#it's got veggies in it

[altruistic-meme]

being sick when you live alone SUCKS what do you MEAN I have to make my own soup :(

[catastrothy]

went into a fugue state and ate a shitton of overripe nectarines. it felt like a religious experience, to the point i immediately had to draw how i felt

[dotted-clouds]

based on DM's with oomf on Twitter

[whatev-i-guess]

Ghost: Hey, what's wrong?

Soap: Why do you assume that something is wrong?

Ghost: Because you are the sunshine of the team and your sun isn't shining.

Soap: Never asked to be the "sunshine", you all just made me one.

Ghost: Yeah okay, what's wrong with you today?

Soap: I am just... not feeling good.

Ghost gently taking Soap's hand: Well, then let me help you to feel better instead of pushing me away.

Soap: I am sorry...thank you, love.

Ghost: Don't mention it. No one can be happy all the time, Johnny.

[drachen-katze]

Imagine having to let the guy you beef with on the daily also be the one to do all your medical check ups. Embarrassing as fuck, couldn't be me. (slightly nsfw) Bonus under the cut lmao;

[anipgarden]

Adding To or Starting a Garden

AKA, the beginning of the Plants-Related section of this series.

This is my third post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps! 

Got an area of lawn you’d like to convert to a wildlife haven? An area you can stick some hanging baskets in? Want to know how your garden of tomatoes and zucchinis is already putting in a lot of work? This is the section for you!

It would be dumb of me to not acknowledge that the act of gardening can come with a lot of costs. Buying seeds, buying plants, buying soil, raised bed materials, mulch, etc. … it can all get a bit daunting, let’s be honest! But there’s quite a few ways to get seeds and plants for free or extremely cheap, which I’ll be addressing in this section! The next section will be all about addressing the other Costs in gardening and how to mitigate or eliminate them entirely.

Also, do keep in mind; there’s no need to try and convert a whole area from lawn to garden or unused to garden at once. In fact, it could actually be extremely beneficial to do it a little at a time--maybe four or five square feet to start out.

Front Lawn (or Managing Principles)

If you live in a place where you’re required to have a grass turf lawn (HOA’s come to mind…), try replacing it with native grasses instead! You could even possibly use a low-growing ground cover plant like clover to a similar effect! Reseeding/replacing an entire lawn can be a big upfront cost, but even just letting the lawn be a little messy and tall helps. If the lawn gets patchy, leave the bare spots for a little while and something different will likely pop up! Pioneer species will fill the gaps and provide benefits to other plants around them, support animals, and more! If you want to take the guesswork out of it, you could always research what the pioneer species are in your area and plant the ones you like most. 

Obtaining Seeds for Cheap or Free

The cheapest way to start a garden is by far via seeds. However, seeds can be a bit complicated to grow, and some sources make them… way overpriced. Fortunately there are ways to get seeds for little to no cost! 

Some places sell seeds for as low as a dollar, 50 cents, or 25 cents! The packets may not have a lot of seeds, but it’s definitely a good start for a low budget! I’ve personally bought cheap seed packets at Walmart--the Ferry-Morse and Burpee brands are not what we’re looking for here. Typically the cheaper ones I’ve found are American Seed (which is owned by Green Garden Products, which also owns Ferry-Morse, Livingston Seed, McKenzie Seed, and Seeds of Change. Do with that information what you will), but they’re rarely stocked near the Ferry-Morse ones in the Formal Gardening Section. I’ve most often found them on end caps near the gardening section, so you may have to weave through a few aisles to find them, but once you do there’s an array of flower and vegetable seeds to select from! Alternatively, I’ve found seeds at Dollar Tree sold 2 or 4 for a dollar in Spring as part of their seasonal product; however, when they’re out of stock, they’re typically out of stock for the year. Try to check them out early in the year!

Otherwise, other seed companies like Urban Farmer or Botanical Interests will often have semi-frequent sales in spring and fall, when people are stocking up on seeds--joining their email lists can help you be the first to know when a good sale is going on!

