Clymer Meadow

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Clymer Meadow Preserve is a collection of properties owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy of Texas and with the partnership of surrounding private land owners. Its value is rooted in its ties to the Blackland Prairie, a prairie of dark, rich soil that runs 300 miles from south to north Texas, roughly following the Interstate 35 corridor. This temperate grassland is home to many flora and fauna that is critical to the adequate operation of this valued ecosystem. Only 1% of this prairie still exists in its original form, and great efforts are being made to preserve what is remaining. 

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Winter Driftwood

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On a mission to forage mesquite wood for succulent arrangements, I ventured back out to the YL Ranch. I showcased this area in southwestern Throckmorton County last summer. Unlike then, it is the dead of winter without much living botanical interest, but the history of the property is interesting enough. I was easily distracted by the discarded and out-dated farm equipment that was scattered across a slope behind the barn. I even picked up a few bottles in some unique shapes.

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Koger

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Throckmorton County is a 900 square mile, sparsely populated jurisdiction in north central Texas. The landscape is defined by a transition from the oak-dominated Cross Timbers to the scrubby grasslands of the Plains. The area explored lies about 1 mile from the Brazos River where Hog Creek empties into it, and a few hundred yards away from Coon Hollow, a drainage bounded by exposed bluffs of sandstone, rising 30 feet above the horizon. While these features are not particularly impressive, they do vary from the norm of relatively low, rolling hills of the surrounding terrain. If this area of northeastern Throckmorton County had a name, it would be Koger, a small community that once had a school, but leaves no evidence of establishment today. 

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