Mariposas

 

In Texas, we talk about the mariposas.  Mariposas reference the Monarch Butterfly.  The milkweed plant, pictured above, is the essential element in the life and continuance of Monarchs.  It is where the monarch lays its eggs.  When the eggs hatch, the larva eats and then attaches itself to the milkweed plant until it emerges as a butterfly.  The new butterfly then begins its epic trip into Mexico for the winter.  In the spring, the butterflies return, and the process repeats itself.  Much of the milkweed is disappearing as "civilization" expands.  Many nurseries in Texas, and hopefully in other areas, offer milkweed plants to gardeners.  Although a rather parched sample is pictured above, the farm has many areas where this important plant is thriving.    

More on the wildlife at the farm.

Previously I commented on the big cat sighting Peg and I made early one morning less than a mile from the farm while driving in.  It was brought to my attention very quickly that we did not actually see it on our farm.  However I will argue all day that due to its proximity (less than a mile), it's range or territory does include our farm. 
We are being pressured by Ben (4 yrs), Peg's grandson, to fill the farm with a wide variety of farm animals.  He has decided that a Petting Zoo type environment would be really cool!  I am pushing him to reconsider as it is abundantly clear who would be feeding and caring for such a menagerie.  I hope to convince him that the native inhabitants are far more interesting (and less trouble).
Our addition of the Boss Buck deer feeder has been a lot of fun.  Although we have seen 2-4 whitetail deer emerging from the brush near the feeder to get water during the day, most of our sightings have been with the night vision camera set up at the feeder.  I don't remember how big the racks on the bucks we've seen were, but they've not been shabby.  Of course we have pictures of lots of mamas too.  We have also seen deer down by the culvert where there is a lot of protective brush.  Rooster, our lab, has long enjoyed chewing on antler pieces we purchase at the pet store.  It was not surprising when one time we were out hiking around, he went into the bushes and came out with a nice antler.  He was so proud of himself for making the discovery and danced and pranced waving it around in the air.
The coyote has appeared on the night vision camera several times.  When we've camped, we've heard the yelps as the family regroups after a night of hunting. 
Of course the always opportunistic raccoons make regular visits to the deer feeder.  We see them, on camera, eating the corn right beside the deer.  One afternoon recently, we saw this animal about the size of a medium size dog at the fence line.  It looked like it had been headed toward the feeder, then saw us, and turned and headed back to the trees on the other side of the fence.  We identified it as a raccoon, but it was a big one (Big Daddy?).
Rooster enjoys bringing armadillo to our attention.  We're not talking about the dead ones you see all over the roads of Texas, live ones rooting around.  He doesn't mess with them, he just will bark so we can see that he's found another one.  As Peg pointed out previously, we also have their holes/dens around.
Rooster barks to let us know he has found our big turtle (named Tommy) a couple times.  The turtle lives at the edge of the culvert and we always see him there.  Not sure what kind of turtle he is yet but we're working on it.
Since we've been working on the mesquite and piling it into brush piles to eventually be burned, we've seen cottontails and a jack rabbit or two.  I love bunnies and rabbits because they bring in the predators (hawks, owls, coyotes, and big cats (?)).  I do not point out this obvious fact when praising the greatness of the "local" residents to Ben. 
The next obvious question might be, What about snakes?  Well we've seen only one small green grass snake.  They have to be around, we've just not seen them.  Know all the poisonous ones are in the area...  Oh, several months ago we were siting under the Live Oak trees and saw a snake skin halfway up the tree.  It looked like a rat snake skin to me (good guess).
Sorry no pictures with this submission.  We haven't figured out how to transfer the pictures from the night vision camera and animals are not good about staying still and posing for us. 

What kind of Texas cat did we see?

We try to spend at least one day per week at the farm.  Our drive lasts about 2.5-3.0 hours if we minimize stops and the traffic cooperates.  To make the traffic work in our favor, we try to leave somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning.  One Saturday morning several months ago we were on the road and passing  a piece of pasture labeled "Pancake Hill" (we have no idea why it has that name) which is about a mile from our farm.  On the opposite side of the road we both looked and saw a head and a bit of upper body that was in silhouette at the tree line.  It was the head of a large cat.  Guessing, I thought it was about 20-30 yards from us.  It was much bigger than a house cat.  Of course Peg, who has never seen an animal along the side of a road that she didn't hop out of the car to get a closer look at, got out of the car, ran across the road, down the bar ditch, and up to the fence to get a look.  At that point the cat stood up quickly, turned, "flapped" its long tail, and ran into the woods.  Since that morning, the two of us have debated which of the Texas big cats we saw.   
If you go online to "Cats of Texas," there is a good article by W.B. Davis from Texas A&M University and revised by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  It presents the Texas cats and gives some information about them.  To this day, I can't figure out what big cat we saw, but know it was not a bobcat because of the long tail. 

General ramblings....

Bon & hounds at pond during hot summer day.



We are proud of the 4 weekend painting extravaganza to complete the front entrance.  We battled wind, sun & rain to finish this project.  "some sweat equity"  Notice the address sign 20768 which was another project.

 No wine making this year as it appears the grapes have already peeked.  Emily thinks these are "mustang" grapes.  Look for your bottle of Bordeaux next year.



 Rooster taking a short dip to cool off in the pond.

Rooster wet from the pond & suffering from the Texas heat.

Little Bluestem grass......under investigation.

In the fall of 2012, we added the Boss Buck hanging deer feeder to attract the local deer population.  From our night vision camera in addition to the deer we have seen coyotes and a ton raccoons also visiting.

In the Spring of 2012 we added the cattle pens which are adjacent to the Hunt pasture.

Our leaser's cattle seek out the shade during the 100+ Texas days.

We have armadillo on the farm and these holes are dangerous to any future horse back riders and careless hikers.  Notice the snake boot.  We have seen no snakes to date.

Random pictures from Little Bluestem Farm 2010-2013.

These once traveled this land...

                                                        Buffalo.

Stand of 150+ year old Live Oaks offer cool shade, singing birds, and a great horned owl couple
.

During the summer of 2011, we experienced a drought.  The tank did not go dry.  We may have a slow seep.

Recent improvement: a cattle guard.  The dog has been around since the beginning.

 

Wild berries and/or grapes are present to be enjoyed by the wild life and humans.

Another recent improvement is the addition of a drive to the proposed home building site.  Notice the wildlife running up the road!

 

More wildlife...

 

 View of road over culvert.

 

Farm dog, aka The Nose, Beulah.

What does BP have to do with the Little Bluestem Farm?

We found our small "bit of heaven:" rolling grassland, watered, and sparsely treed.  There was only one obstacle, "our bit of heaven" was under contract by one of the executives involved in oil production in the Gulf of Mexico with BP.  Of course neither one of us foresaw the out of control events soon to unfold.  We learned of the disaster at the same time we heard there was a contract ahead of us set to close at the end of May 2010 (if the oil disaster came to a quick resolution).   We were heartbroken!  Our "bit of heaven" was under contract and an ecological disaster was unfolding in one of the best fishing spots in our neck of the woods.  Then we heard from our Realtor who had heard from the Seller's Realtor.  Were we still interested in the land because the oil executive was in "trouble" and might not be able to close as scheduled at the end of May because of his relationship with BP.  We held our breath... The evening news was full of the transgressions of BP and the others involved in the drilling, safety, etc. of the disaster.  Each day brought new revelations.  We held our breath...  Finally June 1st arrived!  We received the call from our Realtor, TJ, "It didn't close!"  Our contract was now in effect and we were closing at the end of June!  So that's how Little Bluestem Farm is related to the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf.