And on this farm, there was a barn….

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photograph by Dudley Harris

Buttercup, Elsie, Black Beauty, Jaunita and the amply-uddered May West were among the cows Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker raised from birth and milked twice a day, 365 days a year on their farm, part of which is now Phil Hardberger Park. More than a century old, the milking barn could accommodate 20 cows at a time. The 1,500-square-foot  barn is key to understanding what life was like for the farmers who lived on the many dairies dotting the area of San Antonio known as Buttermilk Hill.

For this reason, volunteers from the Associated General Contractors’ Construction Leadership Forum are adopting the historic structure for their restoration project over the next two years. Rotted wood will be repaired, and windows will be repaired with guidance from Fisher Heck Architects and the City of San Antonio’s Historic Preservation Office to ensure the restoration forwards the building’s eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.

Zac Harris, chair of the Construction Leadership Forum, said:

We want kids to walk in and feel like they’ve stepped back in time. We envision a working farm with live cows – a place where we can all connect with our cultural heritage and better understand San Antonio’s original settlements.

The group is hosting its first fundraiser (in the spirit of an old-fashioned barn-raising, but you won’t have to work before the eating and music get underway) for the restoration of the milking barn on Saturday, May 14, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the farm in Hardberger Park. Music, an art sale and plenty of barbecue will be on hand, and the author of Last Farm Standing on Buttermilk Hill: Voelcker Roots Run Deep in Hardberger Park, will be present to sign books. For ticket information, contact Zac Harris at Joeris General Contractors, 210-494-1638, or Jeff Coyle at 210-826-8899.

As the project continues, I am sure they will need some vintage equipment from dairy operations as well. Any farmers out there with an antique Sears Economy Cream Separator?

The following weekend, the City of San Antonio will celebrate the grand opening of a whole new section of Phil Hardberger Park. The park opens at 8 a.m., with activities beginning at 10 a.m. and running through 7 p.m., on Saturday, May 21. Activities planned for the day include guided nature walks, kite-making and flying, children’s basketball competitions, parachute games and Frisbee tosses. A special feature is the addition of the “Makin’ Hay” exhibit created by sculptor Tom Otterness, previously on display at Espada Park. Parking will be available at the Alon Shopping Center across NW Military Highway from the new entrance to this western part of the park.

Update on May 10, 2011: Jeff Coyle’s post about “Makin’ Hay.”

Update on May 12, 2011: Saturday, May 14, event to include cow-patty bingo.

Update on May 17, 2011: During the event, Forrester Smith, a trustee of the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund, delivered a $10,000 check from the fund to be used for the restoration of the diary barn.

As if they already don’t do enough: ‘Conserve Today and Secure for Tomorrow’

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Didn’t need to get very far into a facebook “conversation” for Anne Thatcher Parrish to comprehend that I had flunked waterbird-watching 101, or actually never emerged from the kindergarten stage. Although she volunteers weekly to conduct nature tours for children at Mitchell Lake, Anne agreed to try to educate me in the environment where I walk in the mornings – along Eagleland and the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River.

First up, of course, were mallards. Then there was a double-crested cormorant, a broody-looking black one with a hooked bill who can hold his breath while fishing under water for an incredibly long time. A tall white egret searched for crawfish, while a great blue heron flew overhead.

Then we came upon a crowd that greatly multiplied the San Antonio River Authority’s normal work crew on the river’s banks. They appeared to be volunteers harvesting large quantities of invasive plant material near the water’s edge.

Then my favorite – the yellow-crowned night heron. Next a mature little blue heron (little actually being part of its name), and, just to try to confuse me, an immature one that had not turned blue-gray yet but was white.

More volunteers in a canoe fetching trash collected from a man in waders. A huge sheet of heavy black sheeting they pulled from the river was crumpled up next to discarded pairs of crawfish claws left on the egrets’ favorite breakfast table near the train tracks.

Can crawdads not see yellow? It seems as though the schoolbus-yellow feet of the wading snowy egrets would be hard to miss underwater. A sandpiper scurried by.

At a doughnut refueling station near Roosevelt Park, Anne asked the volunteers who they were. A woman answered enthusiastically they were from all branches of the Armed Forces in San Antonio, and this was how they were celebrating Earth Day. She said proudly:

This is our community, and we want to give back to it.

Of course, Earth Day is not actually until tomorrow, but the Air Force is proclaiming “Every day is Earth Day,” with this year’s theme as “Conserve today and secure for tomorrow.” The volunteers come from the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, the Air Force Real Property and  502nd Air Base Wing.  They started celebrating by performing hard manual labor at San Pedro Park (photo) on April 1 and Memorial Park on April 14.

By the crayola footbridge, we encountered those with the roughest assignment wading and raking out large slimy swaths of oozing blooming green algae so thick a family of six little ducklings was easily walking across it.

Bob Moore, director of the Air Force Real Property Agency in San Antonio, told Texas Public Radio’s Eileen Pace it was a rewarding experience:

We were scraping some algae off, and a 12-inch long bass jumped right out of the water because we had scraped the algae underneath it. Ducks were coming in right behind us in the clean water and reclaiming the area we had just cleaned out.

