I thought I’d wrap up my year here at
with a bit of a link round-up. I wanted to share folks you may be interested in reading on Substack or out on the blogosphere, as well as highlight a couple of folks over on Instagram, too. Not everything is nature related but most are. I’m going to take the next couple of weeks off from writing as the holidays ramp up and I spend time with family and friends. In the background I’ll be working on some drafts that will debut here in January and will be brainstorming essays for the spring as well.Before I go, I do want to know what y’all want to see me write about here next year. Is there a particular topic you’d like me to address about Texas nature and the outdoors? I’d love some ideas to add to my brainstorm pile to pick out when I feel a little lost on what to write.
Alright, time for some great links!
To start, some Substack focused links:
- over at Our Lives in Nature was a guest interview here with Our Lives in Nature - Connecting Texans to Nature earlier this year. Michael moved his newsletter off of Substack and back onto WordPress but you can still easily subscribe there by email. I definitely recommend it if you want to read about North Texas nature. Bonus, he has a couple of books out, with one on the way, from TAMU Press. I recently purchased Herping Texas for a family gift for Christmas and look forward to cracking it open next year!
- , who writes , is one of my favorite Texas political essayists on Substack, alongside who writes . Both of them provide excellent Texas political commentary, especially if you find it difficult to keep up with it all, which I certainly do. They have their fingers on the pulse of Texas politics with information you may not find in the mainstream news. I would also add to this group to stay up on what is happening, particularly with Texas Democrats, but also generally well-detailed goings on of things happening in the legislature. Bonus points for finding out via this newsletter yesterday that Nathan Johnson is going to be primaried! I wrote about him last May with regard to HB 4757 and Fairfield Lake State Park and I was so irate over that then that I thought he should be primaried, so I’m a little excited to see this happening. I did check his voting record on some other things this year when the lege was in session and they have generally aligned with things I agree with, but I’m still very bitter about his stance in the committee that killed the bill for FLSP. He’s not my state Senator so it will be interesting to see how that plays out from afar.
- at has been one of my favorite outdoor writers for several years now. Jill has been writing about her adventure racing forays for two decades, first on blogs and later through her books. Jill is one of the best longform outdoor writers I follow and you will be transformed into the action as you read about all of her running, biking, and trekking adventures.
- from - At least 5.5 years ago I heard about this wonderful product called the Kula Cloth, a reusable anti-microbial pee cloth for people who squat to pee. Having just tinkled behind a bush and let things drip dry quickly for years (TMI, I know, but hey, it’s a basic biological function and many of us operate in the out of doors often!) while backpacking and hiking, finding out about this really cool product that went beyond just using a bandana to assist with that situation was really great. I’d followed the Kula Cloth and Anastasia’s Instagram account since that time and was thrilled to see her writing here. Part outdoors writing, part open-hearted confessionals and Q&A’s, the Kula Diaries have been an unexpected joy to read in the last few months. I’ve particularly taken to heart her essays about social media addiction, and My Body is There but my Soul Isn’t is a good place to start. Those essays have propelled me to think about my own social media and phone addictions for 2024.
The blogosphere and other social media:
Linda Leinen’s Lagniappe and The Task at Hand are both must-reads for Texas nature enthusiasts as well as writerly musings. Linda lives in the greater Houston area and her nature writings are generally from SW Houston with forays into the Big Thicket and central Texas.
Mary Curry’s Looking Out in North Texas publishes daily with nature writings from around her own property as well as the LBJ Grasslands and beyond. She recently published North Central Texas Wildflowers 2nd Edition, of which I’m patiently waiting for my copy to arrive soon.
The Texas Butterfly Ranch is always a good place to subscribe to for up to date monarch butterfly information, particularly for Texas.
Lilly Anderson-Messec is a must follow on Instagram for North Florida botanical information, but also for more broad conservation knowledge. If you want to really see someone passionate about botany, Lilly is someone you should add to your IG feed.
Books! (A quick run-down of a few I read this year, no reviews, but if I mention them you should add them to your TBR in 2024!):
Wild DFW by Amy Martin - if you are in DFW, Amy has been doing a TON of presentations. If you follow her on social media I guarantee you will find she has an event you can attend to hear her talk in person or over Zoom.
Wild Houston by Suzanne Simpson
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
Wildscape by Nancy Lawson
That’s it! Send me your Substack, blog, and book faves from this year! I would love to read them and check them out over the next few weeks. You can leave a comment if you read on Substack.com or the Substack app, or if you get this in your email, hit reply and your comment will get to me that way!
See y’all in 2024!
Misti writes regularly at Oceanic Wilderness and
She hosts two podcasts, Orange Blaze: A Florida Trail Podcast, and The Garden Path Podcast, which is currently on hiatus.
Thanks, Misti, for the kind words. I have enjoyed reading your stuff, too. Nothing I love more about Texas than its geography and beautiful parks, and it is comforting to me to know that we have insightful and caring folks like you on task, keeping us all aware, and working to protect what is important.
Thanks for the shout-out! I really appreciate your great writing and advocacy during this disappointing year. I hope your holidays are wonderful. See you next year!