#i grew up on a medical weed farm

[800-dick-pics]

kilos should be 50 bucks in the us too :'c

[pennysperfectpolls]

Penny poll Bracket 2 Finals

Penny Lamb/Jane Doe (Legoland / Ride the Cyclone) vs

Penelope (The Odyssey)

Propaganda under the cut

Penny Lamb/Jane Doe (Legoland / Ride the Cyclone)

• Okay I am not the person to be propaganda making for her but she's so cool she died once and then came back she's also a bit uhh deranged is a good word

• Penny Lamb (and her younger brother Ezra) lived in a hippie weed growing commune until she was thirteen and snuck out to a walmart, eventually leading to the entire thing burning to the ground. Then they lived in a tiny town named Uranium City and she got relentlessly bullied and even set on fire until she was given a cd by another girl from a band called Seven Up. She formed a parasocial relationship with the singer, who then turned into a misogynistic rapper. She travelled from northern Saskatchewan to Florida to meet him and thank him for basically making her life tolerable and enjoyable, and then ended up tearing a chunk of flesh out of his face with her teeth all at the age of 15 years old. Two years later after a concert with her school choir, she was beheaded on a fair rollercoaster called the Cyclone, becoming a Jane Doe until she was voted back to life. While she was Jane Doe, she wore the head of a porcelain doll as to not freak the other kids out!

• she was born a hippie, she bites and maims a famous rapper with hot coffee, she has a little brother obsessed with german philosophy, she plays the ukulele, she has a fuck ass bob. she gets fucking DECAPITATED by a roller coaster but survives because she is so offputting. what else do you need in a woman

• Where do I START with Penny. Basically she grew up socially isolated on a community pot farm until the age of 13, where she and her brother ran away to Walmart and started pretending to revive him from seizures because of how much attention she got. She was eventually driven back home where the entire community was drug busted burned to the ground, their parents being arrested, friends taken away, entire home destroyed. Instead of being sent to foster care, she’s and her brother are sent to a catholic boarding school, where they live mostly unsupervised. Penny is relentlessly bullied for supposedly being a lesbian, and diagnosed as bipolar and manic depressive while her brother (three years younger than her) sells his adhd medication to college kids to make ends meet. Soon after having her backpack lit on fire by bullies, she starts to fall into a deep depressive episode, not coming out of her room for days, until a catholic girl takes pity on her, and gives her a hiphop/boyband CD for her to listen to called 7-up (important later). Penny obsessed on the lead singer Johnny moon to an unhealthy degree until the band breaks up and Johnny rebrands to JK47, a misogynist gangster rapper who penny can’t stand. Penny and her brother run away from middle of knowwhere Canada to Florida to meet him so penny can win him back and remind him of how much she loves him and how cool he used to be. This doesn’t go well, as he doesn’t drop his gangster persona, calling her the same insult all her previous bullies did, leading to her throwing hot coffee on him, tearing a chunk off flesh out of his face with her teeth, and subsequently being arrested and later out on probation. Penny ALSO gets her own movie (in the play) and tells the audience this very story in a presentation with goofy puppets. Penny’s story is funny and absurd but at the same time incredibly tragic and heartbreaking. She also appears in ride the cyclone where she’s revealed to be the identity of Jane Doe (who had her head cut off before she was found dead in the rollercoaster accident with the other choir kids and was therefor never identified)

• she is a femamist lesbian and I am in love with her

• She's known as Jane Doe throughout the musical because she doesn't know who she is in death, her head is a doll's head because she lost her real one in the rollercoaster disaster that killed all the characters, she's the one who wins the prize of coming back from death which is when we learn her true name Penny. Her song is absolutely *beautiful* (The Ballad of Jane Doe) and she is the Penny of all time because I love her

• Girlie already lost her head we can’t take her victory too :(

Penelope (The Odyssey)

• She waited about 20 years for her husband to come home she used her huge brain to keep the suitors away for ages I just think she's neat

• She is LOYAL. She is SMART. She is HARDWORKING. She waited for TWENTY YEARS. Penelope is a QUEEN (literally). PENELOPE SWEEP

[fadeintoyou1993]

💕Positivity prime time! Share five things you love about yourself, four things you're excited about, OR three people you care deeply about and why. Pass this along to someone whose posts make you smile💕

this is so cute i'll do all of them bc i'm in a good mood today :)

5 things i love about myself

i love how resilient i am :) i used to think i wasn't and i just was weak as hell and everything was too hard but by learning my limitations & understanding how the things i've been through over the years (especially growing up In My Context undiagnosed w several mental disorders) have affected me & made me into who i am today and i love that even if things get pretty bad now, i know i'll get through it somehow

i love my sense of humor. i really think i'm so funny and i'm not sorry everytime i make someone laugh i feel like i've won a million dollars

i love how passionate i am about things because whenever it gets too hard to keep going or even seeing a reason to, things i love and care about can take me out of that mindspace pretty quickly

i love my tattoos! even the smallest ones have special meanings to me and i grew up obsessed w them and wanting to have them for so long and i think it's so awesome that I just. Get to have them now. awesome

i think i'm a pretty patient/understanding/forgiving person? not w myself (altho i'm working on it so hard and it kinda shows by the first item) but i think that i'm a good friend/person that people can count to and feel comfortable to be themselves around me. sometimes it's to my own detriment (i'm also working on it but codependency is so hard) but idk i like that like, i'm not good at socialization offline due to autism, but within this little community i have built for myself over the years i have known and kept up friendships with people from different places/contexts/lives and i just. really love having friends lmao i guess that's two things? but well here u go

4 things i'm excited about

i'll have a yellowjackets watchparty sleepover w my friends on saturday!!! i'm excited abt that :)

i get the stitches off my mouth on friday HOPEFULLY so i'm also excited to be able to like. Open my mouth without feeling like i'm going to die

i'm excited to get my tracy chapman vinyl! my cousin went on a trip to são paulo w her bf last week and she said she found an awesome used record store that she wants to take me too sometime and she remembered i mentioned i was looking for this one when we were talking about the records i want ♡ i should get it sometime next week I think!!!

i'm excited to get my updated assessment results this month 😭 i miss being medicated so fucking bad my god... BUT SOON!!!!!

3 people i care about & why

@scre6m -> well dee is my bestest friend in the whole world like i dont know how we have spent most of our lives not knowing each other & icb we only know each other for lile 4 years. they r literally like a brother / sister / soulmate i've never had anyone in my life i can be so vulnerable with & know that they feel the same way like genuinely i've learned a lot abt myself / friendship / love / life in general by having a friend like him & i literally cannot imagine not having them in my life i'd probably die fr fr. dee has helped me understand i'm allowed to be myself unapologetically & i literally cannot even explain how much he means to me. whenever we have lil misunderstandings & spend like 3 hours without talking bc we r both stubborn n dumb (affectionate) its literally like in bottoms 2023 when josie and pj fight and complicated by avril lavigne is on and josie is kicking cans (dee) and pj is being a stupid bitch eating canned food on the stairs (me) literally just like that. i cannot imagine life not being tweedle bru to their tweedle dee frfr. anyways yea dee is my person 🫂 i hope in like 30 years we live in a big weed farm like in popstar: never stop never stopping

@blackfairyemoji -> tami is literally like a little sister to me like i love showing her things & love learning abt the things she cares about & i'm always like rooting so much for her. she is so incredibly talented and smart and one of the funniest people on EARTH like i'll remember some shit she said while i'm doing something and i'll just start laughingjdkdkdk she is so creative & kind & such a beautiful person inside and out and i cannot wait to see her do big things bc i know she will!! trust n believe!! thats my lil sister genuinely. and the fact she is literally the exact same age as my brother makes it all so much real frfr. my dream is to be present for the first time she gets high and listens to music

@nightmarebees -> MY WHITE DAD JACKIE BEAR.... literally love jackie so much like from the moment i saw her blog back in like 2018? or 2019? im bad w numbers but i rmr reading her description and she literally had all of my very specific niche interests listed and i was like. Dude what. we have got to become friends. and we DID!! jackie is such a kind, understanding, funny, loving person and quite literally the smartest person i know. like she knows so much whenever i have a question about something i'm like hey dad what the fuck is____ and she's like thank you for asking, and it's incredible. i love talking to her about media & literature and getting really fucking meta about things bc jackie understands and helps me organize my thoughts w her big historian brain. she's truly one of the best people i know! and i cannot wait to try her baking 🥺

[fanfictionsandtea]

Peaky Blinders AU where everybody smokes weed instead of tobacco

The Shelbys first discovered weed through an ex-soldier of the colonial army (East India Company).

Thomas was sceptical at first because he knew what opium could do to your body. He was scared that his brothers would get addicted to that new drug he knew little about.

John on the other side was not afraid at all. Behind Tommys back he smoked a bowl of the good Kush and immediately fell in love with Mary Jane.

He began to meet more often with the ex-soldier who was already an experienced pothead and grew his own weed in his backyard.

He also began to smoke on his own and soon discovered the medical benefits as well. After a fight the first thing he would do was not to bandage his wounds but to light up a bowl of his favourite strain.

One day Thomas and Arthur drove to Johns house to suprise him.

When he opened the door the smoke that was trapped in the room escaped in a cloud like manner. His eyes were barely open and looked very irritated.

"What happened to you?", Arthur asked perplexed.

"Oh, I know that bloody smell. John, tell me you are not smoking that fucking flower!", Thomas growled.

"Calm down, Thomas. It helps me with the pain from all the fighting."

"Really?", Arthur asked, "Do you think it could help me with my back?"

"Sure, come in."

John prepered a great bowl full of White Widow. He started laughing as Arthur coughed his soul out of his body. Arthur fell into Johns armchair. He closed his eyes and had a big smile on his face. John was happy about his positiv reaction of sudden relaxation and prepared another bowl for himself.

"John, are you fucking kidding me?", Thomas said with an agressiv voice.

"You should try it, Tommy.", Arthur replied and started coughing again.

"C´mon you´re smoking your bloody opium every second night and now your judging me for smoking some pot."

"Drugs are bloody dangerous, John!", he shouted.

"Damn, Thomas, keep it quiet.", Arthur complained.

"It´s not dangerous. Well, it´s not worse than a cigarette. Weed has a lot of medical benefits. It can help you with pain, stress and even anxiety and depression among other things. It makes all the bad thoughts go away. Try it at least before you judge me."

"Alright, prepare me a bowl."

Thomas first experience was amazing. The weed got his creative juices flowing throughout his body. He started planning to grow his own weed to be financially independent and when an idea hit him like a train. Money. He could sell weed amongst all his friends and enemies to make them dependent on him.

"Guys, we´re starting a new business."

Thomas managed to get some seeds from connection to Amsterdam. At first they only grew weed in there backyards but they expanded quickly into green house complexes specially built for their farming efforts.

Polly was facinated by the new plant. It helped her forgetting about all the bad things that had happened to her in the past. After growing her own marijuana plants she realized how much she loved gardening and began to get deeper into the art of botany especially in regards to crossing different breeds. Her weed became to known as the strongest in all of Birmingham.

Isaiah, Finn and the other boys stopped snorting snow, which Thomas saw as a big improvement of the family.

Ada and the communists natrually loved it, too. They worked together on giant publicly owned fields to support their commune.

Johns oldest boy sometimes snuck out to steel some weed from Esmes purse even though John was always ambitioned to keep children away from drugs.

"I told you a thousand times that pot is only for cannabis patients and adults!" (What up YouTube YouTube what up Jolli Olli comin atcha for CustomGrow420... go check him out)

Alfie Solomon was a bit sceptical at first but he didn´t regret trying it. After blazing he had some beautiful intimate moments with his god.

Everyone was happy and soon the weed wave spread all across the isles and beyond to all corners of the British Empire.

But one day John talked to a guy who gave him shrooms.

[afroherbalism]

"Emma Dupree (1897-1992) was an influential black herbalist from Falkland and Fountain, in Pitt County in North Carolina. She was known locally as “granny woman.”

Because she prays, she brews herbs. Because she brews herbs, she heals. Because she heals, she is the undisputed sage of Pitt County. They say her home remedies can quiet a colicky baby, cure a mean cold and scare lice off a hog.

