#NonTrad

[honeyshome]

🍂 hello fall 🍂

[808nontrad]

its still so daunting to admit out loud that i’m a premed

most people are encouraging, but others think i’m nuts.

starting from scratch in my thirties since my undergrad is art and psych, and i didn’t take science classes since i did well on my environmental science ap exam

still i’d rather try than just keep spending the rest of my life giving up and settling

hawai’i needs docs bad, especially homegrown docs

a lot to do, but at this point the only rejection that matters will come from med school admission committees not that voice in my head that sounds suspiciously like my mother

[transguyhawkeye]

[ID: a beige, rigid canvas tent large enough for a couple of people to lay down in, embroidered in black with the names of the villages. end ID]

emily jacir, "memorial to 418 palestinian villages which were destroyed, depopulated, and occupied by israel in 1948," 2021, refugee tent, embroidery thread, record book

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[premed-bedhead]

helloo!! I'm Kendra! I just wanted a place where I can put all my hopes, dreams and anxieties; (and hopefully make some friends) as I journey towards a 2026 start to med school (fingers crossed🤞🏽)

little background abt me:

- finished undergrad in 2022 w/ a bachelor's of science in health ed with a concentration in mch

- currently working at a repro health nonprofit doing a lot of admin work (I am in close proximity to some cool Quality and Safety in Healthcare projects, which have really inspired me to choose medicine)

- i am currently volunteering at a hospital and finishing up my prereqs at a CC!

- my main is: @femaleenergypt2

[kryptidkhaos]

Cleaning Supplies That Actually Make My Life Easier: Disabled Edition

O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System

All the housekeeping influencers have been raving about this thing for ages and I really thought it was going to be a complete gimmicky rip-off. I was wrong.

I've tried a ton of other mop and bucket styles out there, I had one ages ago that was similar in style to this one, but instead of the foot pedal for spinning like the EasyRing, you were meant to push the mop down into this colander type thing that would squeeze the water out. It would usually work for maybe 2-3 sessions of mopping before the plastic would just completely shatter from the pressure you needed to put on it to squeeze the mop. We even had a full on industrial janitor style one on wheels for awhile, but that took up a whole lot of space and was a huge pain to fill up. All them have been more trouble than they're worth. I've been relying on a simple spray mop with washable pads for a long time now, and while they can be great for small messes, it wasn't enough to really mop the whole floor with. (Not that it hasn't stopped me from trying, and going through about a dozen mop pads in the process)

We've had ours since February and I love it so much. Mopping is a task that I have a massive love-hate relationship with. I enjoy doing it, it's a highly satisfying process, but it's hell on my body, so I need to reduce the amount of back and forth for buckets, pads, cleaners, etc. as much as possible and have it be a simple enough process that I can give the floors a quick once over nearly every day instead of having to do big scrubs that keep me bent over and on my feet for long periods of time.

With this system, the bucket is small enough for me to fit in my kitchen sink and carry around the house without too much strain on my arms and shoulders. I don't ever have to bend over or put my hands in the water. The pedal/spinning action is really smooth a good 85% of the time. If you try to push the pedal down too hard or fast sometimes the teeth on the plastic gears inside will skip/grind and make a horrible sound (I though I'd broken it the first time it happened to me), but I've yet to have it actually cause a problem.

Third party replacement mop heads are in abundance and I've found massive bulk packs of them for super cheap, no difference in quality from the name brand. I toss them in my washing machine when I'm done with them and I think I've only thrown away two out of the 12 pack I bought back in February. (Sometimes you mop up something so Gross that you never want it touch anything again, no matter how many times it's been washed)

I really want the RinseClean version with double tanks, but haven't been able to justify it yet. The mop handle on ours is starting to give out after heavy daily use for almost a year, but I know it'll be way cheaper and less wasteful to just replace that when the rest is still trucking along just fine, but I'll definitely be upgrading once it...

...kicks the bucket.

[littlehouseontheaerie]

My local buy nothing group had the holiday exchange bazaar today and I always try to go even though most of my stuff doesn't end up going.

