PICS & PROVERBS - 2025
Prairie Notes are monthly photo/journal observations from Tandy Hills Natural Area by Founder/Director, Don Young. They include field reports, flora and fauna sightings, and more, mixed with a scoop of dry humor and a bit of philosophy.
They are available free to all who get on the FOTHNA email list.
Pics & Proverbs - 2025
Prairie Notes #229
January 1, 2026
1) Pics & Proverbs - 2025
2) Your Membership Matters
3) Field Report - December
4) Notable New Species in 2025
5) 17th Annual Manly Men Wild Women Hike!
6) Videos of the Year - 2025
7) Volunteer of the Year - Kate Morgan
8) Newsworthy & Noteworthy
9) Prairie Proverb - David Suzuki
01) Pics & Proverbs - 2025
With Tandy Hills more or less at rest, January is a good time to review and reflect on the past year via 2025's Prairie Proverbs and a few favorite pics from each of the past 12 issues of Prairie Notes.
For me, 2025 was a year of hope and action. All 12 proverbs in 2025 were by inspiring men and women (and a frog and a blob) whose uplifting quotes help remind me of the importance of our connection to the natural world. IN my own small way, I want to do everything I can to counter the old, tired ways of the past that threaten the Earth and its inhabitants.
The Proverbs are a mix of wise words from people who have changed the world for the better despite a life’s difficulties. When possible, I try to match the proverb to fit the theme of the issue from Redford to Abbey.
Herewith, for your consideration, Prairie Proverbs I - XII from 2025, with photos of the quoted authors selected pics from the same issue and a link to that issue.
Scroll SLOWLY for best results. Please click on photos to see them full-size. Thanks for reading and for your continued support
DY
Prairie Notes #217, (Pics & Proverbs 2024) - January 1, 2025
“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?”
Phase 1 of the first prescribed burn happened on December 19th, 2025. Team leader and Certified Burn Specialist, Jared Hall, did an outstanding job of burning the three View Street meadows totaling about 5 acres. These 5 acres are among the most biologically diverse in the state of Texas.
Prairie Notes #218, (The Moths of Nocturnes) February 1, 2025
“We are looking at this place with our eyes. We need to figure out how to look at it through a moth’s eyes, which I suspect will take a few decades if [it happens] at all.”
The sky above Tandy Hills on January 27th was jaw-droppingly beautiful and hinted of the coming spring.
Prairie Notes #219, (Harbinger(s) of Spring) March 1, 2025
“Nature is orderly. That which appears to be chaotic in nature is only a more complex kind of order.”
A short time after the first prescribed burn in February, 2025.
Prairie Notes #220, (Mystical Meadow Mixes) April 1, 2025
“If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation.”
Ground Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus var. crassicarpus)
Prairie Notes 221, (Rabbits I Have Known) May 1, 2025
“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you...”
Purple Paintbrush (possibly a hybrid) and Engelmann’s Sage looking rather picturesque.
Prairie Notes #222, (Rainbow Connections) June 1, 2025
“What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me.”
From the street, The Iconic Meadow was looking a little less iconic in mid-May. However, a closer look reveals an amazing array of species.
Prairie Notes #223, (The Fantastic World of Slime Molds) July 1, 2025
“Beware of the Blob! It creeps, and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor.”
Texas Bluebells (aka: Showy Prairie Gentian (Eustoma russellianum), one of the showiest wildflowers, are having an above average year..
Prairie Notes #224, (Grass-Land) August 1, 2025
“Wind is the dance partner of the prairie. And every grass species has a different move; the whole stem of Little Bluestem shimmies in the wind, Indian Grass arches and falls, while Big bluestem waggles at the top and vibrates at the bottom. Switchgrass pirouettes in the air. Prairie Dropseed leaps like a fountain. A ballet of wind and grass – a dance that you may never see.”
July 2025. The Big Bluestem is approaching its highest potential.
Prairie Notes #225, (Double Takes) September 1, 2025
“I’ve always said that my father might be best known for the art for DOOM, but in my eyes this by far was his most important piece of work.”
The Milkweed Tree blooming! Its real name is, Climbing Milkweed (Funastrum cynanchoides). It’s a pollinator paradise, too.
Prairie Notes #226, (What Redford Said) October 1, 2025
“Humans need creation to find ourselves. To know that we’re not God over other human beings, or over the Earth.”
On September 8th, 2025, the fall prairie looking dreamy.
Prairie Notes #227, (As The Crow Flies) November 1, 2025
“I can not endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all daylight hours in the open air.”
One of my Crow friends at Tandy Hills in November.
Prairie Notes #228, (Looking Back at 2025) December 1, 2025
“This is the most beautiful place on Earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.”
November 1st, 2025, was an extraordinary day at Tandy Hills. Home.
02) Your Membership Matters
I want to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who made donations in 2025. I also appreciate your confidence in me and Friends of Tandy Hills to stretch every dollar received to help fund our outdoor education and habitat restoration programs. Your support is vital to our continuing success.
Special thanks to the FASH Foundation, David L. Tandy Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Bratten Trust, Eco Blossom Nursery, Native Plant Society of Texas (NTX Chapter) and to 80+ individual or family donors, like you.
