Welcome to our yard. We've got one acre in West Texas to care for. We've lived here since 1995 and all this time I've thought of myself as just passing through until sometime in 2003 when I read a sign with that ever-present quote: Bloom Where You Are Planted. It crossed through my consciousness several times over the next weeks until finally it occurred to me that with a family-owned business here, two kids in school and four horses, we probably weren't going anywhere for a while.

So I decided to bloom where I am planted.

Our acre is pretty rough right now. I once fought (and won) a war against the sand burrs that predominate the area, but then I had kids, two jobs, and an itinerant's attitude and everything around here started to slip.  Then these bugs came along and ate half my front lawn (and about half of every other native grass in the area). So I started in on the front lawn, trying to make an English garden -- with native and xeriscape-worthy plants.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we moved two of our horses into our back yard and started planning to put in a good electric fence on the side of our property with the most room.  What you'll follow here is the story of how we're doing at changing the environment here from one of sand and dust and tumbleweeds and burr grasses to one of trees and shade and home for wildlife as well as for horses and lots of places for humans to sit and enjoy the land.   -- 24 Jan 2004.

(Photos are grouped from most recent at the top to oldest at the bottom.)