Members

Chapter Meetings

2021 October – Jean Suplick | Mycology 101

Charlise Hill-Larson, 2019 Jean Suplick has been a Texas Master Naturalist, Blackland Prairie Chapter since 2017. Her inveterate inquisitiveness about all things wild led to a journey of exploration into our local mushrooms. Join us as she shares how she traveled that path and what she learned along the way, including what kind of mushrooms to expect in our area and when, what to know about mushroom identification, tools for the field, and helpful resources.

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Heard Sanctuary Fall/ Winter Volunteer existing projects

Tom Shackelford, 2018; President The Heard Sanctuary is seeking volunteers to assist in the restoration and preservation of multiple sanctuary projects at the Heard.  This is an existing project that has been in place for some time and there is now a renewed effort to address opportunities.  This is available to any interested individual and is a great way for interested Master Naturalists to earn volunteer hours.  Specific projects follow below.

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Annual Sunflower

Sally Evans, 2006; Founder & Emeritus
The annual sunflower plant (Helianthus annuus) was one of the most plentiful and versatile plants the Indians had available.  It was convertible into a dye, a liniment, a medicine, a coffee, and a delectable food.  By boiling the crushed seeds, an oil could be skimmed off and used for cooking or as a hair dressing, whatever the need at the time.  Nature provides many teas, but few coffees.  Delicious coffee was made by roasting and boiling the seeds as we roast and boil the coffee bean.  Black and purple dyes were also derived from the seeds. 

Chapter Meetings

2021 September – Dr. Megan O’Connell | Climate Change and Plant Phenology

Dr. O’Connell will be discussing how climate change is altering plant phenology and impacting plant-pollinator interactions. She’ll be sharing findings from her dissertation work in tropical forests and how she is building off this work to explore phenology in Texas prairie ecosystems while at BRIT. For these projects she’ll be introducing some novel tech and community-driven research methods and share some opportunities for the Blackland Prairie Master Naturalist Chapter to help participate in local phenological data collection efforts.

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August in Cicadia

Greg Tonian, 2017
The neighborhood is abuzz.
A hot, sultry breeze,
Envelops the trees.
Brown, papier mache creatures climb out of the loam,
Clinging to brick and branch with tiny hooks,
Soon to cleave asunder,
Extruding,
winged phantasms.
I find these abandoned climbing nymph husks,
And the fanciful flying creatures that they set free
Scattered on the concrete byways of Cicadia.
“Sweet dreams and” Flying “machines in pieces on the ground” (James Taylor),
I think to myself.