Photo: Author and mosquito swarm. One annoying aspect of climate in this part of Texas is our drought/flood cycle. While we average 34 inches of rain a year, much of that falls in a few large rains. Last year Hurricane Harvey dumped 14 inches of rain on us. Then we entered drought, which was ... Read More
The Farm
Drought and Flood
Photo: This is not a lake, but is instead a normally dry pasture covered with fourteen inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey. Last August Hurricane Harvey tarried around for a while and caused significant damage to our roof and the front of our house. The front was added in the 1950s to a house ... Read More
Texas Weather – December 2017
Winter wonderland early morning December 8, 2017. Texas weather, especially winter weather, can be highly variable. This December illustrates that. Tuesday, December 5, 2017 It was a warm day. As Susie and I walked from the house to the greenhouses I almost stepped on a coral snake ... Read More
Hurricane Harvey Recovery – September 12th
Photo of damage to the interior and exterior of one of our greenhouses. Before I launch into what we’ve been doing since we finally got commercial power, I need to thank my brother-in-law, Danny Rokyta. Danny came over the day before Harvey hit to make sure Carl and I had properly installed our ... Read More
Baby Texas Rat Snake
Photo of Oso apprehensively observing the baby Texas rat snake he had captured. The day before winter solstice, the official start of winter, Oso, our male German Shepherd Dog, and Sunshine, our female rescue mutt, went missing mid-morning. Suspecting they weren’t up to anything good, I went ... 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
Rescuing a Baby Cardinal
Photo: Rescued baby Cardinal perched on fence. This afternoon our German Shepherds (Canis lupus hybrids), Oso and Maya, and I (Homo sapiens) were walking up to the yard from the greenhouses when the dogs alerted to a distressed chirping sound in the grass off the path. Following the dogs I found ... Read More
Living Close to Nature
Photo: A yellow jacket or paper wasp (Polistes sp.) nest on a ladder. On the farm, we live very close to nature. An example of this happened today. Susie, my wife, complained that the cellphone booster wasn’t working right. She thought Saturday morning’s storm might have misaligned it. Yes, we ... 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
Feeding Fish Tips
Photo shows juvenile mollies in a vat ready to eat. Fish tip, How to Feed Your Fish: This tip was first published in our Newsletter No. 1, August 2013. I’m reposting it as a blog so that it can be searched for on our website and in my blogs. Here it is: Get plastic fish; they require no ... Read More