Clint & Barnacle

Cold Weather and Nice Island Finds

Greetings from the island everyone, hope all of you are doing well and enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. The low tide kept Barnacle and I on the island that day, but I enjoyed a nice meal with island friends Bubba and Kim. The tides came up and allowed us to maneuver through the inlet cut the following day, and Mr. Dog and I enjoyed a visit with Mom.
This time of the year begins a three month period wherein I never know if I’ll be able to get off the island at scheduled times. Either the strong north winds or the extremely low tides that they create often times keep me stranded on the island, which is not a bad thing at all as long as I have enough provisions.

I plan on running in tomorrow, December 13, making 14 days since I’ve been in for supplies. Propane is an invaluable commodity during the winter months out here, providing heat for the stove, water heater and bedroom heater at night, plus the fridge and freezer, meaning I have ensure a supply of filled 5 and 10 gallon bottles all the time. I’m hoping to be able to run in Christmas Eve, but will have to see if the weather cooperates.

The recent nasty and cold weather has kept me mostly in and around the house lately, but I have come across a few nice island finds when able to venture out. The strong north winds have a tendency to blow ashore items that normally would not wash up along the beach and bay shoreline.

I’ve been looking for two of the large red and green channel marker buoys for some time, to bury them near the dunes to mark where my road leads from the house to the beach. At night the dunes all look exactly the same, and recognizing where to turn off the beach and towards the house is difficult.

After the latest hard norther, I was lucky enough to find the buoys I needed down by the jetties, a nice red one and green one. After hauling them to the house and scraping all the barnacles off, I took the post-hole digger and buried them partly in the sand near the dunes on both sides of the road, making it easy to now see where to turn off the beach. Of course being the analistic person I am, the color of each buoy is on the proper side of the road – easy to remember, the 3 R’s – Red on Right when Returning from sea.

A few days ago I also found washed up along the bay shore, a very nice 2” diameter yellow and black rope, about a hundred feet in length.  Not a quarter mile further down the shoreline I found another nice long blue colored length of rope.  These ropes are nice island finds and are commonly used to decorate around the island houses.  They can be stretched out and attached along tops of fences, stairs, decks, just wherever you want to add color and some nautical decoration.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Island find

Katherine Harper (left), youngest living sister of Ed Bell, and Leann Bell Olivarez, his oldest sister, unveil the Ed Bell Historical Marker at Indianola Fishing Center. The marker was placed through the efforts of the Calhoun County Historical Society. -Photo by Phil Thomae

Despite the cold, windy weather on November 23, there was a large group of Calhoun County Historical Society members and friends, and relatives of the late Ed Bell in attendance for the dedication and unveiling of the Ed Bell Historical Marker.

The featured speaker at of the dedication program was Henry Wolf, longtime Texas journalist, historian and former president of the Texas Folklore Society., who read his story, “Ed Bell, Teller of Tall Tales”.

Henry Wolf displays photo of Ed Bell. -Photo by Phil Thomae

The marker was unveiled at Indianola Fishing Center by sisters of Ed Bell, Katherine Harper and Leann Bell Olivarez.
The Ed Bell Historical Marker reads:

Ed Bell

Famed storyteller David Edward “Ed” Bell was born to Calvin Oscar, Sr., and Annie (Shackelford) Bell on January 10, 1905, near Leakey, Texas. After moving to Indianola, Bell and his wife, Mary Alma (Smith), bought land along Powderhorn Bayou where they established what his customers called “Ed Bell’s Fish Camp.” Visitors to the fish camp were charmed by Bell’s tall tales and over the decades he gained notoriety as a “virtuoso storyteller” performing at story-telling events across the country. Locally, Bell contributed to the economic growth of Indianola and, through his stories, preserved its cultural history.

Roemerville School - Top row: Pearl Wilburn, Violet Williams, Lee Ella Wilburn, Raymon Watson, Alpha Lee Scott, Farton Queen, Lone Fuller, Beatrice Scott; Fern Williams, Pearl Scott, Opal Scott, Mrs. Bieman, Clinton Williams, Lois Helms, Dorothy Helms and Katherine Helms; 3rd row: Stoney Matson, Alba Helms, Queen, Billy While, Arthur Wilburn

As I followed Dorothy’s directions down the winding road I was eager to see her again. It seemed like yesterday since I’d met her at the library in Seadrift to talk about one of Seadrift’s first publications, Seadrift Success. In actuality, it had been about two years! Following last month’s article where I inquired about Roemerville; she had called and suggested I meet with her and Joyce Raby as they both  were born in Roemerville. So there I was, headed to Dorothy’s house which is just outside of Seadrift.

Before I knew it, two hours had gone by! I learned a lot about the families that made up Roemerville in the early 30s.
Dorothy Geraldine Williams Wilson was born on November 29, 1929 on the Oscar Roemer Farm. Joyce Helms Raby was born in Roemerville on June 18th, 1929.

Dorothy remembers her brother, J.D Williams who was six years older than she, attended school in Roemerville. She didn’t, as her family moved to Seadrift where her father became the city’s milk cow herder. Joyce remembers attending school in both Roemerville and Seadrift. Her family moved back and forth for several years to the small farming community. Both of their dads, Bill Helms and Dave Williams, worked as tenant farmers in Roemerville. They met in second grade when Joyce’s family moved to Seadrift.

