Michael Barnes of the Austin American Statesman wrote an article about my work on preserving the historic Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery from a freeway expansion proposed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Michael is an exceptional journalist, and he outdid himself with this article. Here is a link to the article published in this morning’s paper.
Thanks, Michael, for the wonderful article and much appreciated support!
One of our favorite companies, Native American Seed, has once again chosen one of Ted’s photographs for their catalogue cover. We will all be together in Alpine at the end of September, when Ted will receive an award for his art from the Native Plant Society of Texas. Join us in Alpine, September 22-25, for the NPSOT annual fall symposium! We hope to see you there.
Austin dedicated a new interpretive panel at Eastwoods Park yesterday. Attending were numerous elected officials and local residents, including Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Mayor Steve Adler, and Councilmembers Kathie Tovo and Natasha Harper-Madison. The panel memorializes the beginning of Juneteenth celebrations in Austin at Wheeler’s Grove (now Eastwoods Park).
Fermata researched, wrote, and designed the panel. Congratulations to Maja Smith for her wonderful design. Maja has been our designer for decades, and I appreciate all of the work that she has done for me.
Thanks to the Eastwood Neighborhood Association for their involvement in and sponsorship of this project, and well as to Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department for their support.
In this image, Councilmember Natasha Harper-Madison and I are discussing the panel with Congressman Lloyd Doggett. You will notice that this panel, as are all our panels in Austin, is written in both English and Spanish. The story of freedom should not be limited to those who speak English.
Our projects focused on African-American history continue in Austin. We have just begun to write the interpretive plan and programs for the slave quarters at the Neill-Cochran House Museum. This project, Reckoning with the Past: The Untold Story of Race in Austin, will include a number of public events in Austin, so check with the Neill-Cochran website to see what is happening with this transformational project.
The Eastwoods Neighborhood Association and Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department will dedicate a new interpretive panel at Eastwoods Park this Saturday, February 11. This panel tells the story of the beginning of Juneteenth celebrations in Austin in Wheeler’s Grove, an early name for the park. Fermata wrote and designed the panel, and I plan on attending the dedication. Congratulations to all involved for seeing this through to the finish.
I am continuing my work on the Wildflower Wall project. There will be a number of associated interpretive panels that illustrate the storyline, and each will be accompanied by a narrative panel that interprets the storyline in narrative. This is one of two pollinator panels, this one limited to butterflies.
The second panel will have a diversity of other insect pollinators.
The third panel in this triptych will be the narrative panel that explains the relationship between our wildflowers and their pollinators.
For those of you not familiar with all of the flowers (all photographed in the Texas Hill Country in Travis County); from left to right, top to bottom:
Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella)
Plateau goldeneye (Viguiera dentata)
Eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii)
Texas kidneywood (Eysenhardtia texana)
Butterflies (left to right, top to bottom)
Common buckeye (Junonia coenia)
Tailed orange (Eurema proterpia)
Juniper hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus)
Ceraunus blue (Hemiargus ceraunus)