I'm Cory Ames. I document the plants, places, and people of Texas through video, writing, and field stories.
All of it serves one mission: helping Texans find out where they live.
The logic is simple. The more you know about a place, the more you care about it. The more you care, the more you act on its behalf. So I make work that helps people see what's actually around them: the native plants in their yard, the food traditions of their region, the history under their streets, and the people who know their corner of Texas best.
Texas is full of stories that don't get the coverage they deserve. Seed savers cultivating heirloom plants in city backyards. Heritage foods passed down hand to hand. Land stewards restoring ground most people drive past. Finding and telling those stories is the job.
My Work
- YouTube — Field stories from across Texas, watched more than 3 million times. This is where most people find me.
- Texas Field Notes — My newsletter. Essays and field dispatches on Texas nature, native plants, and place. If you want to follow the work, start here.
- bigcitysmalltown — Co-host and executive producer of San Antonio's top civic podcast, hosted by Bob Rivard, covering the people who make this city go and grow.
- Speaking — Talks and workshops across Texas on native plants, water in the urban landscape, and reconnecting with the places we live.
I partner with institutions doing this work at scale, including Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine, the City of San Antonio's World Heritage Office, the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and many more.
I also make practical tools for people ready to act on what they learn. The Texas Native Yard Guide teaches you how to bring your landscape to life with plants that belong here, and Wild & Wise Texas Goods is my small shop of Texas-centric goods.
How I Got Here
I started in marketing, running a digital agency, before stepping away to write, research, and tell stories full time. For years I hosted The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, where I conducted more than 250 interviews with founders and leaders working on environmental and social problems around the world.
Those conversations kept pointing at the same truth: real change doesn't happen in the abstract. It happens at a human scale, in specific places, through the choices people make daily in their own cities, neighborhoods, and yards.
Life brought me to San Antonio, where I live with my wife and two sons. Here the abstract became concrete. My values and interests rooted in sustainability crossed with Texas ecology, native plants, our food traditions, and the future of this city.
I stopped writing about sustainability in general and started documenting it in particular: this plant, this yard, this grower, this place. Texas.
I believe the way we live should leave the world better off, not worse. And I believe that starts with knowing where you are.
Connect with Me
- Watch: YouTube
- Read: Texas Field Notes
- Listen: bigcitysmalltown
- Connect: LinkedIn, Instagram