Some foods from grocery stores will provide seeds that you can use in the garden as well. I’ve had the most luck with store-bought bagged beans, peppers, and tomatoes. Some people have had luck with watermelons, apples, citrus, squash, and more. Do keep in mind that you likely won’t get the same variety of fruit/vegetable as the one you bought--the resulting plant may look different and taste different.

Give it a shot! Pick some beans you like--if they don't grow well, at least you can eat the rest!

If you live in the US, food-producing live plants, bare roots, and seeds can often be purchased with SNAP benefits. But what does growing fruits, veggies, and herbs have to do with boosting biodiversity? While food crops aren’t typically native, they still provide valuable shelter for native insects. Some plants even have intricate relationships with native fauna--like the squash bee, a solitary bee which exclusively pollinates cucurbits like pumpkins, squash, and zucchini. And we get to benefit more directly as well! If you’re planting a diverse range of foods in your garden (as opposed to the swaths of single-plant farms that typically produce what’s sent to grocery stores), you’re supporting high levels of biodiversity by providing a variety of plants for creatures to live and hunt around.

Most of the time, when we think of boosting biodiversity with a garden, we think of a colorful flower garden teeming with pollinator species. However, if we’re striving to use native species, it can be a bit difficult to find some species in stores. I can say from experience that trying to find any wildflower seeds other than butterfly weed, purple coneflowers, and black-eyed-susans is… challenging, if you limit yourself to stores like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. You might occasionally get lucky with an ACE Hardware or a local nursery, but even then sometimes it can be hard to track down who in your area is selling what--let alone if you live in an area where no one really is selling native plants or their seeds. Not to mention, even once you find a local or online store selling the seeds you want, they can sometimes cost a pretty penny. So what do you do?

If you have the option to, consider gathering native seeds yourself! Get good at identifying the native flora and fauna--or at least, a few target plants and their lookalikes--and get ready to go! Learn where they tend to grow, when they’ll be seeding, etc. Try to identify the plant before it goes to seed (for most plants, it's easiest to identify when flowering), then check back regularly to gather seeds. Typically, if I want to learn how to collect seed from a specific plant, I just search it on Google or YouTube--oftentimes, I'm lead to the GrowItBuildIt Youtube page, so it may be a helpful resource for you as well! Of course, make sure to leave plenty of seed behind so the wild population can repopulate, and seed can feed other creatures in the area. A good rule of thumb is to take no more than 1/3rd of what's available.

Buying seed in bulk is an option if you can afford the upfront cost. Try teaming up with a few friends to buy some bulk seeds and split them amongst yourselves--you’ll get tons of seed! Prairie Moon is a popular site that'll sell seeds by the pound if you can afford the price--though they're in the US, and I believe they focus on Midwest and East Coast natives.

If you want to cheat the system, don’t buy bulk sunflower seeds--buy bags of sunflower seeds being sold as birdseed. They’re typically all black oil sunflower seeds, but they’ll sprout, and they’re fairly cheap for the amount you get!

However, beware generic wildflower seed mixes! Many brands like to sell wildflower seed mixes in big box stores like Home Depot, Target, or even Dollar Tree, but they’ll often include flowers that aren’t native or possibly even invasive in your region! Before you make any purchases, double check to make sure the contained seeds won’t do more harm than good! A quality source of native seeds will provide English and Latin names for all seeds included, and will be native to the region or at least non-invasive. 

See this? I don't trust this.

There’s a good handful of programs online that’ll send you free seeds if you’re planning to start a native habitat project! Poke around online and see what you can find; you might get lucky! The best time to start looking for these is fall and winter, I find--by early spring, many of them are either done or beginning to wind down... though some also start up in spring. Ultimately--just check regularly! You never know what you can find!

Other Ways to Get Plants

Don’t want to start from seed? That’s fair! You can try cuttings! Just be sure not to take too much of the plant while you do so. Make sure you’ve gotten a few leaf nodes on your cutting, and cut any flowers you may have gotten. Make sure to leave some blooms and foliage on the original plant for the creatures in the current habitat--you don’t want to destroy one habitat to make another in your garden. There’s tons of methods of rooting cuttings, many of which have different efficacy rates for different plants, but that’s a topic for another post.