"All that we see, everything that is growin' in the earth," Emma says, "is healin' to the nation of any kind of disease."

She was the daughter of freed slaves and grew up on the Tar River. She was known for her work with native herbs: Sassafras, white mint, double tansy, rabbit tobacco, maypop, mullein, catnip, horseradish, and silkweed.

Here is an excerpt from an article published shortly after her death:

"From the time she could walk, Emma felt drawn to the land. She would roam the woods, plucking, sniffing, tasting weeds. She grew up that way, collecting the leaves, stems, roots and bark of sweet gum, white mint, mullen, sassafras in her coattail or a tin bucket. She'd tote them back to the farm, rinse them in well water and tie them in bunches to dry. In the backyard, she'd raise a fire under a kettle and boil her herbs to a bubbly froth, then pour it up in brown-necked stone jugs: A white-mint potion for poor circulation; catnip tea for babies with colic; tansy tea - hot or cold - for low blood sugar; mullein tea for a stomach ache. Mixed with molasses or peppermint candy to knock out the bitterness. Her kind of folk medicine dates back centuries. In the 1600s, African slaves brought root-doctor remedies to America. Indians and immigrants had cure-alls, too. In some rural areas, scattered herbalists still practice."

She was born on July 4, 1897, the seventh among 18 siblings, Emma Williams Dupree grew up on the Tar River and was known in her family as "that little medicine thing" because of her early understanding of herbs.

Her parents, Pennia and Noah Williams, were freed slaves farming in Falkland, NC.

She told an interviewer in 1979 that her mother remembered being "on the porch of the old Wooten's farm home when freedom came. She was 16 when Mr. and Mrs. Wooten walked out on that porch and told her she was 'as free as they were, but they loved her just the same.'"

She was married for one year to Ethan Cherry, a farmer. She divorced him and remarried another farmer, Austin Dupree, Jr., who was born in 1892. Emma and Austin moved to Fountain, NC in 1936 and had five children, whose ages in the 1930 U.S. Census are indicated in parentheses: Lucy (12), Herbert (9), John (5), Doris (3), and Mary (1).

They remained married until his death at age 90. She died at home, at 3313 N. Jefferson St, Fountain, on March 12, 1996. She is buried at Saint John's Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, in Falkland,NC.

Emma Dupree's "garden-grown pharamacy" included sassafras, white mint, double tansy, rabbit tobacco, maypop, mullein, catnip, horseradish, silkweed and other plants from which she made tonics, teas, salves and dried preparations. These were cultivated in her yard and gathered from the banks of the Tar River. She told Karen Baldwin that she grew a special tree in her back yard, which she called her "healing berry tree."

She explained, "Now that tree, I don't know of another name for it, but it's in the old-fashioned Bible and the seed for it came from Rome." She also told Baldwin of being an especially alert baby: "They said I was just looking every which way. And I kept acting and moving and doing things a baby didn't do. And I walked early. I was walking at seven months old, just as good and strong. When I got so I got out doors, I went to work. I was pulling up weeds, biting them, smelling in them, and spitting them out. And folks in them days, they just watched me, watched what I was doing.

Awards and Recognition

In 1984, Dupree was awarded the Brown-Hudson Award by the North Carolina Folklore Society, recognizing her as an individual who contributed significantly to the transmission, appreciation and observance of traditional culture and folk life in North Carolina.

In 1992, Dupree received the North Carolina Heritage Award, lifetime achievement recognition for outstanding traditional artists in North Carolina

NOTE:

Here is a link to a video of Mrs Emma Dupree being interviewed by students of the ECU medical research department. This video is Produced by the office of Health Services Research and Development, School of Medicine, East Carolina University.

It is 40 minutes long.

Link: https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/58575?fbclid=IwAR1e22I8_vRfvzI0nZXDBT8XG7Z-4DgiNykjqsbPD8hoD2Aw8haC2uI8vvo#details

Source;https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/ncpi/view/5581

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Dupree

---

Herbalist, 94, Lets Nature Heal

by Paige Williams Feb 20, 1992

Before her came African root doctors and Indian medicine men. People believed their mystical potions could cure body and soul and sometimes they could. Some modern medicines still use herbal derivatives. Few old-time herbalists like Emma are left in North Carolina. Hospitals first forced her kind out of business. Death is finishing the job. Emma Dupree's hanging tough, though, pushing 10 decades. She takes the tonic, see. Drinks it like water. She jumps out of her chair, props fists on her waist and swivels her hips Hula-Hoop style. She holds both hands out flat and squirms her wrinkled fingers all around, crossing and uncrossing, like she's making a million wishes. No arthritis there.

"There's something to that stuff," said her granddaughter, Sandra White.

Joe Exum, town grocer, keeps a Crown Royal bourbon bottle under the front seat of his pickup truck. It holds the slimy remnants of Emma's tonic: oily brown syrup that looks like tobacco spit, stings the nose like paint thinner and tastes like pine tar smells.

"I'd pay $50 for a bottle right now," Exum said. "Two swallers and it'll knock the sore throat right out." He's waiting for Emma to brew another batch. She stewed her last at Christmas. She used to make the tonic right steady, every day almost, the way she learned 80 years ago, when the woods first called her.

Pitt County borders the Pamlico River 80 miles east of Raleigh. Its largest town is Greenville, the county seat, population

44,972. One of its smallest is Fountain, population 445, founded in 1900 on the western rim. Emma Dupree was Emma Williams then, a 3-year-old growing up the daughter of freed slaves on a farm 9 miles east in Falkland, where she was born the Fourth of July, 1897. Emma was the knee baby, second from the youngest of seven girls and four boys, and always hanging on her mama's knee. Early on, Pennia and Noah Williams knew she was nature's child. From the time she could walk, Emma felt drawn to the land.

She would roam the woods, plucking, sniffing, tasting weeds. She grew up that way, collecting the leaves, stems, roots and bark of sweet gum, white mint, mullen, sassafras in her coattail or a tin bucket. She'd tote them back to the farm, rinse them in well water and tie them in bunches to dry. In the backyard, she'd raise a fire under a kettle and boil her herbs to a bubbly froth, then pour it up in brown-necked stone jugs: A white-mint potion for poor circulation; catnip tea for babies with colic; tansy tea - hot or cold - for low blood sugar; mullen tea for a stomach ache. Mixed with molasses or peppermint candy to knock out the bitterness. Her kind of folk medicine dates back centuries. In the 1600s, African slaves brought root-doctor remedies to America. Indians and immigrants had cure-alls, too. In some rural areas, scattered herbalists still practice.

"It's dying out," says Charles Reagan Wilson of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. "People more and more rely on modern science." Pitt County's got both. Modern medicine and Emma Dupree. Her school was God's school; her classroom, the land. While the other children played, she picked herbs. Sometimes she caught the other children talking about her: "There comes that ol' rovin' gal. Reckon where she goin' now?" Yet they always followed her.

When Emma was about 20, she married Ethan Cherry, a farmer. It lasted about a year. The story goes that Cherry went one wisecrack too far about how many women it takes to satisfy a man. Emma whacked him with a chair. Knocked him out cold. Then she divorced him. "He wasn't no good husband." She married another farmer, Austin Dupree. They moved to Fountain in 1936. Old age killed him in the the early 1970s. He was nearly 90. Of Emma's five children, only Doris, 66, is left. She lives next door to Emma's little white-and-green house on Jefferson Street, a longtime magnet to the afflicted.

Herbs' earthy aroma herbs brewed day and night. Their warm earthy aroma filled the whole house. Emma poured her tonic up in glass vinegar jugs and canning jars and kept it in a pantry off the kitchen. Somebody was always knocking on the front door. Emma would fetch it: "Now you take this with faith because it's not me. I'm just the instrument." She never set a price. People paid what they could, sometimes $5, sometimes $30. "It was a common thing for people to literally be waiting in line," said White, 38, the granddaughter Emma raised. People sought advice, too. They'd bang on the door, pull her aside: "Can I talk to you?" Fountain's own Ann Landers. "You can tell her a problem and she can work it out so it don't seem so bad," White said.

Some, she couldn't help. Once, a young girl dying of leukemia and weary of doctors showed up at Emma's door. Emma suspected it was hopeless. Still, she couldn't say no. She gave her the tonic. "I don't want to make her sound like a saint," White said, "but she tried to help everybody." Emma won't take the credit. "Whatever your talent, whatever you is, you come with it," she said. "When you come into this world, God's done fixed you with what you got to do." To townspeople, she's "Aunt Emma."

In December, they made her grand marshal of the Fountain Christmas parade, all two blocks of it. She waved from the back of the long white limousine borrowed from the local funeral home. Only the best for the sage of Pitt County.

Source:https://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/herbalist-lets-nature-heal/article_3b0e06d1-4af9-5567-93ee-bc4b50d5867f.html

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

When the Sun Goes Down

This story is a heavily edited adaptation of “Gabriel-Ernest”, written by H.H. Munro in 1909. I owe this whole story to @tinyplaidninjas​ (thank you for helping me fix my werewolf story dilemma).

This is almost 3k words long, fair warning

tw: kinda horny, nudity

---

"There is a wild beast in your woods," said Lambert, as the two men were being driven to the station. It was the only remark he’d made during the drive, but since Geralt had talked incessantly about his latest publication in the Kaedwen Journal of Medicine, his half-brother’s silence had not been noticeable.

"A stray fox or two, or perhaps some wandering brownies. Nothing more formidable," said Geralt. His brother said nothing.

---

"What did you mean about a wild beast?" Geralt asked later, when they were on the train platform with their bags and tickets in hand. Geralt was bound for his private woodland estate while Lambert was making his way into town to visit with friends. 

"Nothing. Probably just my wild imagination running away with me again. Here comes the train," Lambert rushed. 

Geralt found it odd, but said nothing. Perhaps he should not have gone on at length about the Medical Journal in the carriage. Perhaps Lambert was tired or overanxious about his meeting with Aiden. It had been years since the two college friends had seen each other in person and Geralt knew that his brother held the other, equally brilliant artist in high esteem. Surely, that was the reason for Lambert’s odd dismissal of his questions.

---

Once he’d returned to his estate and unpacked his bags, Geralt decided to take a stroll through the woods. He often took a leisurely walk in the late afternoon; the trees were full of chittering animals and preening birds this time of day, after all. The natural scientist and medical doctor found the great outdoors to be brimming with new discoveries. He wanted to pick everything apart and reassemble it accurately and down to the last minute detail. He wanted to know why certain animals behaved the way they did and how they communicated with each other. He wanted to know why the little white flowering plants in his yard only bloomed every other day. He craved the answer to the universal question of why as it applied to everything.

The doctor would often spend long afternoons sitting absolutely still in the center of his garden, observing the wildlife as it moved around him. Last summer he’d even managed to get a wild rabbit to eat out of his hand. 

Now, though, the forest path seemed uncomfortably quiet. Had a larger predator taken to wandering his grounds? If so, he’d need to send word to a local hunter’s lodge and request assistance in ridding himself of the pest. As he was debating who to inquire after, he came across an unusual sight.

On a shelf of smooth stone overhanging a deep pool just to the side of the path, a boy of eighteen lay asprawl. He was drying his tan, dripping limbs luxuriously in the light of the late-summer sun and he had very few cares about doing so, according to his state of complete undress. His wet brown hair, (disheveled as it was by a recent mussing with his long, slender fingers) and bright blue eyes, so light that there was an almost cat-like gleam to them, were aimed in Geralt’s direction with a sense of lazy watchfulness. 

He was an unexpected although not unwelcome apparition, and Geralt found himself quite ignoring his eldest brother’s good advice of “thinking before one spoke”. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in what he hoped was a stance of great authority. 

"What are you doing on my property?" he demanded. “And have you no shame? Trespassing for a cool dip in the water I could forgive, but you don’t even have the proper clothing to do so.”

"Obviously I came here to have a swim and sun myself," replied the boy. “I rather like how it feels to be bare beneath the warmth of the open sky.”

