Lazy A: Exquisite Mesquites 

In the fall of 2020, I was invited to join an old friend at his ranch in Central West Texas.  As we drove around and he talked about the various improvements and progress he had made over the last two decades on the property, I noted he had what I would consider to be a magnificent mesquite forest.  Understand that “mesquite forest” is an oxymoron to most Texans and certainly those that own ranch properties and raise livestock.  Few, if any, land-owning Texans are fond of mesquites and describing an area where they are dense and bringing this collection of trees to the stature of “forest” is giving this weed a credibility they do not deserve.  In fact were it not for the difficulty, if not futility, in ridding the land of them only to see their return, most landowners would eradicate them at the first opportunity. 

Mesquites are generally considered to be more of a weed-like brush than a tree.  In addition to their prolific ability to spread easily, from an economic standpoint they rob the soil of its water that could be put to better use growing grasses for livestock or hay.  Be that as it may, in improving the property over the last 20-something years, planting crops for dove and hay production, along with pastures and ponds (tanks to Texans) for livestock, my friend retained this “forest” as a roosting area for the migratory dove that pass through each fall and protective cover for the resident white-tailed deer. 

While having traveled throughout Texas over the course of my 60-something years, owned land in various parts to raise livestock or cultivate wildlife habitat, I had never seen mesquites of the size and stature on my friend’s land.  He agreed to allow me to return over the next few weeks to photograph some of his most notable, if not noble, exquisite mesquite trees.