Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

The December issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine looks at the future of the Gulf of Mexico, post oil spill. Editor Louie Bond.

In December we have something totally different. We’re going to take along, hard look the effects of the BP oil spill. I think a lot of Texans are wondering exactly what impact it will have on Texas.

We hope our readers will take time this winter to learn for themselves what the scientists are forecasting.

That’s our show for today… with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… working to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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This is Passport to Texas

Meet game wardens who spend their time enforcing law in the Gulf of Mexico this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS TV series. Alan Fisher produced the story.

67—Coming up the week of November 28th is a story called “The Gulf Wardens”. It’s basically a ride along with the game wardens who spend their time guarding the Gulf of Mexico. Sgt. James Dunks gets a crew of volunteer game wardens from the area to staff his boat, and go out on the gulf, and enforce the shrimp and fishery laws.

With the Gulf oil spill recently, I think people are more aware of how fragile our gulf resources are. So, it’s a neat opportunity to meet some folks who are out there protecting those resources.

Our show receives support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration program, working to increase fishing and hunting opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Fall is harvest time in nature. It’s the time of year when foraging for native produce may provide us with a bountiful harvest, especially when it comes to nuts.

04—Once we get into fall that’s the time when a lot of nut trees produce.

Scooter Cheatham is a naturalist and co-author of The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico, a multi-volume set of encyclopedias that details the various uses for native plants.

Native walnuts ripen in the fall, and grow wild throughout the state. The ubiquitous acorn is another edible native nut, but requires extensive processing to be palatable.

Of course pecans are a favorite around these parts, and figure prominently at the end of many Thanksgiving meals, when made into a sweet filling cradled in a flaky crust. Yet, as good as pecans are, Cheatham says there’s one nut better…its cousin the hickory.

08—A lot of people who’ve made Thanksgiving pies from hickory swear that hickory is better than pecan. They’re awfully good. I’ve made them and I’m convinced.

Learn about wild food, and never bite into anything you cannot fully identify. Acquaint yourself with these edibles by joining your local chapter of the native plant society. Or visit www.usefulwildplants.org for more information.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Delicious traditional foods take center stage during holiday meals. And that food doesn’t have to come from a market if you know where to look and what you’re looking for. Savor the flavors of an earlier time in Texas when you forage for and cook with native produce.

10—I almost prefer fall over spring in certain ways because a lot of complex foods – the fruits and beans and seeds and things like that — really ripen in the fall.

Scooter Cheatham is a naturalist and co-author of The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico, a multi-volume set of encyclopedias detailing the various uses for plants that grow around us. And fall is a great time to forage for some of the edible ones.

20—The Mexican persimmon’s a substantial fruit. Many grapes are still ripening, Mexican plums are ripening. Malvaviscus, Turks’ Cap’s…many species of grass. The seteriars are getting ripe now. That makes a really nice little seed cracker. Dallas grass of Paspalum dilatatum is ripening. Lynn’s made some really good crackers from those.

Before you start snacking on feral foods, make sure you’re 100% certain of what it is. Although you can eat any wild food once, if you don’t know what you’re eating, you may not get a second chance. Join your local chapter of the Native Plant Society to learn about native nourishment.

You can also log onto www.usefulwildplants.org for more information. Tomorrow…getting nutty about hickories.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Thanksgiving, a “uniquely” American observance is, in fact, a variation on an Old English harvest tradition, which makes sense as the colonists came from Britain.

09—What we know as Thanksgiving—centuries ago—was actually called Lammas. And that means Loaf Mass in Old English.

Cynthia Brandimarte is program director for Texas historic sites. On Lammas, farmers brought loaves of bread to mass as a token of thanksgiving.

26—It’s when breads were made from the season’s first grain crop. They were baked, blessed and broken. And it was celebrated on August first or thereabouts. Over some time, especially the 17th and 18th Century, Americans brought over the tradition of observing Thanksgiving at the end of the harvest, which would be closer to our late November date.

New Englanders, the first to observe the day, moved west, bringing their traditions with them. Yet, Thanksgiving did not become a nationally recognized celebration until the mid 19th Century.

10—Sarah Josepha Hale, took it upon herself to make it a widespread celebration; and that was in the 1840s.

As you sit down at the Thanksgiving table this year, remember to give a nod of gratitude for nature’s bounty, and for the people who made this long weekend of food and football possible.

That’s our show for today… from all of us at Passport to Texas…and Texas Parks and Wildlife…we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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