"Where do you live?" Geralt inquired, stepping closer. Every instinct in his body was telling him to run. To flee this place and the presence of his estate’s mysterious visitor.

"Here and there within these woods."

"You can't live in the woods," Geralt frowned. “It’s not proper.”

"They are very nice woods," said the boy. To Geralt his tone sounded almost patronizing. Borderline condescending. The doctor bristled and stepped forward again. 

“You can’t possibly be surviving out here like this!”

“I am rather proficient at fending for myself.”

"Then where do you sleep at night?"

"I don't sleep at night,” the boy winked one of his cornflower eyes. The movement had Geralt’s head reeling and his heart thundering within the confines of his waistcoat. “That's my busiest time, dear heart."

"What do you eat?" the young professor and doctor finally asked. It felt as if that question had been on the tip of his tongue since he’d seen the strange creature come into view and only now did he have the adequate terror in his veins to ask it. 

"Flesh," said the boy. He said the word slowly and carefully, almost as if he was running his tongue along every later to catch their flavor.

“What a horrible thing to say.”

“Hmm, it is the truth,” the slender youth rolled onto his back and tilted his head over the stony ledge. His mop of chestnut hair dangled down towards the water and he gazed steadily at the doctor from upside down, “I am plenty good at catching hares and birds and mice and men. I am not picky, you see. I gobble them all up.”

Geralt nearly choked on his tongue. His face flushed and his cheeks grew hot with indignance (and perhaps something else, a stirring in his belly that he quietly ignored). The audacity of such a creature! Such open and frank fliration was unheard of, especially since he was so indecorously nude!

"I can’t imagine you’re eating well. The rabbits on my estate have never been easy to trap or catch or corner. Not even my father’s best games keeper could do it, and that man lived on the property for nearly sixty years.”

"It is easier for me to hunt them than it is for your game keeper to trap them, Dr. Bellegarde,” the boy winked again. The sound of his name in the stranger’s mouth had Geralt mildly panicked. Did he know this improper young villain? Had he forgotten the boy’s name? Had the lad followed him back from university? The strange young man added another cryptic statement, “At night I hunt on four feet. It’s faster that way.”

"I suppose you’re referring to a dog?" Geralt offered. “And wouldn’t that be considered poaching, you hunting on my lands at night with your hound?”

The boy laughed a weird, low laugh; it was pleasantly like a chuckle and disagreeably like a snarl. Both portions of the sound had Geralt’s heart racing even faster in his chest. It felt nearly as painful as he’d expected from cardiac distress and he breathed evenly like he’d been taught to do under such duress. Slowly, the panicked feeling faded away and he gazed back at his trespasser with narrowed eyes. “Why are you laughing, then?”

"I don't think any dog would be very anxious for my company, especially not at night. We wouldn’t get along with each other, me and a dog.”

Geralt began to suspect (with a deep and primal sense of ever growing dread) that there was something odd and uncanny about the strange-eyed, silver-tongued youth lounging above the pond. He uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips, “Well you can’t keep sleeping in the woods.”

“I fancy you’d rather not have me in your house.”

The prospect of this wild, naked animal loose in the professor’s neatly ordered and well-kept manor was certainly an alarming one. Geralt glared and shook his head, dislodging some of his long white hair from its ribbon. 

"If you don't go then I shall have to make you.”

The boy flipped onto his front in a flash and plunged into the pool. In the span of a moment he had crossed the short expanse of water and flung his glistening body half-way up the bank where Geralt was standing. For an otter the movement would not have been remarkable; for a boy it was sufficiently startling. Geralt’s leather-booted foot slipped as he jerked backwards involuntarily. After his arms windmilled for a moment and his balance failed him, the young doctor found himself almost prostrate on the slippery weed-grown shore of the pond with those cat-like blue eyes mere inches from his own. 

He raised a hand to his throat instinctively and the boy laughed again; a laugh in which the snarl had nearly driven out the chuckle entirely. Then, with another of his astonishing lightning movements, the naked youth plunged out of view into a yielding tangle of weed and fern.

"What an extraordinarily wild animal!" said Geralt as he picked himself up. Then he recalled Lambert’s remark on the train station’s waiting platform: "There is a wild beast in your woods."

As he meandered his way back towards the manor proper, Dr. Bellegarde began to turn over in his mind some of the various local occurrences which might be traceable to the existence of his astonishing young savage.

According to the local paper, gathered the day previous by his valet, something had been thinning the game in the woods lately. Poultry had gone missing from several neighboring farms and factories, hares and rabbits were growing unaccountably scarcer, and complaints had reached the local constabulary of lambs being carried out of their pastures in the hills. Could it be possible that this wild boy was really hunting the countryside with a pack of obedient hounds? 

The oddly pretty creature had spoken of hunting "four-footed" by night, but then, again, he had hinted strangely at no dog caring to come near him, "especially at night." It was certainly puzzling. 

And then, as Geralt was running his mind over the various odd occurrences he’d heard reported from the village in the past few months, he came suddenly to a dead stop. The young man that had gone missing from the milling town upriver two months ago--the accepted theory was that he had tumbled into the millwheel and been swept away; but the boy’s mother had insisted that merely run away with some village girl (who had also disappeared). 

He thought of the village youngster, who’d been applying to attend Oxenfurt at the time of his mysterious yet apparent death. Perhaps they were one in the same; but then, why in all the world, would a college hopeful by lying naked in the woods outside Dr. Bellegarde’s lonesome manor house? It was odd. Very odd.

"Where's your voice gone to, Doctor?" asked his housekeeper, Ms. Merrigold. "One would think you had seen a wolf on your walk."

At breakfast next morning, Geralt was overwhelmingly conscious that his feeling of uneasiness regarding yesterday's episode with the boy had not wholly disappeared. He had decided to go into the village and talk with Lambert about the “beast in his woods” and learn what his brother had really seen that had made him so twitchy. With his day planned and his mind slightly more settled, his usual cheerfulness partially returned. The doctor hummed a bright little melody as he sauntered to the morning-room for his customary cup of tea with Ms. Merrigold. 

As Geralt entered the morning-room and scanned the familiar space his humming made way abruptly for a quietly shouted curse. Gracefully laid out atop his red velvet settee, in an attitude of almost exaggerated repose, was the boy from the woods. He was drier than when the doctor had last seen him, but still he remained entirely naked. Every inch of his lovely, soft-looking skin was on display; Geralt averted his eyes as quickly as possible and tried to hide his blushing face from the grinning minx.

"How dare you come in here like this!” he huffed.

"You told me I was not allowed to stay in the woods," said the boy calmly. He propped his elbow up on the cushion and laid his cheek against his palm, languidly stretching his legs out at the same time. The doctor breathed deeply and kept his eyes firmly locked with the strange young man’s. 

"I did not invite you to come here!"

“Then I have misunderstood,” the boy sighed. The hand that had been supporting his head moved down and flattened against the settee. His arm straightened and his torso lengthened with the movement. Now sitting with one knee resting slightly bent atop the other, his hair messy and his shockingly blue eyes half-lidded, he looked like the painting of a young Cupid. 

“Triss!” Geralt called, desperate for another person to intervene on his behalf. To save him from this tempting little beast. “Triss, fetch one of the pantry boys. We have a guest and he’s...he’s quite out of sorts.”

“Yes, Dr. Bellegarde,” his housekeeper called back. “Right away, sir!”

The boy giggled from the couch and Geralt whirled back to look at him. His finger was playing gently with the plumpest part of his lip and the young professor found himself flushing yet again. “Yes, Dr. Bellegard. Hurry to cover me up right away.” 

---

Lambert was less than helpful when Geralt first asked about the beastly reference he’d made at the station.

"My dear father died of some brain trouble," he explained, "So you will understand why I am averse to dwelling on anything of an impossibly fantastic nature that I may see or think that I have seen. I don’t even know that I saw anything, you understand?”

"I am a medical doctor, Lambert, of course I understand. But what did you see?" Geralt inquired. “I must know.”

"What I thought I saw was something so extraordinary that no really sane man could dignify it with the credit of having actually happened. I was standing at the end of the lane near your manor property, half-hidden in the hedge growth by the orchard gate. I’d been watching the dying glow of the sunset and committing to memory for use in a future painting. Nothing extraordinary, of course, but beautiful nonetheless. 

“It was then that I became aware of a naked boy. I assumed that he was a bather from some neighboring pool who was standing out on the bare hillside, also taking a moment to watch and appreciate the sunset. His pose was so suggestive of some wild faun of Pagan myth that I instantly wanted to engage him as a model, and in another moment I think I should have hailed him over to my hiding spot to discuss such a matter. Just then, however, the sun was lost over the edge of the horizon and the last of its warm orange glow slid away. The landscape was left a cold and gloomy grey.”

“And what of the boy? Your language is poetic, Lambert, but I’ve grown rather impatient!”

“The boy was gone, Geralt!”

"What? Did he simply vanish into nothing like some ghost or phantom?"

"No; that’s the most terrifying part, you see," answered the artist; "That’s the whole reason I didn’t want to tell you about this problem in the first place. Geralt, my dearest brother, on the open hillside where my momentary muse had been standing a second before, there was a wolf instead. It had shaggy brown-black fur and huge, gleaming fangs. Most terrifying of all were its huge, bright blue eyes.”

Geralt’s mind whirled with the new information. Lambert had indeed given him the details he’d so desperately needed to draw his final, strange conclusion: the boy was a werewolf! He thanked his younger half-sibling and made his departure, hurrying back to the manor as quickly as possible.

He had to make it home before dark.

---

“The moon isn’t full tonight,” the boy sighed. Triss had managed to wrestle him into a clean shirt and a pair of cropped blue breeches but despite the clothing he still seemed to ooze a sense of easy, naked confidence. The slim brunette was draped across the chaise lounge of Geralt’s personal study, his bare feet hanging over the arm. 

“So?”

“So I will not transform into the horrible monster you fear I shall become,” he sighed again. He rolled his eyes in Geralt’s direction and smirked. “You and your housekeeper are safe. As is your cook, your pageboy, your valet, and your terribly friendly mare. Roach, right?”

“Hmm. You’ve been through my things?”

“Triss allowed me to wander the house and the grounds but then she forced me to bathe again when I came back in,” he frowned. “Soap does not agree with me and neither do these prickly, constricting clothes.”

“And your name?” Geralt asked, finally. “Since you have proven to know me already.”

“You may call me Jaskier,” the boy said, popping up from the couch. He offered his hand, which Geralt shook rather nervously. “And I’ve already decided that I’m going to be staying for awhile.”

“Why should I allow you to stay?” the young doctor bristled. “What have you to offer me in return for room and board?”

“I have no money, but I’m a wonderful gardener and I’m sure that there are, Dr. Bellegarde, other ways we can pass the time together. I sense that we are kindred spirits in many ways.”

Geralt blushed and swallowed hard, blinking down at the boy, whose fingers were playing with the material of the doctor’s cravat. His blue eyes peeked up through their bordering black lashes and Geralt’s will crumbled to dust. “Alright. I suppose you can stay; if it keeps the village safe.”

“Very safe,” the werewolf, Jaskier, smiled. His delicate little paw with its long, lithe fingers spread over the material of Geralt’s silk waistcoat, right over his heart. “So very safe, indeed.”

[shopcbd]

Can CBD Oil Benefit You?

