Useful Wild Plants

Scooter Cheater (Photo courtesy of Useful Wild Plants)

Years ago Scooter Cheatham asked a classroom of high school sophomores to figure out how plants play a role in everything around them. As an example, he challenged them to connect plants to a pair of scissors. The Austin students, hoping for an easy answer, contacted the manufacturer. “There are no plants in our scissors,” a representative emailed back.

The response forced the teens to do their research. Ultimately “they learned that the manufacturing of steel to make scissors requires coal,” Cheatham says. “The orange plastic handles are derived from petrochemicals. The students also realized that the company representative was as ‘plant blind’ as everyone else about the importance of plants in our lives.”

They matter so much, in fact, that Cheatham has made them his lifelong mission. Plants support our food, health and industry—even contributing to the formation of coal and petrochemicals. For more than 50 years, he and his collaborators have worked to compile the ultimate reference encyclopedia: The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico. ……..

To continue reading my Texas Co-op Power magazine article (August 2023), link to "Make Your Shelf Useful." 

P.S. Of course, I had to purchase all four volumes. 

From one extreme to another

So far, I have NOT been impressed with this decade! Last January and February, I meant to post about our rough ice storm. But I never could bring myself to write about those days. It was hard. Lots of tree damage and downed lines. James took these photos in our yard and dug the images out for me this morning to post. I thought, Man, what a year of contrasts. From one extreme to another.

We had nice spring rains, and everything bloomed with happiness. Then BOOM – now we're in the midst of a rough summer with high temperatures and no rain. Breaks my heart when I go outside and see my native plant friends suffering. We've been on strict water regs so we haven't been able to hand water with the hose very much. In years past, we drug the hose around to keep plants alive as needed through July and August. I use the A/C drip water in our bucket to put around where I can. I hope God sends rains soon. Everyone is sure praying for that!

And now here's where we are...

I know our Blanco crabapple tree will survive, but it's suffering, too.