Cindy Napper

By Bryan Beck, 2017

The native plant garden at the Plano Heritage Farmstead Museum has been through a lot in the past month or so. First, came the boot-deep snows and the bone-chilling cold. Next was the eighty-degree temperatures that we had at the end of February. Then hail and even fog reared their ugly heads. And, most recently we have seen the pre-April showers and wind that we are accustomed to getting around here. But none of these plagues could stunt the emergence of our wonderful prairie natives at the Farmstead!

Before weeding at Prairie Farmstead photo by Bryan Beck

Or so we thought… The middle of March brought about the one plague that the Farmstead garden hadn’t been accustomed to since its inception. Part of the garden was mistakenly weed-whacked by some overly zealous maintenance workers! Now, I don’t blame them totally… If someone gave me a weed eater, and some gasoline and told me to go whack back some weeds I’d do it, too. Unfortunately, the team in charge of upkeep at the Farmstead haven’t had a Master Naturalist class in a while and had a hard time distinguishing between the dandelions and the Texas Star. It was harder to discern the Dallas grass from the Indian grass, and our coneflowers were mistaken for clover flowers in a large patch of the garden. Not all the garden suffered cutbacks (pun intended), but a fair amount of our native sons and daughters were taken to the ground by the whirling weed machine.

After weeding at Prairie Farmstead photo by Bryan Beck

So, if you see Lu Anne, Deb, Logan, or the Nappers (our regulars) at a virtual meeting, put a virtual arm around them and tell them it’ll be ok. It’s a good thing that our Texas native plants are as tough as the conditions they are raised under. Remember, our prairie is maintained by disturbance. Buffalo, bison, fire, and humanity has all threatened these plants in the past. And, there are few worse disturbances than the mechanized mayhem that happened at the Farmstead. But know that the plants’ roots are strong, and their resilience is even stronger. Please make plans to come out to the Plano Heritage Farmstead garden later in the Spring to enjoy the rehabilitated and rejuvenated plants and people that call our Blackland Prairie home!

By Bob Mione, 2012

The past three years, Kristin and Mark Payne have incubated and brooded BW quail chicks for us at Connemara. When the BW’s were old enough, normally about 6 to 8 weeks old, they would bring them to the Meadow where they were held in our big “acclimation” pen until they were released at the Meadow, Raptor Center, Bill and Fran Woodfin’s farm or within the City of Plano.

Bob White Quail chick photo by Leah Beck

This year, the Payne’s did not have enough room to brood out the BW’s, so I reached out to the Chapter for volunteers to “host” the chicks for 5 weeks, until old enough to move to the Meadow. Using funding from a grant from the City of Allen, we built brood pens for the group, delivered the pens along with a “kit” which contained a heat lamp, a feeder and a “waterer”. We also gave them a thermometer since the BW chicks have to be kept around 100 degrees for the first two weeks or so since they don’t have enough feathers.

Brood Pens built from City of Allen Funding photo by Leah Beck

We wanted to entire process to begin in early Feb so that we could have two “releases” of adult BW’s before it became too hot this Summer. The severe cold spell in Feb delayed our start by about 10 days, but the eggs were finally placed in the incubator and 23 days later, March 21st, they hatched. That Sunday the folks arrived at the Payne’s and picked up their chicks. Most took home 17. Leah took home 46 since she volunteered for two brood pens and our math was not exactly right for dividing up the chicks. (It is very hard to count them accurately when so small, about the size of a big bumble bee.)

Quail Chicks in brood pin photo by Leah Beck

Keith Griffin, who works at the Holifield Science Learning Center, has an incubator so we delivered eggs to him and he was able to “live stream” the hatch to many Plano ISD 5th graders as part of their Science classes.

Although somewhat late in the year, I will be discussing with the group the possibility of completing a second round of brooding soon. Plans are for another session in the early Fall for a late Fall/early Winter release.

We are grateful to these Master Naturalists for volunteering:

Keith Griffin
Julia Koch (North Texas Chapter)
Mikel Salsgiver
Celia Byrnes
Patrick Pilarski
Cindy and Paul Napper
Leah Beck
Tony Manasseri

BTW: Tony is our official advisor since he has so much experience with raising chickens. Patrick’s son is the one doing the work. Patrick thought it would be a good experience for his son.

From Leah Beck: Photo contributor

We brought home 46 chicks in an Amazon box and split them between 2 brood boxes. I took one picture of a chick in my hand as I transferred him/her to the brooder so we would have a size reference at the end. So far, the chicks spend a lot of time huddled in a group under their heat lamp. The lamp keeps them warm and calm. They have an official feeder and waterer, but since the chicks are small, they struggle a bit to access food and water. So, they can also feed from food on a paper plate and drink from a Tupperware lid.

Cindy Napper

Native Plant Garden at Plano Heritage Farmstead

Quail Quest 2021