CBD (Cannabidiol) oil is stemmed from hemp. Lots of people puzzle hemp with cannabis, yet hemp is a very various plant. Cannabis and also hemp may share the same taxonomic name, Cannabis sativa, however they are not the very same. Cannabis is cultivated primarily for its psychoactive cannabinoid, a chemical substance called tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, for recreational as well as medical use. Cannabis consists of both THC as well as CBD Online. Hemp has just a trace of THC, less than 0.3% compared to marijuana's large 5-35%. The main cannabinoid in hemp is CBD, but there more than 100 various other cannabinoids in hemp, along with substances that produce aromas and also tastes called terpenes (e.g. citrusy scent of oranges, distinct aroma of evergreen, or pleasant flower odor of lavender). For hundreds of years, hemp has actually been grown for food, fuel, clothes, as well as fiber. It is one of the globe's earliest trained crops. In the early days, hemp was an important plant in the U.S. During the 1700s, early american farmers grew hemp primarily for its strong fiber. Hemp manufacturing came to a screeching halt when the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed. Mainstream perspectives in the direction of marijuana began to sway substantially in the direction of the negative. Hemp came to be the "evil weed" since it shares the very same varieties as cannabis despite the fact that it does not have cannabis's abundant THC. Over the years, several have actually speculated that the genuine reason for the anti-cannabis project boiled down to the worry that hemp can end up being a low-priced replacement for paper pulp. American manufacturer William Randolph Hearst and the DuPont family had significant financial investments in the lumber and also paper industries. They started a character assassination to destroy the rewarding hemp market for anxiety that the increase of hemp would certainly undercut their earnings. However, years later on, it became recognized that hemp does not consist of a high adequate concentration of cellulose to be an efficient paper replacement. Eighty long years later on, hemp ultimately regained its lawful status in the U.S. after the flow of the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp, specified as cannabis with less than 0.3% THC, is eliminated from Schedule I controlled substances. Hemp-derived products are lawful as long as they come from qualified hemp farmers. Increasingly more health centers as well as universities have started to research it. Americans can now use CBD legitimately. It can be bought on-line as well as delivered to all 50 states. Cannabis laws are likewise altering at a quick rate throughout America. Although it is still prohibited on the government degree, lots of states have legislated marijuana. For the continuing to be states, some have allowed it for clinical use and some leisure usage. The Human Endocannabinoid System (ECS). Cannabinoids made by our very own bodies are called endocannabinoids (the prefix "endo" suggests within). In the 1990s, researchers made an unbelievable discovery that the ECS plays a significant role in our total health and wellness. The ECS preserves continuous communication with every body organ system in the body. This interaction involves messenger molecules called endocannabinoids as well as cannabinoid receptors on every cell that approves them. Think about it as a "lock and vital" system. The receptors are locks as well as the endocannabinoids are tricks that bind to these receptors as well as open them. There are 2 primary sorts of receptors within the ECS - cannabinoid receptor kind 1 (CB1) and also cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2). Scientist located greater than 1,000 receptors in the body. CB1 receptors are located largely on nerve cells in the brain and also spine, along with the eye and retina. CB2 receptors are predominantly found in the immune system and in the cells and also organs, such as brain, spleen, blood cells, stomach, as well as urinary system systems. The body generates 2 kinds of endocannabinoids - anandamide and also 2-AG. These are carried into the cells via the CB1 and CB2 receptors. As we age, the body ends up being much less reliable in producing anandamide as well as 2-AG. The proper functioning of the ECS additionally depends upon the adequacy of omega-3 in the diet. Many individuals have experienced the feeling good feeling or "high" after laborious exercise. The lifted mood comes from the launch of endorphins. Researchers now recognize that it is likewise from an increase in anandamide, which targets mainly the CB1 receptors and, to a minimal level, the CB2 receptors. The various other endocannabinoid, 2-AG, transmits signals across the mind cells and also turns on both CB1 as well as CB2 receptors. 2-AG supports mind wellness, immune wellness, in addition to insulin level of sensitivity. Scientists have actually currently found that both endocannabinoids, anandamide and also 2-AG, have a considerable influence on a variety of functions including cravings, equilibrium as well as power, resistance, memory, metabolic process, nervous system, sleep, and stress and anxiety feedback. Many individuals perplex hemp with marijuana, however hemp is a really different plant. In the early days, hemp was an important crop in the U.S. During the 1700s, colonial farmers grew hemp mostly for its strong fiber. Hemp production came to a shrieking halt when the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed. Hemp ended up being the "evil weed" due to the fact that it shares the very same types as marijuana also though it does not have cannabis's plentiful THC. They initiated a smear project to damage the rewarding hemp market for worry that the surge of hemp would undercut their earnings.

[the-daily-sandstone]

Life as I know it

Well, I come from a small college town in the Midwest of the USA. Home of many great thinkers and doers, to say the least. My first steps into life were brutal, my father lost our housing, and my mother was the only one working for as long as I recalled.

We drifted while I was an infant, for the first year of my life. We toured with the Grateful Dead, sometimes I have dreams about Garcia. The Tour of ’89, across the states. Years after the experiences I had all kinds of dreams, once life was less chaotic. Mother knows some of them really happened.

In ’91 my brother entered the picture, and sometime after we had an A-frame in the woods. I remember the woods always felt so magical, I was never afraid of them. I felt I belonged to them. Father seemed to always nap while mother worked, and he did not feed us until she came home. I would eat worms or sneak butter to try to keep my brother and I from going hungry.

Earth worms aren’t that bad, never chewed them, always swallowed them whole. Last time I had one I think I was 9 or so years old. Father used to abuse us, as I learned later, in more than just physical ways. It was often going from extreme emotions to the other, and I can’t recall every memory. The ones I do know aren’t the best to reminisce on. Though I have a few from then I treasure. Like the time I fell so hard in love with the neighbor girl, I told my cousin I was going to marry her when I was a full hand (5 years old).

She was beautiful, I used to play her music on my guitar, or run off around the neighborhood with her. One time we snuck into a horse field to try to talk to the horses. When we realized they did not speak with us, we were stuck, I felt foolish, but it did not matter, I was holding her hand.

My brother had a worse time with things. He was younger and had terrible luck with the woods. One time I was thinking we were warriors and needed to battle wasps. So, I talked him into fighting them with me. We threw rocks at a nest, he got stung a few times. Suppose it was stupid, but I was having fun for the time.

 That’s how things went. I grew up wanting more of nature, and my brother wanting less of it. My girlfriend moved away and so did we. After the A-frame we lived in her basement on a sub-lease, and then off to apartments. First thing I tried doing was walking around naked like I used to in the woods. Had to learn the rules the hard way.

Used to get in trouble in school, and well, felt like no one was teaching me the rules. I was just expected to know them or something. Heck, first grade was spent in in school detention, without a teacher, doing all assignments for the year on my own. That year was awful.

Therapy did little to help. I was too young to know what was wrong with me anyways. I felt I was evil, and all I needed to do was accept what came my way.

It wasn’t until third grade I was diagnosed ADHD, but the meds just gave me tunnel vision and I don’t feel they helped me focus. Sometimes I would hear a crowd talking when no one was. Other times I would think people were talking about me when passing them by.

By the sixth grade I was moved up a grade in math and learned Boolean algebra. Taught myself Qbasic and started programming music apps, little trivia games and some basic text adventures. I remember one time I wanted to make my own operating system mockup. Back then, there weren’t tutorials. Google barely had relevant results, and YouTube wasn’t around, or heard of for me. Around the same time, I taught myself HTML with a manual from a friend. And then went and taught children at the Middle Way shelter.

By high school I started smoking weed, quit my medication, and was playing and composing for violin. I taught myself to read and write sheet music from a Beatle’s Anthology piano book. Middle school did not teach me that, everyone said they had private lessons for it. Took me about half a year before I stopped writing the names of the notes above the manuscript.

I graduated with a crap diploma, some blue core crap the Bush administration made up for no child left behind. Yeah, I had a few honors and advanced placement courses, but I never read the books in English, and never showed my work in math.

After high school I went off to work in Denali, Alaska. Washed buses, climbed mountains, and lost myself to some ladies. One I somehow managed to become friends with and stay in contact all these years.

I was 19, and well, I still managed to eat mushrooms, smoke weed, and drink wild turkey that summer. In fact, one night I was with a lady, reading the epic of Gilgamesh, on mushrooms. That was the night I decided I wanted to be a writer. I read one more work from sacred texts, the Romance of Antar. I wrote my first work of fiction as an adult under the pen name, Leon Sandcastle, with the tile, Epic of Aphromann. My friend was really captivated by the writing, as she put it. I wrote it on a free writing app trial, Zoho Writer. The files are lost officially, I’ve since tried contacting admin about getting the copy, but I couldn’t remember the email (plus the email is gone now) or the password. The printout I had I threw away when I moved back into my mother’s. I just felt then it was terrible because well, one reason. I had written the work and dedicated it to my brother, but he felt it wasn’t him in the story. I felt I had done my brother wrong.

College was a mixed bag. I really did not know for certain what I wanted to be. I had no job offers on any of my hobbies, and my only work experience was mostly manual/menial labor, what with fast food, construction, Denali, and some landscaping. I chose to pursue them all. Liberal arts, science, math, English, and more science.

I was working on contract for the Department of Natural Resources, on some youth program from the governor. Work, study. Over and Over.

I had to save up for a replacement violin. After I returned from Denali, my brother became extremely sick, he burned my violin and my mother had him committed. It was awful to feel and see him go through. His diagnosis changed so many times. His story got better.

Friend found a local luthier from the university program, when I played it, I felt I was amidst the ferns and pines and all the wonders of nature. He had named it Khimaera (not sure on spelling). I bought it on contract with a monthly rate based on my term with the DNR. By the end of the summer, I owned the violin.

I met a woman that year, showed her my family’s farm up north. Went to a talk at the university with her. The last time we were together, she took my hand, held it to her heart, and asked me to marry her. And I told her no.

There was a lot on my plate sophomore year, as to why I told her no. I had began having visions in my sleep, or so it felt. I would dream and see my dream in the headlines of the morning news. I’ve since googled some of them to realize it could not have been true. However, I dreamt my grand uncle Brokenfeather would die of cancer and the Mississippi river would flood. I dreamt my friend from Alaska lost her father after his voice went horse. I dreamt I met a woman in the desert and changed her life.

I still morn the passing of my grand uncle. And days after I emailed my friend about the dream, she sent me word he had cancer and his voice was horse.

The woman I met in the desert was a meth addict who for some reason believed I was Jesus Christ, and we were married. I told her some things, and last, I know of her, she called me to thank her. That I had in fact changed her life. She got off the streets and got clean.

I used to write Obama, and the MI-6, I even wrote Stephen Hawkings about some things that were later televised in his words.

I would be sitting there, seeing people talking and hearing their words, and if I followed up on the conversations, people would ask what I was talking about, that they weren’t speaking.

I was homeless from 2010-2013. Officially receiving permanent housing out in California, in 2013.

I moved back to my mothers after a long drawn out claim for disability was awarded. I now own two violins, classical guitar, electric guitar, wooden Cherokee flute, a ukulele, midi keyboard. Took on some more hobbies along the way. On contract to compose full orchestrations for a client making a video game.

My success? While I was homeless I did not pursue drugs or alcohol, it felt almost more a prolonged camping venture, fraught with me becoming a victim to theft at the end. If there’s one thing I can say, is that California is the worse place on earth.

 Naturally I’ve not included every single event. But this should give you the gist. My official diagnosis is Schizoeffective Depressive. No I’m not two people, that’s a different type, (schizotypal).

Thank you for your time.

 Leon Sandstone

The Daily Sandstone

[bythebyandbithebi]

As someone who grew up sort of farm-adjacent (never lived on a farm, but my mom grew up one one and I grew up in a small community where farming was a big part of the local economy so I’ve had many summer jobs on farms) it’s always DEEPLY funny to me but also kind of sad whenever I see someone post to r/stardewvalley that they loved the game so much they bought a real-ass mini-farm. Like. Bruh. That’s like saying “I’ve been loving this lil Tamogatchi so I decided to get my first real, live pet!!!” and the pet in question is like an elderly, special needs dog who’s blind and has a strict and expensive medication regiment and is overall just not really a beginner’s best option like HOLY SHIT I want to give these folks the benefit of the doubt and be like “they’re adults, they know what they’re getting themselves into, I’m sure they’ve done enough research for this to go well!!” but I fucking doubt they’ve thought about how much it SUCKS to plant and water and weed and harvest a whole-ass garden by hand, or to get up at 4:00 AM to milk cows (maybe before going to work, because it’ll take a good long while to turn an actual profit), or to just generally never get to take a day off because you’re too tired to go out and feed the chickens. I wish ‘em well but damn.

[cbdwebshop4-blog]

Can easily CBD Oil Benefit An individual?

