Stumped by Nature

Welcome to this issue of Stumped by Nature, where we notice nature lurking just beyond our screens, curate a list of outside-y events in Austin, and build community with other folks in the thick of the startup ecosystem.

In this week’s issue:

Let’s dig in!

-Nicole

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NATURE SPOTLIGHT

Let’s get to know our neighbors. Meet our sturdy pal, the oak tree. Austin is covered in oaks—they’re a staple of Zilker Park, Treaty Oak is worth salivating over near Fifth and Lamar, and they are so populous we have regions like Oak Hill and Oak Knoll for an on-the-nose naming convention.

If you want to name-drop specific oaks, their leaves, bark, and acorns will give some indication of if you’re in the presence of a Live Oak, Shumard Oak, Bur Oak, or a hybrid. There are roughly a dozen native and non-native species of oaks in the area, and they readily mingle to up the identification challenge. 

Good news: they also respond to “Some Kind of Oak.” 

If you’re lucky, you’ll have a variety of oaks in your yard, and, since they drop leaves on wildly different schedules, you’ll have ample opportunity to use leaf bags from October to April.  

If you happen to string a hammock between your oaks for a backyard slumber party, you’ll:

1. get to test if your sprinkler system works

2. remember that mosquito nets are invaluable, and

3. become intimately aware of opossums’ nocturnal descent from tree canopies  

Quick trauma dump:  Austin’s Live Oaks were particularly walloped by the 2021 Winter Storm Uri, causing initial, massive damage. Then 2023’s ice storm (colloquially called Arborgeddon) doubled down on the damage and made for a very long night of limb-snapping. Your buddies in Oak-named places were not okay.  Call to action here: give your favorite oak trees some encouraging little trunk pats—they’ve been through the wringer.

I highly recommend meeting the 2008 Large Tree of the Year. What a gem near the Central Market on North Lamar.

Here’s the scoop: at Central Market, there’s a patio, sometimes live music, a playscape for kids to run amok. Stroll over to the pond, and the whole big sprawling beauty to the north is our award winning tree. You’ll know it by its massive canopy, thick trunk, and its commemorative plaque. The girth of this friend! Those limbs! Wild. 

Tangent: Central Market’s parking is tight. Once I watched a person halt midway into a parking spot to openly scream into the void, which, like, totally tracks, but they backed up, aimed for another spot a few spaces down, and, with a notable crunch, stopped to openly scream again. So not just screaming for the thrill—at least three cars fell victim to a poorly executed turn radius in this ad hoc demolition derby. Perhaps not a great parking lot for a Warby Parker? 

TL;DR: take your least favorite form of transportation to visit the 2008 Large Tree of the Year, and please tell it I say hi. 

ELECTION SEASON

🗳️ October 27: Austin Tree of the Year Awards 2025 are open through October 27. Vote here!

🗳️November 4: General Elections (for humans). Vote411 is my favorite nonpartisan resource to know when elections are and what’s on my ballot.

If you can take the day off, poll working is an option. Hooray civic duty. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

🗓️ October 17: Birding at Pease Park: Binoculars will be provided

🗓️ October 18: Fall Plant Fundraiser + Marketplace: Scoop up your favorite native plants

🗓️ October 18: Bats: Why We Can’t Live Without Them: Y’all. It’s Halloween season.

🗓️ October 18: Herbs & Honey Class AKA a gateway drug to beekeeping

🗓️ October 19: Stained Glass Bat Workshop: Bat City is thriving, and so can you

🗓️ October 20: Flow, Deep Rest, & Sound: You know you love breath work  

🗓️ October 21: Hill Climbers & LoneStartup Trail Talks: Austin Tech Week hits the dusty trail

🗓️ October 25: Concert on the Creek: Local bands + new Austin park

LOCAL FARMERS’ MARKETS

👩‍🌾 Arboretum Food & Artisan Market Saturdays 11-3

👩‍🌾 Barton Creek Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Lakeline Farmers Market Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 SFC Farmers’ Market Sunset Valley Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Bell Saturdays 9am-1pm

👩‍🌾 Texas Farmers’ Market at Mueller Sundays 10am-2pm

PUMPKIN-RELATED ADVENTURES

My real advice is to hold off until just after Halloween for better weather + fewer crowds, but if you are more seasonally enthusiastic:

🎃The Nightmare Before Christmas Light Trail at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

🎃 Pumpkin Nights Fire dancers! Pumpkins doing things you might not expect pumpkins to do! 

🎃 Sweet Berry Farm Marble Falls knows their fall festivities.

🎃 Sweet Eats Fruit Farm Pig races, apple cannons, petting zoo + pony rides, a falconry show—does it get better than this?

HOMEWORK

Notice a bird.

Snap a photo and send it to me.

Bonus points: add a voice note of you replicating its call

POP QUIZ

What is this thing?

That’s all for this week! 

Your bird noticing is due by Sunday EOD. 

In the meantime, I hope you get so much fresh air that an acorn hits you on the head.

-Nicole

OPTIONAL SIDE QUESTS

🪵 Feedback is my BFF. Email away with questions/comments/concerns/nature curiosities/existential pondering. 

🪵 Community is thrilling. Email away with events I should feature or partnerships/collabs we could consider. 

🪵 Donations are a thing. Any dollars from this edition of the newsletter will go toward my quarterly car insurance payment so I can park at Central Market with abandon.

🪵 Is this newsletter not your vibe? Send it to your enemies to make them suffer too.