#dogbane

[sqrkyclean]

you find the corpse of an angel in the desert in the form of a thousand glittering beetles

[pouchedrat]

Dogbane beetles on a hemp dogbane that grows in my community garden next to my tomatoes.

[uxbridge]

More night flowers

[breelandwalker]

Found some sprouts of dogbane while clearing my yard this weekend. I clipped a few sprigs and used the sticky sap to reinforce my protection spells, then left the rest to grow. Dogbane is indigenous to my area and my mother-in-law (gods rest her) used to maintain a patch on her homestead. We'll be keeping this patch going if we can.

Also unlocked a memory as I was pulling up huge bundles of vetchweed and clover. When I was very young, I would sing while picking flowers because Disney movies had taught me that songs could make flowers bloom. And in my 5yo mind, I believed it would help more flowers grow if I sang to them.

Soooo I guess I've been at this magic thing longer than I thought, even if it was purely accidental at the time. 😅

Anyway, another step toward the garden I've always wanted. I'll keep you posted!

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A post shared by Bree NicGarran (@breenicgarran)

[zoology-time]

Hemp Dogbane (flowering & fruiting), Apocynum cannabinum

[cricketwrangler]

Different stages of dogbane processing. Experimenting how best to clean and separate the fibers without losing a bunch and breaking down all the long lengths. I haven't carded the most recent batch, but 1. Scraping off outer bark before splitting the fibers from the pith and 2. Cleaning them with a comb instead of going straight to cards seems to be helping. Although a big part tbh was just splitting the stalks cleanly with a knife instead of breaking apart by hand.

Insane how soft they are when carded well though--hard to find specific resources (there's some youtube on a lot of these bits but not as much for washing/post spinning processing) but wondering if it'll need boiled and beat the way flax does (from what I can tell nettle too).

Experimenting is fun but hate ruining stuff the further I get in processing. I have a good stock of stems foraged and know where to get more (although they're more at risk of being degraded this far in the season) but it does take a long time for a little. I'm having fun with it and doing small bits at a time due to caution and impatience lol but if I ever want to get as far as actually making something. I will need to actually make a lot lol.

[headspace-hotel]

What if I made a cloth of milkweed using bast fibers for warp and seedfluffs for weft

i'm discovering the sublime joys of natural plant fibers. literally don't know how to knit or crochet or anything and barely know how to sew but extracting and spinning fibers is apparently like the golden ratio of physical and mental activities for me. It's so much fun I will lose hours at a time just HONED in on my yarn and stuff.

Milkweed is so awesome as a plant oh my god. It produces ultra-soft seed fluffs that apparently can be spun if you're careful, the fibers are so smooth they can easily pull apart but making three strands and spinning them into a three-ply yarn seems promising, seems like it would be strong enough to work with. The seed fluffs were historically used widely as stuffing for jackets and pillows and the like, which they are amazing for. Milkweed fluff is way warmer than wool apparently? And on top of it, it has this gorgeous silky sheen. It's SO pretty and it's SO soft.

But the milkweed stems also have bast fiber which is very strong and is obtained by taking the dead stems and beating the crap out of them until the woody stuff is all broken and the fibers separate. This stuff is strong and soft and also has a nice sheen to it and I'm excited to see what could be made from it

Altogether it's a shit ton of usable material per plant, all of which is harvested after the plant dies back for the winter, not affecting its ability to regrow the next spring. With common milkweed, the stems can be greater than 6ft tall and the seed pods are big and each containing a lot of fluff. I filled a whole plastic grocery bag with seed pods, easy, just by walking through a field with lots of milkweed.

Apparently an old common name for milkweed is "wild cotton" which strongly suggests that the seed fluffs have been used for textile purposes

I've also learned from browsing foraging sites, the Myaamia ethnobotanical database and various books that Milkweed has an insane amount of culinary uses. It must be cooked because of the poisons in it that discourage munching by predators, but you can eat the leaves, the flowers, the underdeveloped seed pods (apparently they are compared to cheese?! And the flowers color drinks pink??)

like whoa! so much benefit from one single plant!

I'm working with Dogbane (Apocynonum cannabinum) bast fibers right now and they're sooooo great. Not only is beating the fibers a ton of fun, the fibers are a really beautiful shiny chestnut-blonde sort of color and very strong and fine and soft.

Dogbane fibers also have this lovely fragrance that is like a blend of cedar and forest soil and old books. Milkweed has its own distinct fragrance, very subtle, that I struggle to describe and don't like as much, but it's cool to notice that it has a smell.

[onenicebugperday]

Saw what I believe is a dogbane beetle a few weeks ago! I think he looks very shiny in this particular photo I got :]

Very nice! One of the prettiest leaf beetle species for sure. And yes, it's a dogbane leaf beetle.

[kaitokitty19]

More APTX!Saguru shenanigan 😅😅😅

Aristocrat of Evil (3/3)

[towildblueskies]

luckily he have purse 💚

[vandaliatraveler]

Photos above are from a trip into the mountains yesterday. I managed to get out to Lindy Point in the Blackwater River Canyon before the overlook was swarmed with sightseers (top two photos). The rhododendron is blooming now - the drive in from Blackwater Falls State Park is magical this time of year. As it descends through the canyon, the Blackwater River transforms into turbulent whitewater, but just above the canyon, where it turns out of Canaan Valley (5th photo down), it's a gentle, serene stream perfect for floating. I also tried out some different trails in Yellow Creek Natural Area and Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The lowbush blueberries are ripening now - a sweet little snack to improve the hiking experience. :-)

[sqrkyclean]

love doodling dumb shit of my dnd oc

[wetwaspdesigns]

And to accompany Longtail , this boy

This is my way of saying I dont care whay the books say im making them at least kind of genetically accurate and the best way I could do that with Swiftpaw is making him a calico. So trans swiftpaw is my headcanon now have fun with that

[arthropodopolis]

*crying emoji*

Dogbane Beetle, Chrysochus auratus

[quilldesignz]

It's me again! If you want another fanon swap, could I get a fae Joe?

you absolutely can!

this design of @joehills took quite a few iterations (I left several of them on the page) since I decided to steal some ideas for what the fae are from @filibusterfrog 's amazing worldbuilding concepts for fae and archfey.

I would say this is based on the dogbane leaf beetle, but really, it only was a passing influence

[sorrcha]

dogbane beetle.. love their colors so much