Hints of autumn at the Ranch

By Bebe and Sissy Fenstermaker

The chip-poor-wills' late evening voices are gone for the year. In exchange for getting a pleasant breeze from the north, the distinctive night bird's calls no longer ring in the evening's failing light. It is rather quiet instead, with only the sounds of grazing horses crunching and leaves and acorns hitting the roof of the pickup.

When a small cool front came through yesterday its temperature change caught me up short. I had not changed my thinking over from the summer's heat. It is wonderful to live with all the windows and doors open and I look forward to that point in late March (sometimes) when everything can be thrown open. Is there any wonder that the need to reverse that is slow to sink in? It is a kind of sadness to realize the sense of the yard being an extension of the house has to end for a few months. I love all the outdoor sounds here on the Ranch and loathe having to shut them out.

Then again, that warming cup of hot herbal tea at night is ahead of me. Hot tea is not possible during the summer roast. Jackets, sweaters, and mufflers take the place of shorts, flip-flops, and big white cotton shirts. All the livestock are adding winter coats and the trees are turning, slowly. The bois d'arc trees in the yard are already turning orangey-yellow and will soon drop every leaf, letting more sunlight into the yard. The roses are exploding with their autumn flush of bloom which I almost always forget until it happens.

The grasses are exceptional this year. The ones I love are the native grasses, those of the prairie which used to extend from here up into Canada . Exceptional is Indian Grass which has blue blue-green leaves and a golden yellow bloom. Lindheimer's Muhley radiates out its shoulder high fronds filled with tiny purple blossoms. Little Bluestem is on schedule and this year we found two stands of Big Bluestem, which is becoming a rarity in the Hill Country. It is the first grass grazed out by overstocking and even its refuge on roadsides has been destroyed by over-zealous mowing by county road maintenance. We have had some real success on that front. About a month ago when the county maintenance guys started mowing we stopped and asked them to try to avoid the Big Bluestem, which was right outside the Ranch's main gate. We told them it was a special and rare grass and that we were trying to collect and raise it. We marked it and they missed it, leaving it to go to seed. We were so appreciative. Last week Sissy called in horror that the mowers had again come by. This time we were not able to get there before they passed and dreaded the worst because the grass was not quite seeded out. When I got to the gate I was stunned to see that the guys had not only remembered, since the grass was not marked, they left a huge swath uncut around it. We were very impressed.

Sissy and I learned how to grow prairie grasses from seed when we volunteered at the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio and we have tried it here with some success. I have now collected the Big Bluestem seed, got it planted and will see if I can extend its range to here in the yard and the vegetable garden. If that is successful there will be more seed for other plantings.

More and more I want to rip out what I planted in the yard some years ago in ignorance and replace with these grasses. Pretty all year, they are spectacular in autumn and so carefree they are impossible to resist. A yard full of prairie grasses is a treat both in terms of beauty and prudent water savings. And to tell the truth, an autumn's sunlight on prairie grasses is one of my oldest memories of Texas. I aim to keep that memory going.

Bebe Fenstermaker

I really look forward to fall each year, with a change in the light and temperature, and the tempo of life becomes peppier, less weighted down. This year, due to a wet summer, I'm afraid the fall colors will be a bit subdued. Some days ago, we got a good sousing of rain. The ground is still moist, which makes weeding much easier. The rain came in with a cool front, dropping the daytime temperatures into the 80s and the nights into the low 60s and high 50s. I heard the great horned owls hooting along the creek the other night, a sure sign of autumn. I suppose they are the same pair we hear each year. They should be setting up house and raising a family before too long. The acorn crop has been quite good so far. I have seen evidence of the wild hogs rooting around under the oaks. The deer are in very good shape, shiny coats and nicely filled out. Our resident red shoulder hawk pair has to share territory with a red tailed hawk now. Bebe and I saw it soaring above us the other day while we were working at the pens.

The old propagation team met for lunch at Adelante Restaurant in San Antonio. We had much catching up to do. Our former team leader now works out of Friedrich Park in northwest Bexar County. She is in charge of a whole different team, which is marking the boundaries of several newly acquired City properties and doing some brush clearing. They also are in charge of the maintenance at three operating City parks and, in their spare time, build trails. To say the least, she has her hands full!

The Chainsaw Garden Ladies made a special trip to Medina to the native plant nursery. There were butterflies in mass throughout the nursery. Butterfly chrysalises were hanging from the fences, the eaves of the rock house, as well as its rock walls. The salvias, boneset, coral honeysuckle, and alamo vine were in full bloom. There was one salvia, called Hot Lips. Each plant had white blooms, red blooms, and blooms showing a combination of both colors. Across the highway, there was much activity at the apple orchard, visitors going on tractor-drawn tours of the orchard while others were making their various purchases. On that day, the orchard was teeming with children. They were having such great fun running from one activity to another. Pumpkins of all sizes were scattered about. It was truly a delight to see. We returned by way of Bandera and had a delicious lunch at the Fool Moon Restaurant. Their lentil salad was delicious!

Sissy Fenstermaker