I was loaning a neighbor my pasta maker, so I had a good reason to go anyway. I ended up coming home with two sweaters because I wanted to try cream colors, a new face mask, and three cookie stamps. The neighbor who is slowly getting rid of her glass tupperware that matches our set was also there.

It just made me think - I love this sort of community. There were a metric ton of kids toys (and kids who were playing with them before making choices). Someone brought their wedding dress to give away. Some brought purses and books, one guy brought two fishing rods, and another was renovating their house and brought fixtures and fans that they didn't need.

And I'd much rather live in this world. Where I know this community, and we gift from our own excess, and the stuff that's not needed finds new homes.

[honeyshome]

x

[sagescented]

@autisticslp asked (on the old blog):

So a lot of cooking advice that people tend to give that seems very basic honestly comes from decades of experience; there's a post that floats around Tumblr sometimes, actually, that talks about how a lot of "cooking from intuition" isn't actually intuition at all. It's deeply ingrained memorization about the "laws of cooking" that we've learned over time, that feel like second nature to us to the point where we no longer have to think about it or physically reference recipes or tutorials anymore.

In essence: We're good at "taking what we have on hand and making a meal of it" because we have a lot of practice! We've built up a skill! A skill you're lacking in. And that's not a bad thing! But it also means that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself because you don't know or can't seem to grasp this stuff that seems so "second nature" or "easy" to a lot of the cooks you know. You're still really new at this! And with various disabilities and mental illnesses, cognitive issues, etc? Of course you're going to struggle harder at it than "most" seem to, to you!

As a secondary aside to that, you mentioned growing up on a farm. But farming and gardening, and the various forms of food preservation that frequently comes alongside small family subsistence farms, is a very different skill set! Knowing what's seasonal in your garden doesn't necessarily inherently translate into cooking it, and building a full meal up from scratch unless you also had someone who had that skill as well to teach you that.

I know my Husband's mom sure as hell didn't. He grew up on a farm like that, and she could can all day ... But Lord. She couldn't cook to save her life. She attempted to impart neither of these skills to my Husband, either ... I grew up on one, as well. But where my mom couldn't can or garden to save her life, she was a damned good cook and imparted those skills to me. Now I'm passing them on to my Husband decades later, because his mother failed to.

What you're ultimately missing is a fundamental set of basic skills, and a knowledge set built up over time and practice. And the good news is, those are really simple skills to learn. The bad news is, it does take a while to learn them and to build up that pool of knowledge. Most of it's experimentation, though, and not a lot of it's super difficult.

For basic knowledge of cooking science and spices, I'd recommend The Science of Cooking and The Science of Spice- both by Dr. Stuart Farrimond. I own both and love them dearly. They'll debunk some common myths, and give you a basic understanding of certain food sciences that are honestly really helpful.

When you feel like you're ready to actually sit down and experiment with spices, I love The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World by Padma Lakshmi. It has information on various spices, tells you their cultural contexts, mentions what they're usually used on in those contexts (vegetables, which meats, etc), and even gives you some common cultural spice blends (though doesn't provide measurements). It's a thick boy, but it's a really fun one to work through if you have no introduction to spices or idea how to use them.

Past that, something you need to build yourself is a well stocked pantry with staple basics. I can't tell you what those are for you. That's something you have to figure out for yourself based on what you cook, how often, etc. But my minimum has always been at least 2 months worth of food in my pantry at any given time, across a broad enough spectrum that I can pick just about anything out of a recipe and only really need to shop for the fresh or immediate-need ingredients each week.

Staple Grains like Rice, Lentils, Cous Cous, and Quinoa.

Pasta Noodles of various types- like Elbow, Rigatoni, Bowtie, Penne, Fettuccini, and Spaghetti

Potatoes in the form of Mashed Potatoes and Scalloped Potatoes both, as well as a "fresh" bag each of Russet, Yellow, and Red Potatoes

Onions. I keep a mesh bag each of Red and Yellow (or White; whichever's cheapest at the time I'm shopping) on hand at all times.