If you find seedlings growing in a place where they won’t be able to sustain themselves long-term, or are in danger of being destroyed, consider relocating them! You may be able to gently dig up and transplant the seedling to your garden. Don’t do this if they’re in a place where they can easily survive--ideally, you’ll be taking plants from sidewalk cracks, heavily maintained public gardens, roadsides, etc. Do be careful while doing this--ensure your safety first!  

You’re totally allowed to join gardening communities like clubs, facebook groups, and more before you’ve even put a trowel to the dirt. These are great places to learn information and advice! Many gardeners are more than happy to help out a new gardener, and will eagerly provide seeds, cuttings, or even baby plants! Talk to some people about your gardening journey and what you’re hoping to do, and you just might find some kindred spirits--or at least get more people interested in the topic! 

Seed and plant giveaways and trades happen all the time in gardening clubs, as well as online! Just poke around and see what you can find! Some are explicitly trades, meaning you’re expected to send something in return, but once you get your feet on the ground with some plant knowledge you’ll be stellar! You may be able to explain you’re just starting out, and someone may send you seeds without expecting a trade, but I’d suggest trying giveaways first. 

Poke around online and see if there’s a local chapter of your state’s native plant society. From there, you’ll likely be able to find a calendar of events--many of them will host plant sales in the spring, with a bunch of native plant seedlings ripe for the pickings if you can make it out and have some money to spare! Fair warning, though, you’ll want to get there early if you can. If they say they’re starting at 10, try to get there by 9:45. Year after year, there’s always record turnout, and they sell out of plants faster than ever. Just trust me on this. I’ve been let down; hopefully you won’t have to be.

Some libraries are beginning to host seed libraries! Check around and see if your library has one! Ideally, the system works best if you also have seeds to contribute in return, but if you’re just starting out I’m sure they won’t mind you taking some seeds! Just consider saving some seeds to contribute in the future and pay it forward. If your library doesn’t have a seed library? Consider asking if they’d be willing to start one! Community interest is a great way to get the ball rolling on projects like these, but they’ll only know the community is interested if the community tells them they’re interested!

Volunteer to Garden for/with Someone Else

Maybe someone in your area wants to garden, but is struggling to find the time/energy. Many elderly people who used to garden simply can’t anymore but still would like a garden. Other people may love to have a helping hand in their garden. You might even find a few people in your area interested in renting and sharing a community garden plot with others, so they don't have to handle it all on their own! They may be interested in increasing biodiversity right now, or may be willing to if it’s brought up to them. You might be just the kind of person someone needs! Since it won't be your garden, you’ll likely need a bit of permission and collaboration to get anything in particular going, but it’s worth a shot and a way to maybe even make friends! 

Again, your mileage may vary with some of these. You may not know where there's a bunch of wildflowers growing in your area, or maybe your local library doesn't have a free seed library. That's okay! Do what you're able to, find what you can find, get what you can get! And there's never any shame with starting small--in fact, starting small can make the project easier to manage and expand when you're able!

That's the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about ways to start growing plants cheaply--low cost seed starting set ups, essentially. There's a lot of good options, many of which I've used myself even! Until then, I hope this advice is helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!

[the-vegetarian-artist]

Besties in every universe, that's all I could ask for 😭

*edit: the link below is for the final piece, keep noticing the sketch is the only one getting notes 😅🙃

>> Full Colored Version Here <<

[ur-ghostgirl]

:3

[coolpointsetta]

jamie: i am sneaking broccoli into the mac and cheese so the children don’t know that they’re eating vegetables.

jamie: that’s what parenting is all about. helping your children through lies

roy: well, not just the children

jamie: huh

roy: i’ve been speaking vegetables into your waffles for years now, since way before we were married.

jamie: what

roy: haven’t you ever wondered why your syrup has seeds in it?

