POWER TALK

HAPPENINGS

Watch from the shore, paddle your own canoe or kayak, or brave the rapids during Springs Fest 2010, which shows off San Marcos’ crown jewel: the crystal-clear, spring-fed San Marcos River.
Springs Fest, scheduled for April 9-11 at Rio Vista Park, offers demonstrations, hands-on classes and the ultimate test: a whitewater rapids slalom race. But don’t fret if you’re worried your paddling skills aren’t there yet—the rapids formed below the river’s dam are rated Class 2, meaning they’re gentle enough for novices.

For more information, call (512) 203-0093 or go to www.kayakinstruction.org.

BE READY WITH A BREATH MINT

The most obvious thing to do with a wild onion is eat it. Wild onions tend to be much stronger in taste than domesticated onions, and a few can go a long way. Historically, their value as food lay more in their abundance than in their quality, and they were likely eaten in large amounts only when little else was available, though cooking significantly reduces their pungency.

—Matt Warnock Turner, Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives, University of Texas Press, 2009

CHECK IT OUT
Domes for Haitian Homeless

Many folks driving north on Interstate 35 through Ellis County have noticed curious concrete domes snaking through the fields.

The domes represent the dreams of a North Texas businessman who’s gearing up for one of the biggest projects of his life: building new homes for Haitian families left homeless by the fierce earthquake on January 12 that crippled the country.

David South, president of the Monolithic Dome Institute in Italy, Texas, south of Fort Worth, actually launched the home-building project in October with the help of Haitian rap artist Won-G and the nonprofit organization One Dome at a Time. But, now, in the wake of the earthquake, the team wants to build a 500-unit village that includes a school, a medical clinic and a community hall.

South touts the family domes—each about 18 feet in diameter, or 300 square feet—as hurricane- and earthquake-proof “ecoshells.”

After a massive earthquake in 2006, One Dome at a Time helped erect a 100-unit village in Indonesia. For more information about the domes, go to www.monolithic.com or www.onedomeatatime.org.

WHO KNEW

Goliad, which originated as one of the oldest Spanish colonial municipalities in Texas, was established in 1749 as La Bahía, a settlement that grew around a presidio of the same name. In 1829, the town’s name was changed to Goliad in honor of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who ignited the Mexican War of Independence against Spanish colonial rule in 1810. Goliad, minus the “h” in this case, is an anagram—the rearranging of the letters of a word or phrase—of the name Hidalgo.