Joyce’s teacher was Charlotte Roemer. She remembers Charlotte would bring the kids food as it was during the depression and the families didn’t have much.

Joyce is one of eleven siblings; Cecil, Gene, Bobby, Don, Patsy, Carnell, Billy Jo, Dale, Alice Fern and Johnny. They had only the basics like flour and coffee; it was a luxury when the girls had peanut butter or syrup on a biscuit. Cabbage heads were five cents. Dorothy remembers how much she loved the color of beets. “I daydreamed all the time,” she said. “I would daydream that I had a dress that color.”

As they spent the afternoon reminiscing, they told me about other families who also lived in Roemerville. Oscar and Bell Roemer, Emma and Scrapp Helms, Leo Blevins, the Watsons, the Marlows, Virginia Gaines and a handful of others. Joyce now lives in Port O’Connor with husband, Owen Dan who she married in December of 1945.

Then Joyce started singing a song her father would sing to her.

“Rye whiskey rye whiskey
Rye whiskey I cry
If you don’t give me rye whiskey
I surely will die

If the ocean was whiskey
And I was a duck
I’d dive to the bottom
And never come up”

I laughed as they sang various songs from their childhood. “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain,” they sang in unison.

Thanks to both ladies for bringing me one step closer to Roemerville. I greatly enjoyed spending the afternoon chatting, laughing and singing.

from Joyce Raby’s family album: Uncle Jim Weaver, Duff Weaver, Alfie Lee Scott, Bill Helms, Alby Helms, Buck Helms and George Weaver

Turns out there’s a farming revolution going on! Within the last 10 years, biologists and designers have brought ancient organic farming practices back to light in an effort to rehabilitate our land and seas. The result and heart of this movement is known as permaculture – a sustainable design science, rooted in nature.

In a nutshell, permaculture mimics naturally occurring systems, methods, and materials to create an environmentally friendly, eco-conscious mode of living. Therein, we not only halt the damage we’ve done, but actively work to undo it.

Fortunately we don’t have to wholly give up our current ways of life. The first principle of permaculture asks that we carefully and quietly observe. Nature guides us in the development of farming technologies. Central to permaculture are the three ethics: care for the earth, care for people and share the surplus. As an unincorporated community, Port O’Connor has a unique opportunity to collectively cultivate nature’s own technologies that allow us to retain our standard of living. It can be done in an environmentally harmonious, responsible manner, all the while eliminating pollution and food supply contamination. Say gourmet!

Where do we begin? We can start by getting a good feel for our local wild edibles. Most of us have wild canopies of Muscadine grapes trailing through the mesquite mottes. And there’s certainly not a shortage of seasonal blackberries. But what is that mushroom in the yard? What’s that bee sipping on? How many times has that soil been tilled? Does it have earthworms? Are these seeds genetically modified? Educational community field walks, wild food forest trails and botanical art classes could give us an upper-hand.

Speaking of botanical art, wildcrafting, a facet of permaculture, is the art of responsibly foraging wild edibles and transplanting them into a home garden in a similar fashion to its original location. So you may plant seeds from a wild plum along with grasses that grew by the mother tree. If you want to try wildcrafting on your own, be sure to leave more than 2/3 of a wild plant population to avoid overharvesting… and save those seeds! True heirlooms are becoming more scarce than ever due to corporate patenting. Should this be legal?

Diversity is key to permaculture, just as nature intends. Case in point: The great potato blight of Ireland. The Irish brought a few potato varieties home from Peru and had great success for a several generations, until the bugs adapted and wiped out all the crops, leaving thousands to starve to death. Now we see the same thing happening with the russet potatoes in Idaho, except nowadays, farmers are government subsidized to spend millions on pesticides to treat the bugs. The native Peruvians, Incas, had it right though. They grew over 200 varieties of potatoes, all on one mountain top – some on the north side, some on the south. No pesticides. Just potatoes, sprouts, beans and a few other symbiotic herbs.

Surprisingly, permaculture requires less work too! The “no-till” technique of lasagna layering compost and turned crops with decomposers like mushrooms and earthworms slowly creates a micro-climate in the soil, leaving it impervious to diseases and invasive “weeds.” Another amazing permaculture design technique is the floating garden, also known as the Aztec Chinampas. Floating clumps of water hyacinths lay the foundation for beds of compost. Water is wicked into the soil through the river water. The hyacinths clean the water and when the rivers flood, the gardens float! Maybe we can apply the same gardening technique to our estuaries to naturally remove pesticides from upstream water sheds. As for the hyacinth – one man’s weed is another man’s gold.

There is much to discover as a community. If there is a collective shared interest, we could grow food forests and make the bays even more hospitable to the magnificent wildlife that makes Port O’Connor what she is, the fluttering heart of the Texas coast.

If you’d like to get involved or learn more, search for “Wiv Luv Natural Farm Collective – Port O’Connor, Texas” on Facebook, email bloom@wivluv.org or call Amanda Raby at 214-316-0441. Popular interest and support could result in a community garden, community food forest nature trail, farm coop or a community supported agriculture (CSA) food delivery program! Do we have harvest jubilees in our future!?

-Amanda Raby is a 4th generation Port O’Connor native. She is the chief and founder of Wiv Luv-Humanitarian Entertainment, a non profit that utilizes digital media, music and circus arts to educate rural communities about sustainability and heart-based living.