jamie: you said those were maple seeds

roy: yeah, there’s no such thing

[beneathsilverstars]

idk it sounds reasonable to me for a teenager to run away bc they didn't want to eat their veggies!

one hopes that by the later stages of childhood a parent will have figured out which veggies and preparation styles work for the kid, and the kid will have resigned themself to what they do and don't have to eat according to their parents, and it's all settled into an equilibrium instead of a daily fight. and hopefully as a teen your palette is expanding and you're even willing to eat more veggies then you did as a child.

however, if the kid is extra picky and stubborn, and the parent is extra determined to make sure they eat a good variety (or just eat whatever the parent prepared no matter what it is), it could absolutely continue to be a regularly-repeated fight. and if something is a continued point of contention throughout childhood then it absolutely makes sense for a teen to go FUCK this, i am nearly an ADULT i am done being told to eat my veggies i am gonna prove my independence and make them realize i don't have to just sit there and let them boss me around!!

like, the childishness of the fight is exactly why a teen would run away about it.

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Burber

[tinyclove]

everyone meet mr peanut butter ❤️ my new little baby!! he's an 11 week old angora bunny. I've always had bunnies (I have 3 others at the moment, not including mr. PB, all of different breeds!) and I decided to specifically go for an angora this time since I've been enjoying my yarn spinning so much! so not only do I get an adorable little sweetheart to love, but I'll be gradually collecting his fluff as I groom him for my spinning projects hehe how cool is that?! I'm so excited :)

I'll keep you guys updated on here maybe, if that's something people would be interested in! I've just moved homes and I am so lucky to now have loads of wonderful outside space that I can't wait to use for creating the bunny wonderland (bunderland?!) of my dreams for my furry babies. I'm currently in the process of building a fancy 8x8ft barn for them to live in, then once that's all done I'll be building an attached walk-in run so that they'll have a nice secure outside space too! I can't wait to introduce mr. PB to my other bunnies and get them settled into the barn - it'll keep me busy as my winter project!

[veggiesforpresident]

Jally & how they show love

jeanie hi!

my first thought is action (dally) + compliments (johnny) + vulnerability (both)

dally definitely seeks johnny out when he's not got other stuff going on, he wants/needs to know where johnny is, that he's okay. he worries about him. but also he's like, constantly inviting him to buck's parties or to watch him rodeo or to go see a movie. lightly manhandling johnny (arm over the shoulder, hand under his chin to kiss him when they're alone, running his fingers through his hair, etc)

johnny.... hm. i think he's not as much of an action-oriented person. like i think he pays attention, he likes knowing where dally is and being able to tell what kind of mood he's in. i think he's big on compliments. "you sure can cuss good" and all that. i think he compliments dally like, at least once a day and dally preens over it.

together tho, i think they're very emotionally vulnerable with each other. dally opens up about how hard shit has been for him, and johnny validates him (cue another compliment). also, johnny is canonically quiet but as a certified quiet bitch myself i think johnny really opens up once he's comfortable, and dally makes an effort to make johnny comfortable. dally is one of the only people who johnny can bitch to/with.

on that note, they must have talked about how much they miss the curtis parents after they died -- johnny's "leave em alone, dal" at the drive in didn't come from nowhere! i guarentee that they've talked about 1. how much they miss the curtises, 2. how much dally misses having someone tell him to cut that shit out, and 3. how much johnny does get irritated sometimes that dally is such an asshole. to me that moment at the drive in was absolutely not the first time something like that has happened, just the first time pony witnessed it, and i think those are the sort of conversations happened a lot.

dally i think is less good about actually expressing his feelings, like it doesn't come naturally to him at all, but he also says the sappiest most heartfelt shit ever but ONLY when they're alone. "you're so - my day was shitty but now you're here. so. it's better."

[spicymotte]

today feels like Christmas because we got 3kg of vegetables for just 3,50€. took me forever to prep everything for the freezer but ahhh worth itttttt

[bunnyboy-juice]

we look so cute together 🥺💕

[plantanarchy]

i see people in my local plant facebook groups starting their tomatoes from seed already.... no..... stop...... put those seeds down....