Boxes of Stock (Chicken, Beef, Vegetable, and Protein Broth when I can find it)

Canned items that I use a lot of, like Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste, every kind of Bean (Cannellini, Great Northern, Dark Red, Light red, Black, Pinto, etc), and Chickpeas; plus canned fish (Tuna and Salmon, Sardines, etc)

Condensed Creams Of (Chicken and Mushroom are the two we use most often)

Spices. Of every kind. You literally do not want to see my spice box. It's insane. Yes I'm proud of it. But it would make the average person cry with confusion and fear.

Frozen Veggies in the freezer (Green Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Squashes, etc; personally I prefer the frozen to the canned)

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting. But ultimately when you have a full pantry and only have to buy your fresh or immediate-need ingredients? It not only massively saves your grocery bill each week, but it also makes it so much easier to "make things with what you have on hand". Because a large part of the trick is, honestly, having things on hand to make stuff with in the first place. And that's really the big secret that goes unspoken in a lot of circles. But it really shouldn't be an unspoken secret, because it holds so many people back.

Another secret is just knowing basic cooking methods. What is chopping vs dicing? How do you pan fry? What's a dry fry vs a wet fry? What about baking? Broiling? Boiling? What happens if you stew an ingredient instead? How big does it have to be for each of these methods? How does it perform with rice as opposed to cous cous? How is it raw- if it can be eaten raw? Other than that, just knowing recipes is really going to be the big key.

Unfortunately I don't have a recommend for learning any of these ones, since I learned all this the hard way. I do see some cook books that could be useful (like Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored Vegetable-Focused Meals by Nik Sharma; or Vegetables: The Ultimate Cookbook Featuring 300+ Delicious Plant-Based Recipes by Laura Sorkin). I can't personally recommend them, however, because I've never read or used them. But there's a lot of information out there on youtube that can be very helpful, especially for methodology since it's a visual medium- which is, I think, the best way to learn some of these skills in particular.

Personally, I did the recipe thing by looking at cuisines from regions where those foods or ingredients were really popular. So take your Eggplant for example. Eggplants feature a lot in Mediterranean, Levantine, and Middle Eastern cuisines. So when you want to learn how to use Eggplant and build up your knowledge about it? Looking at the people in those regions who use this ingredient a lot already is going to be really helpful to you. They know what they're doing with it!

When you've made those dishes a few times, you're going to get an understanding not only of how to prepare Eggplant for various methods of cooking, and how to cook it for those methods. But you're also going to get an understanding of what flavors pair well with it. And after a while of doing that, you're naturally going to start thinking "what if I do x instead?" and start experimenting on your own. Play with them. Get to know the ingredient on the most foundational level. And yeah, throw some herbs on it if you're comfortable! See what meshes with what flavors. What do you like? And yeah, some of those are going to be flops. But by the time you start thinking "what if" your skills are usually further progressed than you'd think to give yourself credit for. Just ask my Husband, ha!

As for the stuff regarding disability, mental illness, and cognitive function, I gotchu, babe! One of the most distressing things for me when I became disabled, started suffering really bad from cognitive decline, and started dealing with memory loss, was looking at the potential of never being able to cook for myself again. And that scared the piss out of me, because cooking is my joy. And so my Husband and I sat down and prioritized cooking and making it disability friendly for me. Here's some of the stuff we did.

First step: Get your butt a stool that's a comfortable height for your counter height. Once acquired, sit as much as you can in the kitchen. It conserves energy and lets you use more of it to focus your head.

Second: Get yourself all those fun little gadgets you think look interesting or helpful. Personally I have a fruit slicer (that works on more than just apples), a slap chopper microplane thingy, and a few others. Mostly I got these because occasionally my body loses my hands and has no idea where they went and it's safer for me. But I can't tell you how nice they are even when my body knows where my hands are, ha; they speed up prep, keep your fingers safe (usually), and leave more room for the brain to do its thing.

Third: Make as many lists as you can! I have a list on the inside of all my pantry doors of the staples that are in that section. When something needs refilling it allows me to put a mark there so I know to put it on the grocery list. But it also provides a quick reference when my brain's tired; it's so much easier for me to read a list than try and decipher box labels with various colors, font sizes, etc. Make lists wherever you need them and always keep them accessible.

