I also like nice, fresh herbs and when experimenting with different foods, sometimes the herbs and spices from the grocery don't have enough variety. Although  I usually buy my teas from Harney and Sons, I came across the Frontier Natural Products Co-op web site recently that has bulk herbs and spices and loose tea, as well as some neat cooking gadgets. The tea prices are less, but I haven't purchased any teas from them yet to determine the quality.

Hope some of these articles and web resources will be useful to you.

Christmas Tree Drop Off

If you had a live Christmas tree this year, you need to know where to dispose of it, unless you have enough room for a nice brush pile on your own property.

The City of Wichita Falls Sanitation Department has opened locations at Lucy Park (at the back of the park near the river) and Kiwanis Park (next to the park maintenance building near the entrance to the park) for easy disposal of natural Christmas trees. The free drop-off areas are open twenty-four hours a day.

Only real trees that have been completely stripped of the tree stand, all decorations and lights will be accepted. No artificial trees will be accepted. The trees will be recycled as mulch and used around trees, shrubs and flower beds in each park. 

City residents can also use the Landfill or Transfer Station for FREE tree disposal anytime during normal operating hours. Residents are encouraged to take advantage of these disposal methods, as there is no curbside pickup of Christmas trees. Trees left out by the curb will not be picked up by sanitation crews. 


If you choose,  you may also drop off trees at the Inland Fisheries office at 409 Chester Avenue (off Old Jacksboro Hwy). Those trees are used to improve fish habitat at Lake Arrowhead State Park.

Water Continues to Be Lead Story in 2012

Texas Monthly had an article on their website about the continuing drought. We've had some rain lately and everything is green (or as green as it gets in this part of the world) but locally we are still a foot below our annual rainfall normal. In some places in Texas, it is worse than that. With the exception of the moronic statement leading the article about Perry's Presidential candidacy being an important Texas issue, the rest of the article sums up some of the impacts the drought is having on the state.

This points out the need to continue to conserve water. Plant drought resistant plants and water only when needed. For more water conservation tips, see the City of Wichita Falls website.

If you would like to learn more about the future climate in our area and the likelihood of continuing drought, make time to attend the League of Women Voters meeting on Wednesday, January 4, at Luby's cafeteria. Bryan Rupp, meteorologist, is the featured speaker, presenting "Future Climate of the Rolling Plains." The meeting begins at noon and is open to the public. Just go through the line for your meal and be seated by the noon start. The meeting ends at 1:00 PM.

First Day in the Parks

Whether you've been naughty or nice, we hope you'll join us Jan. 1 for 1st Day Hike. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is offering hikes at state parks.  Our own Lake Arrowhead State Park is offering two hikes one short and one of 5.5 miles starting at 2:30 pm.  Click on the link above and scroll down to Lake Arrowhead SP for information.  Always a good chance to see wildlife out at the park.  As you know our state parks are in desperate need of money and the best way to raise that money is to increase participation at the park.  It costs $3.00 to get into the park … a very small sum indeed.  Or buy an annual park pass for $70.00

Outdoor Photography Contest

The Clay County Pioneer Sentinel is running an outdoor photography contest. I know many readers of this blog are darn good photographers, so enter! More information can be found here.

A Plea from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Well, folks, we all know that the Texas State legislature cut a lot of budgets this year in an unsuccessful attempt to balance the budget (although most of the hoopla out of the legislature made it sound like they balanced the budget--that was all smoke and mirrors.) One of the budgets cut tremendously was the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

State parks are in serious financial trouble. There are some in the state who would like nothing better than to sell off parkland to private persons and entities to raise money for state expenditures. Although the parks are public land held in trust for the public, the legislature doesn't consider them a priority. Therefore, private citizens must come to the rescue. Texas Parks and Wildlife has issued a plea to raise $4.6 million through public donations to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. I made a small donation today.

If you have the resources, please consider a contribution to this foundation or to your local Friends group.  Many parks have a 501(c)(3) Friends group to raise money for park improvements and to provide volunteer labor for projects the park doesn't have the manpower to do. Our local Lake Arrowhead State Park started a Friends group this past year. It is too new to be listed on the TPWD site yet, but should be soon as the Memorandum was recently signed. The group meets the first Thursday of each month at 7PM. If you don't have a lot of spare money, consider donating time.

Other ways to help are to visit the park and pay the entry fee ($3 per person at Lake Arrowhead) or purchase an annual park pass for admission to all of the state parks for a year.

Other organizations are getting involved to help increase attendance at the parks. For example, the Texas Ornithological Society is sponsoring a series of bird walks in state parks over the next several months to draw attention to the birdwatching opportunities and to bring in additional visitors.  I will be leading monthly bird walks at Lake Arrowhead State Park beginning in March. I'll post reminders in my sister blog, A Charm of Finches.

If we want parks to be here for future generations, we are going to have to make a personal commitment to do what we can to support the parks we have.