Author: Anita Westervelt
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Behold, what’s on that smelly vine!
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Story and photos by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist It’s always exciting to find a big caterpillar munching away on leaves of vines or other plants. Recently, a really big caterpillar appeared before my eyes as I was eradicating a vine that was over-powering a huge Berlandier’s fiddlewood shrub (Citharexylum berlandieri). The vine was what…
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Anita’s Blog — Dandelions Part 2
They weren’t always weeds. Somewhere before recorded history, amid the Dark Ages (5th – 15th centuries), the common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, was an herb — an important medicine and food plant. By the mid-1600s, European settlers had brought this rare and precious plant to America. Jump through history to the present and Texas Master Naturalists,…
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Anita’s blog — Of Dandelions & Ditches
The Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) was the most observed species — globally — in this year’s iNaturalist/City Nature Challenge. How cool is that?! — 246 cities in 40 countries joined the annual event — 12 more countries participated than in 2019. Who doesn’t love a dandelion? Every kid’s first delight as soon as they’re let…
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Let the mockingbird sing you a love song
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Story photo by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist Mockingbirds are ramping up their antics. They’re more entertaining. They’re braver — landing near your feet to snag an insect from the grass, and then darting away with it clutched in their beak. And more daring — chasing larger birds, like grackles, through the air — most…
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Anita’s Blog — Something for Everyone
This is fun, easy and relaxing. If you’re still cautious about keeping your distance but finding you’re running out of self-isolation projects, stay home and consider building an objet d’art. Clean trash sculpture, found objects art, trash art, junk art, funk art, repurposing, recycling, temporary-relief-from-anxiety art — call it what you want, it’s a project…
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Anita’s Blog — “All Night Long”
A friend called and said, “It’s spring, why don’t you write about the mockingbird? Why do they sing all night long?” So, don’t you know, Lionel Richie’s 1983 hit single, “All Night Long,” has been going through my head — especially the last couple of days while I’ve been photographing everything moving, chirping or blooming…