CBD webshop

CBD (Cannabidiol) oil hails from hemp. Many people confuse hemp with marijuana, but hemp is a very different plant. Pot and hemp may reveal the same scientific name, Hashish sativa, but they are not the same.

CBD webshop

Medical marijuana is cultivated primarily for the psychoactive cannabinoid, a substance compound called tetrahydrocannabinol or maybe THC, for recreational in addition to medicinal use. Marijuana is made up of both THC and CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT.

Hemp contains only a track of THC, less than zero. 3% compared to marijuana's big 5-35%. The main cannabinoid throughout hemp is CBD, yet there are over 100 additional cannabinoids in hemp, in addition to compounds that produce likes and scents called terpenes (e. g. citrusy scent of oranges, unique scent of pine trees, as well as sweet flower smell connected with lavender).

For thousands of years, hemp have been cultivated for food, apparel, fiber, and fuel. It truly is one of the world's oldest domestic crops. In the early days, hemp was a vital crop inside U. S. During the 1700s, colonial farmers grew hemp mainly for its strong fibers.

However , hemp production reached a screeching halt if the Marijuana Tax Act associated with 1937 was passed. Well known attitudes towards cannabis begun to sway greatly towards the bad. Hemp became the "evil weed" because it shares the identical species as marijuana although it does not contain marijuana's ample THC.

Over the years, many possess speculated that the real cause of the anti-cannabis campaign quite simply to the worry that hemp could become a low-cost alternative to paper pulp. American industrialist William Randolph Hearst as well as the DuPont family had significant investments in the timber as well as newspaper industries. They opened up a smear campaign to be able to destroy the lucrative hemp market for fear the rise of hemp would certainly undercut their profits. Even so, years later, it became identified that hemp does not have a high enough concentration of cellulose to be an effective paper alternative.

Eighty long years afterwards, hemp finally regained it is legal status in the You. S. after the passage on the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp, defined as cannabis with lower than 0. 3% THC, will be removed from Schedule I manipulated substances. Hemp-derived products are legitimate as long as they come from registered hemp growers. More and more educational institutions and hospitals have commenced to study it. Americans is now able to use CBD legally. It could be ordered online and shipped for all 50 states.

Marijuana laws and regulations are also changing at a fast pace across America. Although it is still illegal on the federal government level, many states have got legalized marijuana. For the staying states, some have granted it for medical make use of and some recreational use.

Our Endocannabinoid System (ECS)

Cannabinoids made by our own bodies are classified as endocannabinoids (the prefix "endo" means within). In the nineteen nineties, researchers made an astonishing finding that the ECS plays an important role in our overall health.

Typically the ECS maintains constant connection with every organ method in the body.

This communication entails messenger molecules called endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors in each cell that accepts these. Think of it as a "key and also lock" system. The pain are locks and the endocannabinoids are keys that hole to these receptors and discover them.

There are two major types of receptors within the ECS - cannabinoid receptor variety 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2).

Researchers found more than a single, 000 receptors in the body. CB1 receptors are located largely about nerve cells in the head and spinal cord, as well as the attention and retina. CB2 pain are predominantly found in immune system and in the organs along with tissues, such as brain, sombre, blood cells, gastrointestinal, and urinary system tracts.

The body produces two styles of endocannabinoids - anandamide and 2-AG. These are sent into the cells through the CB1 and CB2 receptors. As our bodies age, the body becomes less successful in producing anandamide in addition to 2-AG. The proper functioning with the ECS also depends on often the adequacy of omega-3 within the diet.

Many people have experienced the feeling good sensation or "high" after strenuous exercise. Often the lifted mood comes from the discharge of endorphins. Researchers today know that it is also from an upsurge in anandamide, which targets generally the CB1 receptors as well as, to a lesser extent, the actual CB2 receptors.

The other endocannabinoid, 2-AG, transmits signals throughout the brain cells and stimulates both CB1 and CB2 receptors. 2-AG supports mental health, immune health, and insulin sensitivity.

Researchers have discovered that both endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-AG, have a substantial impact on a variety of functions which includes appetite, energy and equilibrium, immunity, memory, metabolism, nerve fibres, sleep, and stress reply.

Evidence For CBD Health rewards

The Cannabis plant has over 100 cannabinoids. These kinds of compounds closely resemble our endocannaboids. The main cannabinoid with hemp is CBD, including marijuana, THC.

Unlike THC, CBD does not bind straight to our cannabinoid receptors. Connections, it does stimulate the activity regarding both CB1 and CB2 receptors without directly making use of them. A study by the Countrywide Institute of Health located that CBD causes the entire body to release more endocannabinoids, specially 2-AG. Moreover, CBD suppresses the degradation of anandamide.

Scientists are now beginning to uncover many of CBD's health benefits:

Years as a child Eilepsy

CBD has been recommended for a wide variety of health pursuits, but the strongest scientific facts is for its effectiveness for two rare drug-resistant years as a child epilepsy conditions, namely Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome (DS). The MAJOR REGULATORY BODIES has recently approved the first ever before CBD-derived drug Epidiolex for that conditions. In numerous studies, CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT was able to reduce the number of seizures, and in some cases it was able to end them altogether.

Pain Relief

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT may offer an option regarding treating different types of chronic discomfort: fibromyalgia, gout, HIV, ms, neuropathic, and rheumatoid arthritis. Scientific studies found that applying CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT oil directly on the problem location helps to lower pain and also inflammation. CBD works by impacting on cannabinoid receptor activity within the body, reducing inflammation, and mingling with neurotransmitters.

Researchers also identified that subjects did not develop a tolerance to the regarding CBD, so there was do not need increase dosage continually. As opposed to some pain medications, CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT is not addictive and does not get any intoxicating effects, giving much relief for people who include chronic pain.

An mouth spray called Sativex, the industry combination of CBD and THC, has been approved in a number of nations around the world in Europe and Europe (but not in the United. S. ) to treat soreness and muscle spasms related to ms.

Another controlled study observed that Sativex significantly increased pain during movement, ache at rest, and sleep top quality in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Stress and anxiety and Depression

Clinical trial offers have revealed that both medical marijuana and CBD may be successful in reducing different kinds of anxiety including generalized anxiety condition, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Not only did participants inside the studies felt better, in addition they reported reduced cognitive disadvantages and anxiousness. Scientists declare that in addition to impacting the endocannabinoid system, CBD may effect receptors involved in the modulation of appetite suppressing hormones, a chemical messenger in which plays a role in anxiety regulation.

Additionally , some studies showed this CBD eases depression and enables with psychotic disorders similar to schizophrenia. (Please note that cannabis does not help with either and may even actually worsen psychosis. )

Cancer-Related Symptoms

Researchers discovered that cancer patients given CBD and THC, the particular psychoactive compound from weed, experienced significant reduction in problems. In addition , a one-to-one mix of CBD and THC implemented via mouth spray lowered side effects associated with cancer treatment options like nausea, vomiting, along with loss of appetite.

At present, far more research needs to be done with whether CBD alone produce the same beneficial outcomes.

Several cell culture studies located that cannabinoids can help sluggish tumor growth, reduce cancerous growth invasion, and induce cancer cell death in various forms of cancer, including brain, our blood, breast, colon, pancreatic, in addition to prostate.

Scientists believe that CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT probably works by starving cancers cells of energy, making them considerably more sensitive to the body's immune system response, and by blocking any newly discovered cannabinoid-related cancer tumor pathway. However , human assessments are needed before further results can be drawn.

Other Prospective CBD Benefits

Lowers blood pressure level (caution if taking hypotension medication). Lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol and total cholesterol. Lowers uric acid levels as well as reduces gout symptoms. Aids in insomnia due to relaxing and also anxiety-reducing effects. Helps visitors to quit smoking and is a promising remedy for those with opioid craving. Mitigates neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Several research suggests CBD can protect brain cells coming from damage and oxidative anxiety. Early results have been commonly positive but more studies attained. Reduces likelihood of developing style 1 and type 2 diabetes, mainly at the early disease levels (no human trials yet). Lessens inflammation and associated with inflammatory bowel disease (no human trials yet).

[pennysperfectpolls]

Penny poll round 2 match 3

Penny Lamb/Jane Doe (Legoland / Ride the Cyclone) vs

Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

Propaganda under the cut

Penny Lamb (Legoland / Ride the Cyclone)

• Okay I am not the person to be propaganda making for her but she's so cool she died once and then came back she's also a bit uhh deranged is a good word

• Penny Lamb (and her younger brother Ezra) lived in a hippie weed growing commune until she was thirteen and snuck out to a walmart, eventually leading to the entire thing burning to the ground. Then they lived in a tiny town named Uranium City and she got relentlessly bullied and even set on fire until she was given a cd by another girl from a band called Seven Up. She formed a parasocial relationship with the singer, who then turned into a misogynistic rapper. She travelled from northern Saskatchewan to Florida to meet him and thank him for basically making her life tolerable and enjoyable, and then ended up tearing a chunk of flesh out of his face with her teeth all at the age of 15 years old. Two years later after a concert with her school choir, she was beheaded on a fair rollercoaster called the Cyclone, becoming a Jane Doe until she was voted back to life. While she was Jane Doe, she wore the head of a porcelain doll as to not freak the other kids out!

• she was born a hippie, she bites and maims a famous rapper with hot coffee, she has a little brother obsessed with german philosophy, she plays the ukulele, she has a fuck ass bob. she gets fucking DECAPITATED by a roller coaster but survives because she is so offputting. what else do you need in a woman

• Where do I START with Penny. Basically she grew up socially isolated on a community pot farm until the age of 13, where she and her brother ran away to Walmart and started pretending to revive him from seizures because of how much attention she got. She was eventually driven back home where the entire community was drug busted burned to the ground, their parents being arrested, friends taken away, entire home destroyed. Instead of being sent to foster care, she’s and her brother are sent to a catholic boarding school, where they live mostly unsupervised. Penny is relentlessly bullied for supposedly being a lesbian, and diagnosed as bipolar and manic depressive while her brother (three years younger than her) sells his adhd medication to college kids to make ends meet. Soon after having her backpack lit on fire by bullies, she starts to fall into a deep depressive episode, not coming out of her room for days, until a catholic girl takes pity on her, and gives her a hiphop/boyband CD for her to listen to called 7-up (important later). Penny obsessed on the lead singer Johnny moon to an unhealthy degree until the band breaks up and Johnny rebrands to JK47, a misogynist gangster rapper who penny can’t stand. Penny and her brother run away from middle of knowwhere Canada to Florida to meet him so penny can win him back and remind him of how much she loves him and how cool he used to be. This doesn’t go well, as he doesn’t drop his gangster persona, calling her the same insult all her previous bullies did, leading to her throwing hot coffee on him, tearing a chunk off flesh out of his face with her teeth, and subsequently being arrested and later out on probation. Penny ALSO gets her own movie (in the play) and tells the audience this very story in a presentation with goofy puppets. Penny’s story is funny and absurd but at the same time incredibly tragic and heartbreaking. She also appears in ride the cyclone where she’s revealed to be the identity of Jane Doe (who had her head cut off before she was found dead in the rollercoaster accident with the other choir kids and was therefor never identified)

• she is a femamist lesbian and I am in love with her

• She's known as Jane Doe throughout the musical because she doesn't know who she is in death, her head is a doll's head because she lost her real one in the rollercoaster disaster that killed all the characters, she's the one who wins the prize of coming back from death which is when we learn her true name Penny. Her song is absolutely *beautiful* (The Ballad of Jane Doe) and she is the Penny of all time because I love her

• Girlie already lost her head we can’t take her victory too :(

Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)

• arthur #1

Pollrunner note: the propaganda came from your submissions. Feel free to add more either in reblogs or asks

[thewonderousworldwelivein-blog]

Happy 420

Legalizing Marijuana for Recreational Use

In life there are many choices and what I chose to do may not be something that you want to do and that is just great, but we still should be able to choose for ourselves. Marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use and I believe it should be legal nationwide. People are allowed to drink themselves to literal death and they are allowed to purchase and smoke cigarettes and people die daily from cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. So why shouldn’t I be able to go buy some marijuana and partake of it in any way I chose from my home?

