"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands........" 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Blossoms and bees are coming back into the grounds

and back into my posts again.

The purple stock flower always blooms at this time of year and the fragrance of it's blooms
fills the air

attracting the honey bees.

The cheery yellow Jasmine still has a few blooms clinging to it's vines

and the flower beds surrounding our home is full of Larkspur
which will be tall spikes of colorful blossoms in just a few weeks.
I  am thinking about transplanting some of  these hardy types of plants and flowers up 
on the now cleared meadow that I have posted about in my recent posts.
They grow with only the help of the seasonal rain and are drought and munching varmint free.
I am thinking of scattering wildflower seed by the pound, instead of the native grass seed onto this area.
So tell me............what is blooming and buzzing in your back yard?


Tuesday, February 23, 2016

The damaged meadow has grown a ............"mountain"

A caliche mountain.  However, this is a good thing as the company has had a crew removing their things from the land and now scraping up the caliche parking lot.
It is much bigger than it appears in the photo and the damage goes on behind the small grove of mesquite trees and down to the farmer's cotton field.
The ground you see in front of the photo use to be tall prairie grass and plants.......now it has been trodden down by large machinery. 

To give you a good idea at how large this pile actually is, there is a large loader machine with a shovel on the front sitting behind it. 
As you can see there are still caliche spots but hopefully this will be all scooped up and carried away in a few days. 
All of this land is land .......that was not even rented to the company for use.
They just moved onto it and took it over.
The agent that represents the company has been good to call each day that the crew works and to tell me about the process that is going on the land.
Of course I go down after they all leave to take a look.
We are to inspect the land when all of this is done and then make further negotiations as to what we expect done .
For me, I am heart sick. 
 Although they are cleaning it all up, I have found that the native grasses that grow on this land are hard to get to grow and the seed to cover the land is costly.
Although the company will pay for the seed...........the agent told me that they are not landscapers..........and of course I really don't want them to just throw the seed onto the land and let it blow or wash away.
I will be the one who will need to plant it and nurture it back to being alive again.
I have no idea if anything will ever start to grow there again and at how long it will take to do so.
This at the moment is very overwhelming.
But one good thing is the knowledge I am getting about this land I love so much.
There are 5 different types of native grasses that grow on our land:
Sideoats Gramma, Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Plains Bristlegrass, and Sprangletop, green,
I found this out from the local extension agent. He asked for my property address, Google Earthed it and was able to know exactly what belongs.
So if you are interested in what grows on your grounds.......call your local extension agency. 
Hopefully in a week or two........there will be a piece of land that is flat with top soil on it.
Thank you readers again, for your encouraging words and helpful information!

Monday, February 1, 2016

UPDATE on the damaged meadow


A very heartfelt thank you to all for your supportive and encouraging words , advice, and emails!.......also for the understanding of my ranting. 
All of you gave me enough armor to be prepared to stand firm and not wilt with negotiations this morning.
The agent/representative showed up on time......very pleasant......very straightforward and apologetic about the damaged land. 
He and the company have accepted the damage as their responsibility and that it never should have happened. 
In the next days/weeks to come,  the land will be cleared of the parts and objects that belong to the company, then the caliche  will be removed and good top soil will brought in and leveled out.
Native grass seeds and other plants will be brought in and planted to return the land back to it's original state.
It will be awhile until the land heals and starts the growing process.......
I took the advice of contacting a local extension office who will put together a bag of native grass seeds that belong in our area, and I will cast wildflower seed by the hundreds as also suggested by you helpful readers.
and the agent will be working in all areas to make this situation "right" for us.
So as things progress, I will post about it.
Thank you all!