On the way back, spied a pair of my second-favorite birds, not because of their shocking flourescent pink-orange bills and webbed feet but for their name. For some reason, it just makes me smile: black-bellied whistling ducks. Anne said that now I can even graduate to Mitchell Lake.

I don’t think I’d be misspeaking to extend thanks to all the volunteers from the Armed Forces on behalf of the birds. The egrets and herons probably all settled into their nests in the trees off of Alamo Street last night with such strong feelings of security they decided to expand their families. Their home, this river, keeps getting better and better.

Update on April 22, 2011: And the wildflowers are beautiful!

Sequel to Alamollywood Part I Cancelled

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Nine-hundred-thousand dollars for a year-long promotional contract seemed an incredibly high figure, but I was under the assumption Tony Caridi had it covered. Although I did not think much of the banner proposal with the toy-like Mexican soldiers at the bottom, I was impressed he had convinced donors to underwrite such an expensive non-bricks-and-mortar proposition.

That is why I labeled my post about it “Alamollywood Part I,” surely to be followed by updates on the glitzy, slickly produced WME marketing strategies and productions propelling entertainment standards in the Alamo, in this city, in this state to apple-pie-in-the-sky-high California levels.

I surmised the mystery philanthropist was Phil Collins. After all, he has been haunting the Alamo since it fell, according to Mail Online.

I was so wrong.

But the mystery of the anonymous philanthropist is solved.

It is No One. 

Photographer Lisa Krantz of the San Antonio Express-News captured this wink during Daughters of the Republic of Texas testimony in Austin on April 6. The photo was published on April 7 on http://www.mysanantonio.com.

According to the attorney for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas as reported by Scott Huddleston in the San Antonio Express-News, beyond the first month of funding, there were no firm commitments for the remaining $825,000.

Now, I’m a big proponent of what I call “the nonprofit leap of faith” for inspiring board members and potential funders that a nonprofit can accomplish a seemingly insurmountable fundraising goal to achieve a dream, but to sign an unfunded contract?

I am sorry Senator Wentworth. This is no winking matter. This is a breach of trust and responsibility Texas should be examining seriously.

Later Update on April 12, 2011: Senator Van de Putte is not winking….

Update on April 13, 2011: Perhaps Senator Wentworth only was winking to thank her for the Texas-shaped cake?

Update on April 17, 2011: Senator Van de Putte explains her position on the Daughters of the Republic of Texas’ management of the Alamo and how the DRT and Texas Historical Commission will interact if pending legislation passes.

Update on April 18, 2011: If the Daughters were upset by Scott Huddleston’s reporting, editorials in the San Antonio Express-News and Jan Jarboe Russell’s article in Texas Monthly, we do not think they appreciate Ken Herman’s commentary in Sunday’s Austin American Statesman: “Daughters trip over critics, script.” Herman has nominated the Daughters for “Worst Performance at a Committee Hearing.”

Herman wrote of Marketing Director Tony Caridi’s testimony:

He opposes getting the THC involved, telling the committee “Certain things wouldn’t be able to be done like they are now.” Isn’t that the goal of this exercise?

The sharpest plunges of his verbal Bowie knife were concerning the testimony of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Historian General, Karen Thompson, whose earlier email had called SB 1518 the “WORST SENATE BILL EVER!!!!!”

The senator asked Thompson if she indeed thought this was the “worst bill ever.”

“Oh, heavens no,” Thompson said, assuring Van de Putte “there’s been millions of them that have been worse.”

Look out, Mr. Herman. You and the Statesman are about to have your face slapped by the ladies of the Alamo. You will soon be in the same doghouse the Express-News has been in since July:

The Daughters also issued a release Friday, accusing the San Antonio Express-News of directing “unrelenting attacks” on the DRT through its articles and editorials.

Beware. You yourself quoted the Historian General as saying she was a “very dramatic person.”

Later Update on April 18, 2011: Senator Van de Putte continues to press the DRT’s President General for answers relating to finances at the Alamo.

Update on April 27, 2011: Editorial in the San Antonio Express-News:

A group that is truly acting as a trustee for the Alamo wouldn’t fight reasonable requests for transparency, wouldn’t be acting like the owner of the Alamo rather than its caretaker and wouldn’t neglect its primary duty to preserve the historic structure.

Update on May 2, 2011: Scott Huddleston reports on money woes and rats infesting the DRT’s headquarters in Austin….

Update on May 19, 2011: Senators had no worries about being seen crossing or not crossing the line in passing new legislation regarding the management of the Alamo. Ken Herman reports on statesman.com about how the ghosts of Senators current passed the bill placing the Daughters’ role under the supervision of the General Land Office. He also noted a change in leadership:

As I reported last month, DRT Historian General Karen Thompson perhaps was a bit more combative than she should have been at a Senate committee hearing….

But, it seems, the daughters read the legislative tea leaves about what was going to happen. This past weekend, at their state convention, they approved a resolution “in anticipation of compliance with new state laws regarding the Alamo complex….”

The resolution calls for a “transition team” to work toward the new era at the Alamo. The transition team would be appointed by the new president general elected at the weekend convention. That would be Thompson….

Thompson. A self-described “very dramatic person.”

Update on June 2, 2011: Yes, she is a very dramatic person among 8,000 others, points out Herman.

Update on June 11, 2011: Express-News editorials