In fact, one of our forefathers and our first president of the United States George Washington, grew hemp in an abundance on a plot of land he called Muddy Hole, rumor has it that he grew a different strain for smoking but there is no actual evidence to prove this. Hemp was one of the biggest farm product plant being grown, they used hemp to make a variety of commercial and industrial products, including rope, textiles, clothing, shoes, food, paper, bioplastics, insulation, and biofuel. Hemp that was used for industrial purposes barely contained any THC, usually less than 0.3%. The strains of cannabis that produce the euphoric effects are much higher in THC content. Marijuana contains some other psychoactive substances such as CBD, we need more research to see if and what kind of medicinal benefits would come from those.  

In all honesty I think they should legalize all drugs but for right now I am just talking about marijuana. Marijuana has been around for as long as man has, I am sure and regardless of laws people are always going to smoke on some “wacky tobacy” In fact it was legal until the early 20th century. Then everyone started to look down on marijuana and laws against it were made. Marijuana has been around since ancient China back to around 2700 B.C. there are many uses for it including: chronic pain, peripheral neuropathy, spinal cord injury, HIV and cancer patients, muscle and joint problems, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, depression, anxiety and PTSD among many others.

In 2012 Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana and since then have made millions of dollars from the profit of it, many states have legalized it for medical and many states have de-criminalized it. Colorado used the revenue from Marijuana for roads and the school systems. Right now, it is legal for medical use in 33 states and legal for recreational use in adults older than 21 in 11 states, so we are progressing and hopefully in the future it will be legal in every city, county, state, country, everywhere.

Could you imagine a place where everyone could just smoke a little pot? I can’t help but to think of what a happier place this world would be if we could all just smoke a little pot.  That sounds wonderful to me, people are too uptight and need to relax a little bit. If instead of going to the bar and having a few drinks or maybe additionally you could smoke a couple of joints and enhance your enjoyment. One should be able to do that if you would like. I think this would help our society because I think for many years people have associated marijuana with drugs such as cocaine and heroin (that’s what marijuana is scheduled with) when it’s just not true. Marijuana is not a harmful drug and you do not go crazy or lose your mind because of smoking weed or grass and some call it. People smoke marijuana and don’t want to do anything but sit on the couch and eat because they have the “munchies” but it really all depends on the strain and type of marijuana and the person because some it affects differently.

There is this whole stigma with smoking marijuana and it has for years because the Mexicans brought it with them when they would come here and work and they would smoke it and that was associated with being dirty, and they kind of changed it into this whole cultural class and society frowned upon it; so I think if we could just get rid of the whole stigma around marijuana and how it actually is, people would have a different perception of it all and we might be able to see that a lot of good comes with this plant. I have seen that there is research being done about marijuana and cancer and imagine what might happen if we could go above and beyond and explore possible treatments.

With it being legal you have guidelines that people would have to follow to make sure their product is up to par and anyone who lacks that would be dealt with accordingly. I think the benefits outweigh the cons when it comes to this subject and I really believe if we could just do our research and stand up for what we believe in we might have a fighting chance of getting this somewhere.  Should we be able to grow our own marijuana? I for one think this would be great of course they will have to put some restrictions on it since everyone cannot be growing all the plants they want. I can almost see it now and oh it sounds like an opportunity to learn, grow, teach and experience so much from it and to be part of an evolution in something so great would be wonderful.

This would also help our country to eliminate all the side businesses of drugs like the drug cartel in Mexico, if it was legal here and we did not have to rely on other countries we could limit our involvement with big gangs and corrupt drug lords of marijuana, we would be less likely to be involved with questionable acts this way, the cartel is very dangerous and numerous amounts of lives have been lost because of these people. I think the legalizing of marijuana will help to keep our borders safe.

There will be many people that do not agree with legalizing marijuana, thinking that people will be just walking around stoned out of their minds and I believe that many doctors will be opposed to this because if marijuana was legal they might not be able to prescribe as many narcotic pills and will therefore lack the kickbacks that the pharmaceutical companies give to the doctors. Which also means there would be less people addicted to opiates and other narcotics and therefore probably less deaths because of it and so essentially we would be saving lives by legalizing marijuana. There has only been one person that died from too much THC and they think that maybe she was vaping it too hot and she died and there not any other factors that could have possibly caused death. Doctors are arguing about this though because there has never been any cases of that with all the billions of people that use marijuana.

Think of all the room in our jails and prisons it would free up for people not being in there due to a marijuana offense, growing, selling, or just possessing marijuana or paraphernalia. Between 2001 and 2010 there were 8.2 million arrests for marijuana and of those 88% were for simple possession. More that half of drug convictions in the United States are marijuana convictions. 67% of all Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized, people born between 1928-1945 continue to be the least supportive of legalization. We could better use the taxpayer’s money than feeding and housing inmates from marijuana convictions.

I am no business major or anything like that, but it seems to me that if we were to grow marijuana and legalize it, this would produce a number of jobs across the nation and therefore getting more Americans to work and helping our economy boost, as I look at this there seems to be a lot more pros to this topic than cons and I truly believe that this would help many out in many ways.  

I find it a little ironic that I sit here on 4/20/2020 and write a paper on legalizing marijuana, I wish I could say it was 4:20 pm but it is now 5:15 pm so of all days today is the day that everyone should just take a break and smoke a little pot, many different ways so choose whatever fits you best, rather it be a pipe, an apple, a classical joint, a bong, these days it can go so much further than that but I will just stick to what I know, and enjoy, relax, let loose a little if you will and have some fun but not too much, because this is not legal yet and I do not want to be a criminal because I choose my medicine in my home that suits me best, this is all just make belief of course. My husband wrote a song called Green Buds and it a couple of lines in it says why I am is such a mother lovin’ criminal all I do is sit around and smoke some weed, a beautiful song about a beautiful plant.  

[robinmarlowe]

The Manor

Chapter 1 — Arrival

When the carriage pulled up to the estate, the wind was whipping around us in a fury. It smelled salty, from the sea, and sweet with the beginning of autumn's rot. Dry leaves scraped across the cobblestone in swirling dervishes. It was the sort of weather that reminded you how nature could disregard the very existence of humanity. The wide and open fields of the estate gave the wind free reign to roll and build and push the world about.

I liked this sort of weather. It seemed consequential. I lived in a dull world that was carefully built up and maintained, held together by manners and tradition and devoted to comfort and boredom. Weather like this pulled trees out by the roots and reminded each and every person that their life is fragile, and their society even more so.

My father once called me a destructive little brat, and so maybe my affinity for the wind has to do with our shared ability to destroy and annoy.

My aunt, Edith, was chattering along next to me, the wind whipping away every other word as if hoping to spare me somewhat from the cruelty of idle gossip, but now she looked as if she was expecting responses. I leaned forward to listen.

"You know your father is the only one who ever met her mother. An actress from the americas. He told me once that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen -- though I was sworn to secrecy because he was courting your mother at the time. She left two months after poor Elizabeth was born. Absolutely devastating. Jack told Elizabeth that her mother died in childbirth. He thought it would spare her from more complicated emotions. I think it did no such thing. It kept her from the real world. Why, if her mother had been around, I am certain Elizabeth would have married. It's such a tragedy."

"Tragedy seems to be an exaggeration," I said, leaning back into my seat. "She doesn't need to marry. She has money."

"And I would wager that she is unequipped to handle it," Edith said. "I suppose you will be learning that this winter."

The carriage turned down the winding road and the manor rose from the ground and into view.

It was grey, threaded together with brilliant green as vines crept up the walls, their sturdy brick holding even as roots pressed into them. We slowed as the road ended, stopping in front of the large entrance way.

I stepped out of the carriage, thanking the driver, my legs stiff from the journey and pleased to be put back to work. I hadn't seen the manor in years. When we were young my sisters were convinced it was haunted. We would run through the halls, hiding in closets and under couches, and I would search every nook and cranny for the hint of a ghost with whom I could become acquainted.

It didn't look any less haunted now, and Ms. Lancaster must not be particularly worried about the impression that it might be. The lawn was overgrown with yellow-green weeds that blew in the wind, and vines creeped up the stone walls.

Edith tutted her disapproval. "See? She doesn't even have the means to clean up her yard. Her father would be ashamed."

I had always loved the manor. I used to think it was a castle, with its round tower and high ceilings, pinnacles stretching into the sky. It was old, but felt even older than it was. It was large, but the more time you spent in it, the more it grew. Its floorboards creaked and shifted with the weather, bones elderly but far from brittle.

It felt abandoned, even as we inhabited it. It felt as if it was waiting for a long lost lord to return. It felt as if maybe the lord had returned, and the house had entombed him there, in its walls.

Now I know that this is part of the appeal. When Jack Lancaster purchased this estate fifty years ago, he must have felt such satisfaction -- this castle, this palace, was finally his. He no longer had to exist as a common man. He was like a king, even if he never had the power that a king wields.

I could imagine how intoxicating that would feel.

The driver carried my luggage towards the entrance. I hurried after him. I had meant to do it myself. We were no longer in civilized society. I was allowed to be seen lifting something heavier than a tea cup.

I burst through the doors and into the hallway.

The furniture and decor was contemporary. The bench in the foyer was a deep turquoise, and the rug Persian, with elaborate designs woven in jewel tones.

The house smelled like leaves and flowers. It wasn't musty, exactly. Instead, it smelled as if it had just been cleared of must a few minutes ago, but, like a child who has just bathed, was itching to undo the cleanliness.

Everything about the manor reached upwards, the ceilings, the double staircase, the white marble statues that adorned the hall.

"Emma! I'm delighted to see you!"

Ms. Elizabeth Lancaster descended the staircase, looking less delighted than anyone I had ever seen.

"And Edith, of course," Elizabeth said. "You look younger than the last time I saw you. Is that possible?"

Edit, in spite of herself, smiled at the compliment.

I gathered my skirts in my hands and curtsied.

"Ms. Lancaster. Thank you for your hospitality."

"No need for formalities. We're to be friends this winter, are we not?"

I looked up at her.

She was a woman who held her own beauty at arms length, the way one would hold a particularly aggressive animal. She was just north of fashionable. Her black dress didn't quite match her deep brown, wide-rimmed hat. Her spectacles had brilliant gold frames, but were smudged with fingerprints. Each of her hairs seemed to be striving for independence.

She had high cheekbones and brown eyes so dark it looked almost as if she had no irises at all. She looked older than she was, crows feet gracing the creases of her eyes, but the age didn't diminish her. Instead, it gave her the option of severity. Should she choose to give you a withering look, you may indeed wither.

Now, though, she was friendly, if apprehensive.

"We are to be friends... Beth..."

"Oh!" Elizabeth said, delighted. "I haven't been called Beth since I was a child."

"Apologies--"

"No!" Elizabeth said. "I said we are to be friends, and you confirmed it. Beth will be fine."

I disliked her analytical gaze. She dissected me, piece by piece, in a way I recognized. So many people in my life seemed certain they could perform a kind of psychic surgery on me. If they could just take me apart, then they could put me back together, new and improved.

Elizabeth wouldn't be any more successful than her predecessors, no matter what my parents might have thought. They sent me here to force me to confront the realities of my life without a husband. They refuse to understand that anything short of hell would be preferable.

"Shall I give you a tour?" Elizabeth asked.

"That would be lovely," Edith said, no doubt eager to search for more gossip in the nooks and crannies of this house.

"Let me see -- JOSEPH!"

Her yell made Edith and I both jump. An older man of about sixty walked calmly and swiftly down the stairs.

"Would you mind grabbing their coats?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course, ma'am," Joseph said, giving her a shallow bow.

He was handsome for his age.He had a strong jawline and thick black hair. He was nearly as short as I was, and I was not tall.

He took the thick wool coat from my shoulders, and then assisted my aunt with hers.

