Day Trips: Fort Parker State Park austinchronicle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from austinchronicle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Johnson s Backyard Garden is selling vegetable and herb transplants at their farm near
Garfield on Saturdays through April.
Whether you have a garden plot or a patio planter, the farm s greenhouses have something for you. The 108 kinds of veggie transplants include tomatoes, squash, herbs, peppers, melons, and greens. The varieties we grow we know do well in Central Texas, says
Ada Broussard, marketing manager for the farm that also does
Community Supported Agriculture deliveries. Plus, they boost the soil with a little bit of magic to make the starter plants hearty and strong, she says.
Like farms all around Texas, Johnson s farm was hit hard by the six days of freezing temperatures. We prepare for freezes, but nothing like this, Broussard says. It lasted so long.
This month marks the anniversary of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traveling is tough, but we’ve learned new protocols and become cautiously optimistic about venturing out again. It’s hard work in the Texas heat for Travis Mayes preparing barbecue for the legions of hungry fans who line up at the window in Garland. The family-run business was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and then the St. Valentine’s weekend freeze broke the water pipes and the firewood was stolen. (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)
A cold smoker in Garland. For more than 40 years Meshack’s BBQ Shack in the suburbs west of Dallas has been serving smoked meats out of a cinder-block building. It’s a small, family-run business with
The McFaddin-Ward House in
Beaumont displays the opulent living conditions of the very rich in the early 20th century, but also tells the story of a pioneer Texas family.
The McFaddins moved into the three-story, Beaux-Arts Colonial mansion in 1907 and occupied it for the next 75 years. Photo by Gerald E. McLeod
Decorated with furnishings from the late Victorian era to the 1950s, the house was left as it was when the last McFaddin turned over the keys to a foundation that maintains the property.
The house is filled with rare items that illustrate the finest of the decorative arts of the time. Quite often the furnishings seem more for style than function. Still, the tours, with COVID-19 precautions, are a walk through a beautiful time capsule.
Galveston Island State Park outside of
Galveston preserves an oasis of nature surrounded by the development that covers much of the island.
Late last year I headed to Galveston hoping to spot the 3- to 4-foot-tall
sandhill cranes. The red-capped birds migrate from northern states and winter along the Texas coast from December to February.
Let me say up front that I don t know much about birds. I just admire our feathered friends like I do most any wildlife (except maybe snakes).
After a fruitless day of visiting several birding locations listed at www.galveston.com/whattodo/outdoorfun/birding/birding-locations, my wife and I gave up the search. We grabbed supper at