Your tax-deductible donations are gratefully accepted HERE: https://www.tandyhills.org/donate
03) Field Report - December
OMG! Tandy Hills was full of amazing life in December 2025. This unseasonal weather helped. I was able to wander all over the park without a jacket, most of the month. Several cool new species were spotted. Critters of all kinds were roaming the 250 acres, many of them while we are sleeping. The fall color was nearly a month late but it did happen!.
The winter prairie landscape may be without wildflowers but it’s not without charm.
Fall color on the Oak trees was about a month later than usual but, still breathtaking.
04) Notable New Species in 2025
The species count in December 2025 increased by 20 species bringing the year end count to 2,555 species. Four notables in December were, a Hermit Thrush, Green Anole, Western Ribbon Snake and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. All were found by, Keandre Rush.
Below, is a selection of some of the most interesting new species from 2025, including those four above. As always, you can view all 2,553 species at the Tandy Hills iNat Project Page HERE.
Notable new species for December 2025
Notable new species from January - November, 2025
05) 17-th Annual Manly-Men Wild-Women Hike!
Celebrate your NEW year with a hike at Tandy Hills. January 1, 2026 at 10 AM sharp. Be prepared. Follow the PINK ribbons. Check the LINK below for complete details. May the force be with you.
https://www.tandyhills.org/manly-men-and-wild-women-hike-hills
06) Videos of the Year - 2025
If you prefer moving pictures, six short videos showing the amazing diversity and wonderment of Tandy Hills were recorded throughout 2025. Two Coyote sightings, a pensive Crow, Monarchs in flagrante delicto, the Iconic Meadow in full bloom and the most popular video from 2025: Cedar Fever. Access these and many other videos, HERE: https://www.tandyhills.org/video
07) Volunteer of the Year - Kate Morgan
Kate Morgan. What a woman. Kate was a ubiquitous presence at and for Tandy Hills in 2025. She had a MAJOR impact. Consider this partial list of her activities at Tandy Hills:
-Worked with Cross Timbers Master Naturalists to clean up debris at Tandy Hills on at least two occasions.
-Attended and helped lead the post-burn walk at Tandy Hills for Native Prairies Association of Texas (FW chapter).
-Met with and counseled the researchers from, Southeastern Grasslands Institute, at Tandy Hills.
-She and others met with FW Park & Rec Director at Tandy Hills to discuss vandalism issues.
-BEST of ALL, she essentially took the lead at our December 16 meeting with FW Mayor Mattie Parker and several department heads. She gave a masterclass in how to work with city officials. Reports from City hall say she made an impression. She sure made one on me!
Kate is a 5th generation Texan with roots in the East Texas piney woods. After a career in High Energy Physics research took her around the world, she retired to her home state where the prairies beckoned. Kate considers herself a Prairie Evangelist who wants to convert us all to be prairie advocates. She is the current President of the Fort Worth Chapter of the Native Prairies Association of Texas and a new member of the Friends of Tandy Hills. Kate wrote a short essay about Tandy HIlls for our 20th anniversary in 2020. You can read it, HERE: https://www.tandyhills.org/milestone-testimonials
We are very lucky to have her help and wisdom at Tandy Hills. Thank you, Kate, for your many years of volunteer service and wise counsel.
08) Newsworthy & Noteworthy
>>>>>>> The biggest news of the month was the City’s unexpected purchase of 16.6 acres just west of and contiguous with Tandy Hills. I requested you send letters to Mayor/Council and you exceeded my expectations with dozens of letters and calls. The vote scheduled for December 9th, and it was the very last item on a 2+ hour council meeting agenda. All 11 council members supported it. Thanks to our local council member, Jeanette Martinez for her enthusiastic support. More news about the plans for the land as it develops. For now, we finally have the final buffer that will help protect Tandy Hills from development.
>>>>>>> Author and nature educator, Michael Smith, spent some time at Tandy Hills in December. After his visit he wrote this lovely essay titled: Revisiting a Prairie that Inspires Hope. You can read it HERE: https://www.tandyhills.org/wild-flowers
>>>>>>> A dramatic photo by, Don Young, of Engelmann’s Sage and Purple Paintbrush at Tandy Hills in 2021, is featured in the new, Native Plant Society of Texas 2026 desk calendar. They are available for only $18.99 at their website, HERE: https://npsot.printify.me/.../npsot-2026-desktop-calendar...
>>>>>>> These 4 young people, Olivia, Alex, Keandre and Paige, along with, Wesley, (not pictured) have transformed Tandy Hills since this past June. Literally, tons, of invasive privet and other woodies have been removed and treated with herbicide. Entire meadows, once dotted with islands of trees and privet, are now wide open and ready for the native prairie plants to fill in. They are all smiles because they are about to get a holiday bonus for months of very hard work. I can’t say enough good things about these folks. Your generous donations provide vital funds needed to pay for their labor and supplies.
09) Prairie Proverb - David Suzuki
“Unless we are willing to encourage our children to reconnect with and appreciate the natural world, we can’t expect them to help protect and care for it.”
Image credit: Jennifer Roessler, for the Suzuki Foundation.
Prairie Notes© is the official newsletter of Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. All content by Don Young except where otherwise noted.
