Our land is on the edge of a hill that is known topographically as Big Mountain. We have a nice view overlooking the southern area that is geographically known as the Llano Uplift. From our house, we can see the nearby mountain ranges, including Packsaddle Mountain.

Land
The land has a lot of features and variations; it contains a ravine with a rock bottom spring fed creek flowing through the land which flows year around. There is a small rock bottom pond along the creek that contains the normal aquatic wildlife and insects as well as fish, red eared sliders and several species of water snakes.

The land has some semi-open areas and heavily wooded areas that contain Live Oak, Cedar Elm, Hackberry, Agarita, Texas Persimmon, Juniper, Mesquite, Mexican Buckeye, several species of yucca and many species of wild flowers. Cactus consists of Prickly Pear, Pencil Cactus and Lace Cactus. There are small rock cliffs and ledges and there are seeps along the hillsides. One of the seep areas contains Roughleaf Dogwood, Possum Haw, Mexican Buckeye and Silk Tassel.

There are white tail deer, armadillos, possums, raccoons, wild turkeys, quail, jack rabbits, ring-tailed cats, and western diamondback snakes running around the land. There are numerous birds, lizards, skinks, insects, and aquatic life that we have seen but we still need to identify.

Stewardship
Not that the land is bad, but we are restoring and improving the land by planting native plants of this area in appropriate locations. We have planted quite a few plants, including Chinquapin Oak, Bigtooth Maple, Escarpment Black Cherry, Bald Cypress, Texas Smoketree, Texas Madrone, Blanco Crabapple, Redbud, Buckthorn, Texas Barberry and others.

We have a long list and we will be restoring the vegetation over the next 50 years. Restoring the vegetation is only the first step and we are also taking steps to improve and promote the wildlife on the land.