Houses, I had noticed, are engineered not only as shelter but as a respite from the very concept of the natural world. The more removed from the mud and dirt of nature, the more successful the house.While the natural world has its dangers, I find that as humans we have veered away from logic in our understanding of it. Hygienic has become a moral concept instead of a medical one. Hogs, for instance, use mud to clean themselves, and we are as prone to disease, passing sickness back and forth with farm animals as if we are no more civilized than they.

The manor was,technically, a wonderful example of human achievement. The gothic nature of the architecture suggested that not only have men distinguished themselves from other animals, but that they did this with the understanding that it was,ultimately, futile. The towers reached into the heavens, knowing they would never get there, a tower of Babel that God felt no need to topple.

I don't know why I felt at home here. I always had.

"I don't keep a large staff, since it is only me," Elizabeth said as they walked past the entryway into the hall. "Just Joseph, my cook, Elena, and two maids. If there is reason for me to host anyone, I call in hands from the local tavern."

"Surely there are better servants to be had," Edith said

Elizabeth continued as if she heard nothing. "I hope that will be acceptable for you, Emma."

She said my name with caution, as if forcing herself into familiarity.

"It will be fine, thank you, Ms. Lancaster."

At home we had one servant, Dana, who was underpaid and overworked. The women of our family took turns cooking, and though it was not a task I enjoyed, I was capable enough. I had never had a lady in waiting, and I can't imagine why I'd want one.

We entered the parlor room, and I let out an involuntary gasp.

The room itself was beautiful. Emerald green furniture was placed around a coffee table with gilded edges. The bookshelves that lined the walls strained upwards towards the high ceilings.Spines of deep reds and navy blues advertised the books' contents in gold and silver print. A ladder was required to reach the highest books, and even that was carved out of a red cedar.

However, what drew my attention was the painting over the fireplace.

It must have been ten feet tall, at minimum. It portrayed a woman in velvet clothing, towering over a small village. Her facial expression was obscured by the clouds. The villagers at her feet looked up at her, some with awe, and others with anger.

"What an... interesting piece of art," Edith said.

I could feel Elizabeth's eyes on me as I examined the painting. The woman's posture was over-corrected, her shoulders back and her chin high. But there was something about her that seemed delicate, as if she was holding herself together through will alone.

One of the men was running back to his hut. Another had already retrieved a pitchfork.

Elizabeth once again ignored Edith. "Do you like it?" She asked me.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know that "like" was the correct word to use. My response to it was visceral. I felt uncomfortably drawn to it. But it was as close as language would allow.

"Yes," I said, breathless.

"Hmmmm."

Elizabeth turned to Edith.

"If you'd like, I could get Joseph to make some tea. The journey was long, and I'm sure you'd like to rest. I can show Miss Cooper around."

"Oh, yes, that would be lovely," Edith said. "I didn't want to complain but it is a large house and I really don't think I need a tour at the moment."

"JOSEPH!"

The yell was no less surprising than before. Joseph appeared in the room suddenly, as if an apparition.

"Do you mind making the lady some tea?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course not. Follow me, madam," Joseph said.

And then I was alone with Elizabeth.

"It's funny," I said, "When I was a child we explored every inch of this lace. We were looking for ghosts."

Elizabeth looked at me, her expression unreadable. Her gaze, like the painting, was unsettling.

"Did you ever find any?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course not," I replied.

Elizabeth nodded, her expression serious. "I would suggest refraining from any such adventure in the future. Shall we see your room?"

And then she was sweeping out of the room.

I hurried after her, curiosity sufficiently piqued.

[cowboylikedean]

So I grew up in the South Eastern US and spent my weekends on a farm. We went out in the woods all the time and checking ourselves and each other for ticks was a regular thing when we were little. Growing up, we heard that ticks can cause disease... but this post really emphasizes the dangers in a way they were never emphasized to us as kids.

I was willing to chalk that up to my parents and grandparents understating or underestimating the dangers (though that wasn’t typically their thing) by the assumption that things were different back in their day and they didn’t know. 

Until I saw this reblog in the notes: 

It was the last sentence “I am an exception to the norm there.” Because I have gotten SO many tick bites over my life, and so has everyone in my family and none of us have ever had a tick borne illness and I was like “we can’t all just be the luckiest people in the world, can we?” Because I was under the assumption that tick borne illnesses were both serious, and relatively rare. Meaning the vast majority of tick bites do not cause illness. 

So then I decided to look it up. And it looks like, I was right! So for the sake of pushing back against fear mongering and misinformation: 

Not all tick bites will result in a tick-transmitted disease. Only 4% of tick bites lead to infection! 

from: https://tickrepellent.net/when-to-worry-about-a-tick-bite/

“If a tick is only on you two or three hours, it probably won't even get a chance to attach and start feeding,” says Dr. Moscovitz.

Once a tick attaches, it starts feeding and stays on you for about 12 or 18 hours and then falls off when it’s full.

A tick has to be attached for a long time–more than 10 hours–to transmit bacteria. “A tick that looks flat and small probably hasn't eaten,” notes Dr. Moscovitz.

from: https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/tick-borne-illnesses

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports 50,865 cases of diseases caused by tick bites in the U.S. in 2019.

from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7234-tick-bites

So these are three quotes from three different websites. The first website is a database of tick repellents put together by someone whose pets kept getting bitten. It has resources for human and pet use. This site has no agenda but it does state it’s not affiliated with any medical professionals. 

The second is Yale’s hospital’s website. This is a very well respected medical institution and the information on their website can be trusted as being from well informed medical doctors.

The third is from the Cleveland Clinic, also one of the most respected medical organizations in the US, and cites the CDC’s data on tick borne illnesses. I included it because 51,000 (lets round up for simplicity) is a VERY small number to the size and scope of the United States. Keep in mind that ticks live in every state in the continental US as that the US population is 330,000,000. That means if all 51,000 infections were from different people (rather than multiple infections from the same bite or the same person across different bites), tick borne illnesses would have shown up in 0.015% of the US population in 2019. 

So obviously, use tickrepellent.net to help you find repellents that work for you and keep your weeds (you don’t need grass) cut short if people (of any age) are going to be frequenting a specific patch of land. If you do go somewhere thick (like a forest or through high grass), check yourself and others for ticks as soon as you can. But also I trust the info that only 4% of tick bites end in infection, Yale’s advice that a tick being caught early will very likely stop infection, and the CDC’s data proves this is not a widespread problem across the US. 

Now I don’t know if OP is from the US, nor do I know if that commenter is. I also did not look up other places’ tick data because I am not doing an indepth report. I was looking for data about myself and my family and felt that the dangers that ticks present was being over-emphasized and I wanted to assuage fears and share the info I learned.

**ALSO JUST SO ITS CLEAR**  I should not have to say this, but I’m going to because this is tumblr. I am not in any way advocating for you to not take precautions against ticks or for you to decide that ticks do not pose a threat. I do firmly believe that the numbers of tick related infections are low because of precautions like repellents and checking yourself and others soon after leaving risky spots. I think we should all continue to try to avoid tick-risky areas when we can as well as use repellents when we can’t. I also think we all need to be checking for ticks when we go in high risk areas immediately after leaving those high risk areas and also don’t feel too comfortable just because you weren’t in a high risk area. The longest a tick has ever been on my body was when I had not been in a high risk area. I saw one fall off a tree in my front yard onto my roommate and checked myself. The tick I took off was huge. After that I started checking myself every day when I came home and passed that tree. I think we need to be realistic about the risk of infection, which means taking precautions and not misrepresenting tick borne infections as more common than they are.

you can make posts that are anti lawns and pro biodiversity without downplaying the real, terrible danger that ticks pose

[karingudino]

Kansas farmer invents agricultural robot that could replace pesticides

CHENEY — For years, Kansas farmer Clint Bauer has struggled with conserving weeds out of his row crops. Together with conserving dwelling roots within the floor, natural practices and no-till strategies, he tried crimping — however the pigweeds simply grew taller. 

Three years in the past, Bauer, an ex-California-based government who farms in Haven and Cheney, determined to implement a wild plan, utilizing robots to behead weeds. 

“I spotted there was no nice approach to get the weeds out at scale with out chemical substances,” Bauer stated. “I wanted to invent one.”

He began Greenfield Robotics.

Earlier than chemical substances changed them, staff pulled weeds from the farm. Greenfield Robotics places the “staff” again within the subject with a brand new form of employee — a mechanized one.

“We need to management weeds with labor and make it robotic labor,” Bauer stated. “Robotics is our means of placing (mechanized) labor again into the farm.”

Extra:Kansas wheat is set to deliver high yields and high quality

‘Our mission was all the time to get the chemical substances out of farming’

The problem for Bauer was he felt regenerative farming didn’t work for big fields with out the heavy use of agrichemicals. 

“I got here up with the concept for it (a robotic) and examined it manually,” Bauer stated. “Nobody knew if it might work. It has to suit between rows.”

Bauer began up his firm, Greenfield Robotics, on one in every of his household farms in Cheney in 2018. He presently makes use of the weeding bots operating on different farmers’ soybean crops in Harper, Reno, Rice and Sedgwick counties in central Kansas. 

Together with soybean crops, Bauer hopes to work with sorghum, cotton and presumably canola farmers.

There’s slightly below 90 million acres of soybeans planted throughout the U.S. this yr, in response to the USDA. Throughout 2020, Kansas ranked seventh in soybeans planted, with greater than 5,000 acres. The Sunflower State follows Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri in soybean acreage. 

“Our mission was all the time to get the chemical substances out of farming,” Bauer stated. “There is no such thing as a resistance to the spinning blade.”

The robots, which journey from 1 to three mph, are waterproof and weigh about 200 kilos. As they transfer between the crop rows, they minimize down the weeds with their blades, leaving the chopped-up particles of their wake.  

Though they’re programed to remain of their lane, somebody is monitoring them on a pc display screen always.

Extra:Climate change means Kansas farmers are dealing with hotter nights and change in rainfall and freezing patterns

Greenfield Robotics’ leaders are going again to their roots

Each Bauer and Jerry Poole, the corporate’s president and CEO, grew up in Kansas. Bauer helped his father are likely to their crops and cattle in Haven. Poole, who grew up in southeastern Kansas, hung out on his grandfather’s hog and cattle ranch in Oklahoma.

Bauer, who had a profitable profession in start-ups and technical companies in California, acquired collectively a high software program engineer and several other different key gamers to mount his firm.

After a profession in engineering and a quick well being difficulty, Poole needed to place his efforts into serving to farmers, so he joined Bauer’s crew.

Meals is medication whether it is grown with out too many chemical substances, Poole stated. “Huge agriculture are creating digital poisons,” he stated.

Extra:General Mills teaching farmers decades-old agricultural techniques to cultivate healthy soil

Robots work higher on farms utilizing regenerative rules 

Though the robots can be utilized on any sort of farm, typical or regenerative, it really works higher on a farm that’s utilizing regenerative rules — all the time having a dwelling root within the floor, utilizing cowl crops, not tilling the sphere and having animals graze on the land. On his farm in Cheney, Bauer practices natural and regenerative rules and has a flock of sheep that he strikes across the land. 

Regenerative practices go away carbon within the soil. As a result of these practices maintain extra moisture within the soil, the robots have a neater time manipulating on the bottom. 

A current research carried out by the Technical College of Munich (Technische Universität München) in Germany discovered plant residues, or roots left within the floor, are essential for carbon storage.

In keeping with Carsten Müller, Ph.D., at TUM, these roots might help guarantee carbon is saved within the soil for longer. 

“We plan to realign the pursuits of farmers and shoppers with a meals system that’s economical and sustainable,” Bauer stated.

The corporate fees per acre on the identical fee the farmer would pay for chemical substances. It often takes about three run-throughs per season for every crop, however which may change by local weather. Bauer hopes to increase to different states.

“We work till they (the plant) cover,” Poole stated. “We begin post-emergence (of the crop).” 

Extra:Tracey Mann tells Hutch farmers the Big First is one of the highest producing agricultural districts in the U.S.

U.S. is likely one of the largest customers of pesticides on the planet

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer and exporter of agricultural pesticides and one of many largest customers — using 1.2 billion kilos of pesticides in 2016, in response to Nathan Donley, Ph.D., a researcher on the Heart for Organic Range.

