Big, Booming Texas

The Big Boom: Texas No. 1 in population growth

For the eighth year straight, Texas gained more new residents than any other state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Texas gained more residents than any other state in 2013, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday.

The Lone Star State, which has ranked first in annual population growth since 2006, said howdy to 387,000 new Texans in the past 12 months. California — still the nation's most populous state, with 38 million people — added 332,000 residents, while Florida netted 232,111 newcomers.

The Lone Star State said howdy to 387,000 new Texans in 2013.

Warmer-weather states in the South and West are gaining residents at a faster clip than the chilly Midwest and Northeast, both of which have seen only sluggish growth in recent years. North Dakota's impressive 3.1 percent population increase proves the one exception to the climatic trend, notes the Washington Post, thanks to the state's ongoing boom in oil and natural gas.

Maine and West Virginia lost 200 and 2,300 people, respectively, in 2013.

With a population of 26.4 million, Texas continues to hold on to the No. 2 slot in national rankings, a position it wrested from current third-place contender New York more than a decade ago. Florida ranks fourth with 19.5 million, a mere 100,000 people behind the Empire State.

Here's the 2013 Top 10 (with population gains from 2012 in parentheses):

California – 38,332,521 (up 332,643)
Texas – 26,448,193 (up 387,397)
New York – 19,651,127 (up 75,002 )
Florida – 19,552,860 (up 232,111)
Illinois – 12,882,135 (up 13,943)
Pennsylvania – 12,773,801 (up 9,326)
Ohio – 11,570,808 (up 17,777)
Georgia – 9,992,167 (up 76,521)
Michigan – 9,895,622 (up 13,103)
North Carolina – 9,848,060 (up 99,696)

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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