• clouds,  landscape,  prairie,  quotes

    Open Space

    Open spaces

    “…mere open space, a lack of trees, and vegetation that doesn’t rise above the height of a man’s head do not make a prairie…prairie refers to a natural community which, like a giant organism, is composed of a multitude, a sum total of its parts. It is a complex ecosystem of grasses, flowering annual and perennial plants, shrubs, a few trees, and a variety of wildlife, from the macro-vertebrate to the microcosmic.”

    From Mary Taylor Young, Land of Grass and Sky: A Naturalist’s Prairie Journey (2002), page 101

    This was taken about 15 miles east of my apartment. Of course where my apartment is used to be 15 miles east of town. Large raindrops were falling, wind was blowing and temperatures were dropping as the storm clouds moved across the prairie.

  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  quotes

    Storm Clouds

    Storm Clouds

    The disappearance of a major natural unit of vegetation from the face of the earth is an event worthy of causing pause and consideration by any nation.  Yet so gradually has the prairie been conquered by the breaking plow, the tractor, and the overcrowded herds of man…that scant attention has been given to the significance of this endless grassland or the course of its destruction.  Civilized man is destroying a masterpiece of nature without recording for posterity that which he has destroyed.

    John Ernest Weaver, North American Prairie (1954)

     

  • Plants/Nature

    I Like Daises

    Daisies

    My grandmother’s name was Daisy but that’s not the reason I like daisies. Some people consider them weeds and some consider them flowers. We find them growing in peoples gardens and in an open prairie. They stand tall on their stems and sway with the wind. In fact do you remember making daisies chains with their stems when you were little? They are also used for medicinal purposes. A little known fact is that in ancient Rome, the surgeons who accompanied Roman legions into battle would order their slaves to pick sacks full of daisies in order to extract their juice. Bandages were then soaked in this juice and then would be used to bind sword and spear cuts. But what draws me to them is their beauty. In this image you will notice I was not the only one attracted to the daisies. Hope you have a great day!

  • landscape

    Windmill and Trees

    Windmill

    Just outside of the town of Follett, Texas on Ranch Road 1454 is this pair of trees and windmill that had caught my attention earlier in the day. I am fascinated by the wide open spaces of prairie. You can see for miles watching storm clouds form in the distance. Nature at its best. It is amazing to see a single tree or small group of 2-3 trees standing alone on the prairie. Out of nowhere they stand up to the constant wind. These two trees are near a cattle watering hole where the windmill points into the wind for its power to pump water from the well.