“We (the robots) are as efficient as herbicides,” Poole stated. Not like herbicides, robots don’t want particular climate situations, like rain, to work.  

After beginning his enterprise, Bauer discovered of Naio Technologies, a French startup, that makes use of robots to weed close to backyard greens. In 2011, the corporate launched robots that work with mound-grown greens, particularly lettuce. Lately, they launched a robotic that would work in vineyards. 

“I actually appreciated them,” Bauer stated. “They gave me good recommendation.”

Bauer believes there’s quite a lot of expertise within the Sunflower State. 

“I’ve an ideal crew,” he stated. “Subsequent yr, we hope to develop by about ten occasions.”

Source link

source https://fikiss.net/kansas-farmer-invents-agricultural-robot-that-could-replace-pesticides/ Kansas farmer invents agricultural robot that could replace pesticides published first on https://fikiss.net/ from Karin Gudino https://karingudino.blogspot.com/2021/07/kansas-farmer-invents-agricultural.html

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Sheep Breeding

Breeding sheep is one of the most enjoyable enterprises on our homestead. Sheep were the first animals we introduced back in 2010. They have been a central part of our operation since then. I’ll talk about that today.

Welcome new listeners and welcome back veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you all so much for listening. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

Before we get to the sheep, what else is going on here on the homestead?

Creamery

The holes in the walls are still being filled in by Scott. Who knew it was going to take this much time to complete that task? Well, the building is rather large and parts of it are very high. That requires special ladders and scaffolding and such to be able to reach the tallest parts of the walls. Additionally, Scott is finishing the concrete block walls in such a way that they resemble stucco. It takes a bit more time and effort but the result is quite beautiful. I’m very pleased with the effect. I can’t wait to see it painted. Maybe a nice off-white stucco color to enhance the look. We shall see. I actually leave color decisions to Scott. I have no head for decorating. Thank God he has a wonderful head for it. Everything he builds reflects his eye for beauty, symmetry, style, color and so much more.

Quail

We now have seven breeding sets of quail. Count them, seven. We made a day of it. Somewhere along the line we lost one that I didn’t know about. The final count in the penthouse was 56 birds. We processed 32 of them and kept 24 additional birds for eggs.

Fowl or Foul?

After finishing the processing, we went back out to their cages and took every single bird out of their cages. Scott spent lots of time cleaning up those cages and getting them sanitized for the winter. Have you even wondered why birds are called fowl? Well there is another spelling of the word foul and it has to do with awful smells. I tend to think that this is why birds are referred to as fowl. All birds have to have their roosts, cages and runs cleaned regularly. Otherwise, they smell foul. Well, there is always some smell from time to time no matter what you do. Take that into consideration when planning the location of your chicken and/or quail homes.

Lighting

Another addition to the quail housing was adding lights. They will now have light for 14 hours a day. That is what is required for them to produce eggs. The new girls have yet to lay a single egg and the older hens, 15 of them, were down to producing no more than six to eight eggs per day. Even that would have dropped to zero or nearly zero in the near future. Inadequate amounts of light make feeding your birds through the winter counter-productive.

There is an automatic timer on the lights. It comes on at 4 am and will stay on until 6 pm. So even on a dreary day like today, they have plenty of light. We use bulbs that produce the “daylight” spectrum of light. It’s not quite the same as most grow lights. Well, I take that back. I think lots of grow lights are going to the daylight spectrum to more closely emulate growing plants outdoors. The same for the birds. We want them to have as natural a light as possible.

Egg Production

Because we have seven sets of breeders, that means there are 35 hens out there. If those lights work like we hope, we could potentially have 35 eggs per day in a couple of weeks. It will take at least a week and perhaps two for the light to affect their egg production. In addition to the light, they get lots of good nutrition and supplements to make sure they have everything they need to be healthy and productive.

Donkeys

I got to say hi to the donkeys a couple of times in the last few days. I haven’t been seeing too much of them as my homestead tasks have led me elsewhere. It’s so good to see them up close and personal. And they are personal. Donkeys love humans. They love human attention. And we love giving it to them. It won’t be long and they will be getting another bit of attention that is not so popular with them, but necessary. Hoof trimming.

Yes, they need to get their toenails done. Scott handles the nail salon and I just offer comfort while the uncomfortable deed is accomplished. All are getting more and more used to it. Daisy nearly falls asleep while it’s going on where Johnny and Cocoa still have some real fear issues with it. They are getting better each time. We shall see how it goes this time. Maybe they will have completely overcome their fear just like Daisy and Sweet Pea.

Cows and Calves

The cow girls are doing fantastic. Rosie has integrated well into the herd. She is low-man on the totem pole, as would be expected. But she is getting along with everyone and thriving in her new environment. Scott is training her and retraining Cloud to come into the milking shed and stick their heads into the milking stanchion. This is in preparation for the vet to do pregnancy checks on all of the girls. The milking stanchions are very convenient for restraining our girls in comfort while medical checks and treatments are performed. I think I’ll ask Scott about cutting off Rosie’s horns too. Once she is used to putting her head in the stanchion, we can easily saw off those horns of hers. It’s quick and painless but she will definitely need to be restrained for her safety and ours.

Calf Weaning

We are nearing the time when the calves will be completely weaned. A week or so ago, I stopped giving them their second bottle of whole milk in the evening. At the present time they get ½ gallon of whole milk only in the morning. In the evening they get ½ gallon of skim milk. As soon as my stores of skim milk run out, they will only get whole milk in the morning. That will last for a week or so and then no milk at all.

Drying up the Milk Cows

We are still milking the big girls twice a day but that is about to change. Their milk becomes less and less as the days go on, the longer they go into their milking cycle. The quality of the milk also changes as they get later into their lactation cycle. Soon it will be time to dry them up. That means we will go to only milking once a day, then once every other day and finally stopping altogether. More details on that in a later podcast. We will start that process in a week or so.

Garden and Fruits

We are still waiting on that first frost. The garden is still going. Scott said he thought that first frost might come in the next couple of days, as soon as the rain from the remnants of hurricane Zeta stops. I didn’t want the lima beans to be soaked at the same time I was forced to pick them before a frost. So I did what any other sane homesteader would do. I rushed out there this morning before the rain started and picked everything. Literally, I pulled up the plant, stripped the bean pods and piled the spent plants to the side. It only took a little while and I’m glad to get that part done. The pods were actually still wet from the last rain we had from the remnants of hurricane Delta. At least I think that one was as hurricane. I have the beans laid out on newspaper to dry.

Lots of Storms

Can you believe the number of named storms this year? I think this is the first time in my 65 years that we have gone completely through the alphabet and now five letters, so far, into the Greek alphabet. We still have another month to go in the official tropical storm/hurricane season. Eleven have hit the US coast as either a tropical storm or hurricane. Most were relatively small. Tropical storms or category one or two hurricanes. Laura was a category 4 hurricane. I believe six storms have hit the gulf coast, mostly Louisiana. Pray for them. Even category one and two hurricanes can bring lots of water damage and some wind damage.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent. Back to the garden. I also picked a few tomatoes. I know, I know. I’m supposed to be done with the tomatoes. But there were a few that looked really good so I snagged them. I have quite a few avocadoes in the frig and some guacamole always sounds good to me. It will be missing that lovely fresh cilantro taste as all of those plants died, but we will make do somehow.

Peppers and Celery

A couple of days ago I picked peppers yet again. I have plenty of jalapeno for the guac. I have so many peppers in the refrigerator. I really, really need to get cracking on getting the pepper jam completed and drying the rest in the dehydrator.

Speaking of dehydrating. I grew all of that celery to be dried as well. That needs to be harvested but I wasn’t too worried about it being wet. The wetness will help keep it fresh as I work my way through the entire crop. Other things on the dehydrating list include, basil, parsley, oregano and thyme.

Grapes and Strawberries

Scott brought me a few grapes to try out. They are muscadine. We get a few more each year, but still not many to speak of at this point in their maturity. Soon, very soon, that will change. Looking forward to making grape jam and maybe some muscadine wine.  

The strawberries have survived the onslaught of weeds and are blooming once again. Those are tough little plants. I have a plan for them for next year. More on that later.

Sheep Breeding

Let’s talk about sheep breeding. A couple of days ago I was talking with Scott about the sheep breeding schedule and what we need to do to accomplish our goals. Well first was clarifying and getting on the same page with goals. We had already discussed this so it was a matter of recalling the final decision.

Ewe in Heat

A funny anecdote related to sheep breeding talk was the ewe that was eager to get started. Just about the time we were discussing our plan, this ewe was hanging out all by herself near the closet fence to the boys. She was really persistent. Number one, ewes nearly always stay together. Nobody goes off on her own. They are skittish and careful animals. But this young lady was actively looking for romance.

I walked almost right up to her before she moved away. I was walking down the travel lane on my way to bring up the cow girls for milking. And there she was, hanging out near the gate, mooning over the boys that she could see across the field, but could not get to. I walked up to her and she finally moved away a few feet. She walked along the lane for 20 feet or so, then she stopped and looked around at me to see if I was still coming. I was. She turned and went other 20 feet of so before stopping yet again, just to make sure I was still there and that it would be impossible for her to get around me. This ewe was really persistent. She continued this behavior all the way back to the main flock.

Persistent Ewe in Heat

She stayed with the rest of the flock while I rounded up the girls and began the trek back to the milking shed. About the time I got up to the holding area and closed the fence that keeps the cows in while they await their turn at milking, she was back down there at the corner mooning over the boys yet again. Don’t worry honey, you’ll get your chance in just a few more days the great switcheroo of animals will begin. The boys will stay with the girls for most of the winter. Sometime in late spring we will separate the boys again and put all of the girls back together. Then we await the most glorious event of spring. The birthing of lambs.

Which Ewes Will We Breed?

There are currently 12 ewes in the flock. We are going to breed four of them. These will be the four older ewes. That means we can expect up to eight lambs in the spring. We had ten last year, but that came about because we just bred all of them, young and old. A first-year ewe usually has a single lamb. And sometimes older ewes will have only one lamb as well. However, it is more common that the second year and each year thereafter, a ewe will have twins and sometimes triplets.

Last year, three of the older girls had twins, one older girl had a single, another older girl did not have one at all and all three of the young girls had singles. That was five older ewes. Since then we have eliminated the oldest ewe and will be going with the four ewes between three and five-years-old. This is the current makeup of our main breeder flock. The three younger ewes will not be bred again. The reason for that is Lambert, our new breeding ram, is a ½ sibling to two of them and full sibling to one of them. That simply won’t work if we want to maintain strong genetics.

What Will We Do?

In order to accomplish only breeding the four selected ewes, it means we need to bring them all in, separate the ones that will be bred from the rest of the flock and put these two groups into separate spaces. Then we bring up the boys and introduce them to the breeding ewes. We can put all of the boys in with the breeding girls because only one of them is still intact. That would be Lambert. He is our breeding ram. This will be his first season. I will pray that he does well. We could also put the boys other than Lambert in with the ewes that are not being bred this year. That would require a second routine to get Lambert separated from the other boys. Scott will make that call when we get to that point.

There are so many decisions that go into every activity on our homestead. Each one has pros and cons. Making the same decision one year may not be the same as the previous year. Circumstances are always changing. I was listening to Kanye West in his interview with Joe Rogan talking about how hard it is to farm. He is attempting to come up with better methods to provide good nutrition to the poorer population. Farming is so much more than putting some seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. The same with animals. It is so much more than just putting them out there in the pasture and watching them graze. Every decision is a well-thought-out plan to fulfill a current need. Those needs are always evolving. Some decisions turn out to be counterproductive. But there is always next year and new opportunities to improve.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I hope you enjoyed the trip around the homestead. It is always my pleasure to share our peace and joy with you. Perhaps you’ve gotten some new ideas on what to do for your own dreams and perhaps you just came along for the ride. In any case, we’ll keep you in the loop.

We are heading into late fall and winter. Likely I’ll slow down a little and perhaps only podcast a couple of times a month. The spring and summer are always so full. Slowing down for winter is just another way we work in harmony with nature.

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Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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