Photo of a possible Limia vittata/Poecilia mexicana hybrid. The upper fish is a female Limia vittata. The bottom fish is a possible female Limia vittata/Poecilia mexicana hybrid. I have tried for years to produce a molly/Limia hybrid to no avail until maybe now. Why would I attempt this? ... Read More
Farm Flora
A Bryozoan Lives in the Greenhouses
Photo is of a bryozoan attached to a 1/2" aquaculture netting to show its size. During the last few months, we have noticed a number of these bryozoan creatures (it turns out plural is appropriate as you’ll learn below) pictured above in some of our vats in Greenhouse 2 which mainly houses ... Read More
Early Dewberry Warning System
Photo: Blondie with purple dewberry stains from rolling in dewberries. Note the purple patches behind her shoulder and on her upper haunch.Every early summer, we go dewberry picking on the farm. Susie makes jam and cobbler from the berries. We have large patches of dewberries, but they are a bit ... Read More
Climbing Cactus
Photo: Flower of Selenicereus spinulosus, a climbing cactus from Texas. Back in 1997 while we still lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico Susie (my wife) and I visited Goliad, Texas to see my mother and grandparents. On the return trip we took a leisurely route toward Del Rio, Texas before heading home. ... Read More
Our 108 Year Old Fig Tree
Photo: A 108 year old fig tree planted in 1908 by my great grandfather. Fig trees are common around old farmhouses in Goliad County. They were easily propagated and maintained and provided a fruit that could be eaten fresh or dried or preserved as a jam. When my grandfather was an infant in ... Read More
Creepy Copper the Copperhead Snake
Photo: Creepy Copper, the copperhead snake, swallowing a leopard frog while coiled up at the base of a hackberry tree. For the past few weeks, a copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus), has been coiling up in the late afternoon under a sugar hackberry tree (Celtis laevigata) that grows a ... Read More
Copperhead Eating Lizard
Photo: by Ky Harkey of a copperhead feasting on a green anole lizard. About this time of the year our copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) switch from cruising around in the evening and early night for emerging cicadas and June bugs to climbing into shrubs to feed on green anoles (Anolis ... Read More
Winter in South Texas
Photo: Geranium (actually genus Pelargonium) after winter in South Texas. Winter in our area continues to become milder. When I was a child, several decades ago, we had winters with real freezes, several of them a year. (By the way, when did we quit capitalizing seasons and directions?) A typical ... Read More
California Bound
I’ll be speaking twice this next week. On Sunday, March 1st I’ll speak at COAST (http://www.coastfishclub.com/ncms/) in Costa Mesa, California at 12:30 pm on fancy livebearers; how we breed and raise them. Then Friday, March 6th, I’ll speak at the San Francisco Aquarium Society ... Read More
Blue Mist Flower
The photo is of a single Blue Mist Flower (Eupatorium species) about three feet high and six feet across. This plant is covered in baby blue flowers for about six weeks in the fall. It is an important butterfly and bee plant. This particular plant is growing alongside one of our greenhouses next to ... Read More