Fourth: The recipe box. Yes. A good, old fashioned, classic recipe box. I have mine filled with tried and true recipes that I know for a fact my Husband and I love, that I know we have at least 90% of the ingredients on hand for at any given moment. So if all else fails and I can't think of anything? I can just go pull something out of the box and have him jot down to the store for anything we don't have.

Fifth: Keep easy meals on stock, because some days you really can't cook. Your brain won't let you, and that's ok! That's fine! But you still gotta eat, right? So we keep stuff like bagged Blackened Chicken Alfredo, Dirty Rice, Mongolian Beef, Jambalaya, Broccoli Beef, Red Beans & Rice, etc, on hand in the outdoor fridge. If at any point I just can't do it? We grab some of those instead.

And the good news is, you can spruce up a quick meal! Making Dirty Rice? Throw in some bread and butter, and a side of boiled Green Beans from the garden. Blackened Chicken Alfredo? Throw some Bell Pepper on in there; you can bulk this stuff up easily with your produce, and it takes even less effort most of the time.

As for the Covid sense of taste / smell? Keep trucking. It does get better; I suffered bad from Post-Covid Parosmia for nearly 2 years after I caught Covid the first time- bad enough to the point I couldn't bathe myself because of the smell of our water being nauseating to me; couldn't eat anything with Corn, or Wheat, or Onion, or Garlic in it for a year, either. the second I tried, my body auto rejected it. Bananas tastes like Iris flowers smelt ... I feel your pain so hard.

But it does get better. Your system is just rewiring itself completely from scratch right now. And Lord, it's so unpleasant. But the more you give it to taste, and smell, the better it does and the faster it rewires itself. Don't force yourself to eat things that are nauseating or unpleasant. But do branch out. Experiment. Even if it tastes left of how you remember it, keep going! I can't promise you'll get everything back (Lord knows there's still some things that aren't quite right for me, even 4 years later now). But it gets better!

I hope any of this helps- even if it's not as helpful if you'd like it to be. Hang in there, love.

My ask box is always open and Anon is currently ON.

[808nontrad]

nothing like bad grades from fifteen years ago tanking my MD dreams… welp, still go DO!

[crazycatsiren]

Tradwives get blocked on sight.

I hate your white supremacist guts.

[samwisethewitch]

As someone who loves to cook but has very bad spatial awareness due to ADHD, I get my clothes absolutely filthy every time I'm in the kitchen. An apron would fix this, but I'm genuinely having trouble finding one online that doesn't give off tradwife influencer/Waldorf homeschool mom/evangelical cult of womanhood vibes. Does anyone know where I can find an apron that will keep my clothes clean but like. in a way that says "I'm a queer disabled woman who loves vaccines"?

[homesteadingqueer]

Homesteading Resources Master Post

So, I have been really into homesteading lately, you call it a hyperfixation, I call it free dopamine. This is my masterlist of sources for different aspects of homesteading life. I plan on making a life in the city homesteading masterlist too. Please be careful when canning a preserving food, I am not an expert, but these sources seemed credible so be sure to can with caution.

Happy Homesteading!

General

Homesteading 101

Skills to Develop

Farmers Market Directory

Ways to make a Profit

Farmer's Almanac

Livestock

Livestock Pros and Cons

Meat Rabbit Guide

Pigs Guide

Chicken Guide

Ducks Guide

Goat Guide

Sheep Guide

Meat Cow Guide

Milk Cow Guide

Gardening

Composting

USA Planting Zones

Europe Planting Zones

Homemade Pest Control

High Yield Garden

High Yield Vegetables

Pollinator Garden

Canning

Canning 101

Fruit

Vegetables

Kitchen

Veggie Recipes

Bone Broth

Wheat to Bread

Sustainability

Self Sufficiency

Reduce, Reuse, Recycling

Clothes Mending

Crafts

Cross Stitch

Embroidery

Whittling

Crochet

Quilting

Knitting

[fibre-foxx]

A hot breakfast and a cold morning.

Usually the first snow of the year doesn't stick; but after this three day downpour of the white stuff, I think it is probably here to stay. I've been sitting on the balcony more; enjoying the winter coat I got last year, and drinking in the peace and quiet that the snow brings to everything.