Prairie Notes #150 - National Prairie Day
Prairie Notes are monthly photo/journal observations from Tandy Hills Natural Area by Founder/Director, Don Young. They include field reports, flora and fauna sightings, and more, mixed with a scoop of dry humor and a bit of philosophy.
They are available free to all who get on the FOTHNA email list.
National Prairie Day
Prairie Notes #150
June 1, 2019
01) National Prairie Day
02) Vicki's Yard
03) Field Report - May
04) New Species - May
05) Amazing Meadow Views - May
06) Hike Naked Day / Summer Solstice
07) Burn Area Update
08) PrairieSky / StarParty News
09) I Am a Weed
10) Prairie Proverb - Sam Kieschnick
01) National Prairie Day
Federal offices will not be closed on Saturday, June 1st but, they should be. Why the heck not honor the USA's quintessential landscape with a national holiday? They are equivalent in value to the forests, desert lands and marine regions that define our collective DNA. They provide an essential service as a "carbon sponge" for local residents. They delight our eye and lift our hearts with their unsurpassed diversity in an ever-darkening world.
The first Saturday of every June has been National Prairie Day since 2016 when it was founded by the Missouri Prairie Foundation. If you are so inclined to celebrate this holiday, Tandy Hills is an excellent choice of venue. There are mesmerizing meadows scatterd across the 160 acres including, the Iconic Meadows along View Street, Barbara's Button Hill on the east-central region, Monet's Meadow and Texas Bluebell Hill in the middle and the Coneflower Meadow at the north end of the Sunset Trail. They all change with the seasons offering views your great-great grandparents and children of the future would appreciate.
Come on in.
> For a whirlwind tour of what you have to celebrate throughout entire the year at your local prairie, go HERE:
http://www.tandyhills.org/videos/national-prairie-day-tandy-hills
> For video introductions to the other meadows, go HERE:
https://www.tandyhills.org/videos
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Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
02) Vicki's Yard
Some of us View Street residents lucky enough to call Tandy Hills our collective "front yard", have gradually, sometimes subversively and even illegally, attempted to re-prairie our own yards. It is true that, the Tandy Hills prairie used to be where our street, yards and houses are now. With a little encouragement and luck some of those native plants have naturally crossed the street and returned to their old home albeit, with some frustration dealing with Fort Worth Code officers.
Take our next door neighbor, Vicki. Her yard was once planted with mostly non-native grass some of which died back leaving dead pockets and weeds. It didn't look so good. Then a few years ago Vicki began sowing Buffalo Grass seed and mowing around the wildflowers that naturally popped up here and there. When the flowers died back she scattered their seeds around her yard. It was a patchwork-prairie look for a few years but gradually, the wildflower footprint expanded.
This year, after record rainfall in April, Vicki's yard became a prairie show-stopper of Indian Blanket, Engelmann's Daisy and Milkweed, all bio-identical to Tandy Hills. Success has inspired Vicki to introuduce more species variety next year with seeds gathered from her "other front yard." She followed the Code rules to the letter, mowing a 10' easement strip along the street. She expects the wildflower footprint to grow even larger next year.
03) Field Report - May
As expected, May provided an embarrassment of prairie riches. Here are a few of my best photo-moments in the month of May. (See #04 below for the big picture landscapes.)
04) New Species - May
As Sam Kieschnick would say, "Holy macaroni!" In a normal month only a handful of new species are discovered and added to the Tandy Hills inventory. However, in the past 30-odd days, the species count grew from 1070 to 1193, an increase of 123 species.
The vast majority of the new species were found on the evening of April 29, the last day of the City Nature Challenge when Sam K and his team observed and recorded 362 species on that one evening at Tandy Hills, at least 75 of them, NEW species. You can view the list of April - May new species on the About Us page of the website or visit iNat website, HERE:
Here are five of the most striking species found on April 29:
05) Amazing Meadow Views - May
May 2019 was an extraordinary month for the Tandy prairies. The last time wildflower growth looked this good was in 2010. Intersting weather patterns also created enhanced lighting conditions helping create some amazing views. Here's a few my camera and I managed to grab.
06) Hike Naked Day / Summer Solstice
It's the holiday season again, folks. My personal favorite holiday is the 2019 Summer Solstice which happens on June 21, which also happens to be, Hike Naked Day. YOU MAY BE SURPRISED OR SHOCKED to know that nude hiking is legal in Fort Worth, if you behave, that is. After an inquiry from a visitor, I checked and got this response from the city attorney:
"There are currently no laws on the books that prohibit or criminalize the act of simply being fully nude while in a City of Fort Worth park. The act of being completely nude could rise to the level of criminal conduct (either indecent exposure or disorderly conduct) if it is combined with other factors such as sexual gratification and/or recklessness about whether another person will be offended or alarmed by the act. If the individuals wish to hike nude, then they need to be aware that it could result in a criminal violation…if someone observes such nudity and becomes offended or alarmed by it, then the police would need to be contacted.”
If you choose to hike naked, you may want to read a few safety tips HERE: https://www.verywellfit.com/caution-naked-hiking-day-june-21-3436274
DISCLAIMER: Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area does not sponsor, promote or endorse nude hiking at Tandy Hills. We are simply passing on information. We urge you to always use discretion when hiking at Tandy Hills.
07) Burn Area Update
Check out the change at this burned area after 5 months time and a lot of rain.
08) PrairieSky / StarParty News
Rained out again in May, we will try again on June 8th. The yoga class hosted by New Leaf Yoga is back on, as well. Here is what Fort Worth Astronomical Society rep, Pam Kloepfer, has to say about the June sky:
“The month of June will mark the beginning of Summer with the Summer Solstice on June 21! The Milky Way will be visible in the night sky from a dark sky location; however, we can still see stars in our city locations! The constellation Hercules will be overhead and is most notable for its globular cluster, M13. A globular cluster is a tight grouping of stars in the form of a sphere and can be seen with a telescope. Also above will be the beautiful constellation Corona Borealis, or the Northern Crown and is a grouping of stars in a semi-circle. At long last, a mighty planet will grace our skies - Jupiter! The moon will be just shy of First Quarter on the evening of June 8.”
I might add that, in classical mythology Corona Borealis generally represented the crown given by the god Dionysus to the Cretan princess Ariadne and set by him in the heavens. You gotta see this! Hope for clear sky on June 8.
09) I Am a Weed
You may recall Prairie Notes #140: Feelin' the Flames, where I wrote about how to make your own, Sumac Tea, aka: Rhus Juice, a refrshing summer drink made from Sumac berries (Rhus glabra) wildcrafted at Tandy Hills. It was with great interest that I recently read about a new company called, Tama's Wild Teas, that has made this drink comercially available in bottled form. Tama Matsuoka Wong, of New York, is a forager of wild foods, consultant and author of the book, Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer's Market, with 88 Recipes. You can make your own using instructions from #140 or order Tama's, I Am a Weed Sumac Tea, HERE: https://www.freshdirect.com/pdp.jsp?productId=gro_pid_4015322&catId=gro_...
10) Prairie Proverb - Sam Kieschnick
“Tandy Hills is a refuge for all of these species, even the little tiny ones just waiting for us to appreciate them!”
Photo by, Scott Carson Ausburn. Used with permission.
Prairie Notes© is the official newsletter of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. All content by Don Young except where otherwise noted.
