A neighbor ecosystem

On Tuesday this week, Mom and I visited the Dixon Water Foundation’s property near Leo, TX (north of FM 455). Mom has been blogging it all week! Have a look starting on her Nov. 9th post (opens in new tab) and keep going to the next post through Nov. 12. She took a lot more pictures than me.

An ammonite impression!
Going places
Blurry jumping spider but I liked its colors.
Round hole on rock
Neat tiny fossils
Mom said this is considered Fort Worth Prairie, adjacent to cross timbers. Hence neighbor ecosystem.
Hmm a rock.
Surprise!! Second small rock on a big rock with a spider under it for this trip.
Neoscona crucifera
Buttonbush
The grotto
Snail hiding
Fossil mollusc
A pretty live oak acorn
Native grass and lichen covered rock
Maybe a grape seedling.  I have these come up in my yard, I think, so I guess I better let one grow.  I had been assuming they were trees of some sort.
A sea urchin fossil!  Probably Holaster sp. according to the book Mom has on fossils of North America.
A view of creek leading to grotto.
Neat lichens
More neat lichens
The grotto again. Kept going back to look at it.
A shrike left some frog jerky.
Late fall is Spiranthes season! Commonly known as ladies’ tresses orchid

Struggling seedling

The lone seedling of my second bell pepper type, the Chocolate Bell, has been stuck inside its seed coat for a while now. I’ve been trying to loosen the seed coat without tearing the top of the plant off, and today between a new growth there and my gently teasing it off, the baby pepper plant is free!

Window babies

Chijimisai greens are not frost hardy so they will live indoors and the bok choy (smaller pot) is just small and cute 🤣
We put half the Roman chamomile outside to get bigger and half here to get bigger before going outside. In the back is a chocolate bell pepper that has sprouted but not pushed the seed coat off its seed leaves.

Afternoon harvest and repotting

Buckwheat is blooming.
Peruvian ground cherries are having a few potential fruits!
Paula and I repotted all the winter babies.
More babies.
The Missouri Yellow Watermelon weighs almost 12 lbs!
It’s so ripe that when I started to slice, it cracked open more on its own.
It was very tasty and sweet and crisp.
In the evening, I sliced some peppers for freezing. Green ones are jalapeños from our garden and red ones are serranos from a friend.
I made a small batch of salsa verde. Too little to can, so I froze it.