String Prairie, Texas (Place post)

This region of Texas consists of countryside landscape with scenes of cattle grazing and cooling off in ponds during the hot, summer months. String Prairie is located near Bastrop, Texas. It is comprised largely of pastures dotted with intermittent woodlands. Blue bonnets (the state flower) and Spanish paintbrush flowers which are seasonal are planted along the roadside. I had the liberty to visit this peaceful place recently as a respite from the quick pace of city life, street noises and to spend some time off from school to experience nature in the mild wilderness. It was extremely quiet and serene and I noticed that it was essential for one to have access to a car here in order to run errands or even go to the grocery store, as most places are far-flung. Droughts are common in this area and the land is being cleared due to development projects and usually replaced with strong grasses such as the ‘Coastal Bermuda’. The pastures create a new environment which is conducive to some biological species of birds since it provides more nesting regions.

(taken from my camera on my friend's plot of land in String Prairie)

It is difficult to obtain an electricity or gas connection here since it requires negotiations with companies and neighbors, which is something we tend to take for granted growing up in the city, but this type of existence takes me back to the time of my forefathers who could not enjoy the luxuries of electricity and fuel that people use on a daily basis today, but relied on charcoal to cook their meals and oil lamps instead of electricity. This knowledge makes me appreciate these utilities so much more and I try to trace their origins back to nature to understand their true value. Although fuel is directly derived from natural resources and is termed as a ‘renewable resource’, I realize that if nature is constantly depleted of its resources, there will be huge scarcity in the future unless people regulate extraction processes and conserve energy.

 When I trekked through the grasslands, I noticed some deer grazing at a distance with their ears pointed upwards in a guarded manner and a herd of cows walking by. It was pleasant to watch the cattle grazing, bathing in a nearby pond and caring for their calves, quite oblivious to humans around. This behavior created awareness in me of how animals are similar to humans in the sense that they nurture their offspring and defend them from predators, sometimes risking their lives in the process. I also understood how the circle of life works since the environment provides us with resources and we are expected to use them wisely so that they can be recycled naturally to maintain a balance in the ecosystem, as the earth is considered as a ‘macro-organism’ by some ecologists since it functions as a self-regulating unit. On the whole, my visit to the String Prairie was a good learning experience as it reminded me how man and nature are inter-dependent and it also proved to be a relaxing experience since I could watch the sun set with its glorious hues, join my family friends around a bonfire with smores and watch the numerous stars shining brightly in the sky at night. This resembled a camping experience since the darkness at night was overwhelming, the trees rustled with a cool breeze and the grassland seemed to be awake with the activity of nocturnal creatures like owls, rodents and some insects who forage the land for prey at night.