#lots of pawpaw growing around there

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Speaking of cool churches

Honestly could fight some horrible nightmare beasts here

I don't respect christianity but they kinda popped off with cathedrals but ONLY for the purpose of having a cool backdrop for fighting horrible nightmare beasts

[headspace-hotel]

by the way (i sadly cant share this document cause it was sent to me personally and i dont think its online) i've been reading a compilation of earliest writings by European settlers about Kentucky and its fucking wild

the main thing they mention is the river cane, everywhere. Cane cane cane cane cane on every page. Canebrakes stretching for miles and miles, dark woodlands of massive trees spaced wide apart with canebrake as the understory

But also they talk a lot about: Huge fields of strawberries that seem to turn red in spring with all the strawberries getting ripe. Raspberries. Groves of American plums, even some AN ACRE big just a huge patch of plum trees. Cherry trees. Huge grape vines growing up one in every four trees. Persimmons and pawpaws. Walnut trees. Hickory trees. Oak trees. And sugar maples. EVERYWHERE. And the canebrakes absolutely TEEMING with turkeys, passenger pigeons and quails

Reading the descriptions of looking out into a valley and seeing herds of 200-300 bison frolicking in the clover and river cane almost makes me want to cry...

It's crazy how much they talk about plum trees because plum trees are so rare now!

Really it's wild seeing how abundant the edible woody plant species and berries just-so-happened to be when Europeans first came. Right?

To me it seems like obvious pieces of evidence that indigenous people were actively cultivating this land. It was a landscape scale agriculture fully integrated with the ecosystem.

Even more so because it started to collapse very soon after settlers came. The sugar maple trees were mostly killed by settlers hacking indiscriminately into them with hatchets for maple syrup making without caring about the trees survival, the livestock running loose destroyed the native clover and cane causing invasive grass to grow back, and the bison...reading about the bison is so sad!

The wasteful slaughter of bison began very early. Lots of writers talk about other settlers killing bison just to say they killed one, or killing several of them and barely taking one horse load of meat from them, or seeing traders killing bison by the hundreds just to take the most valuable parts and leave the body to rot...And the writers knew it was wrong! but they couldn't stop the others from doing it. So bison were basically gone from around Lexington before 1800 :(

Settlers even killed the bison for wool--this was fascinating to me, they described making their cloth out of nettle bast fiber and bison wool. Native Americans also used bison wool for textiles, but as far as I know they didn't kill them for it (tho i reckon they might have used the wool on a bison they killed)...the wool peels right off in big clumps in the spring. Same thing with mountain goats, indigenous peoples would just gather the mountain goat wool when it naturally shed. But the settlers were killing bison to shave the wool off and it said only the young ones had good wool so if they killed a bison that didn't have good wool on it they would just kill another one.

They destroyed the river cane not knowing that bamboo was strong and useful for practically everything. Destroyed the native pastures of buffalo clover, Kentucky clover, running buffalo clover and God knows what other extinct or undiscovered clovers. And now wild strawberries and raspberries are hard to find, American plums very rare, persimmons rare...

The settlers didn't understand this land, didn't try to understand it, they were full of greed and just tried to force their idea of agriculture and their idea of society onto it, and watched in bafflement as the natural abundance and beauty of the land around them fell into decay and ruin from their abuse.

[the-habitat-ring]

The (Real) Stardew Valley Farm Update 2024

I’m wrapping up my third year trying to grow everything from Stardew Valley in our yard, with substitutions as needed, preferably with Midwest USA native plants.

I’m continuing to battle the invasive plants (why won’t the honeysuckle and thistles stop?????), beg for truckloads of woodchips (Google decided our address isn’t real anymore), and deal with a body and brain that makes going outside impossible sometimes (the past two years have been rough medically). But despite all of that I still managed to make a ton of progress!

Here’s how things stand as of now. If you’re looking back at previous posts you might notice some differences, but that’s mainly because things I planted died (drought + medical crises don’t bode well for newly established plants). I’ve also added the additional crops from the new update.

2021

Amaranth - Native white amaranth

Grape - Native riverbank grapes (so many grapes). I’m hopefully going to successfully propagate some cuttings from the neighbor’s green cultivated variety

Dandelion - Obviously

Maple Tree - Native silver, red, and sugar maples

Pine Tree - Douglas fir

Apple Tree - Three old apple trees of different varieties in very rough shape. I’ve been working to prune them up and two are looking a lot better. I’d love an Enterprise apple tree at some point

Coffee Bean - Chicory (a naturalized plant commonly used as a coffee substitute)

Salmonberry - Native black raspberries since salmonberries aren’t from around here, although I really want to add raspberries of various colors in the future

Starfruit - Native wood sorrel

Cave Carrot - Queen Ann’s Lace, AKA wild carrot

2022

Kale

Rhubarb

Strawberry - Both cultivated and native

Tulip

Radish

Tomato

Eggplant

Fairy Rose - Native prairie rose

Cranberries - Native cranberry viburnum

Orange Tree -Native persimmons, which produce orange fruit

Daffodil

Spring Onion - Native nodding onions

Spice Berry - Native spicebushes

Wild Plum - Native plums

Crocus

Cherry Tree - Native black cherries and nonnative bush cherries

Banana Tree - Native pawpaws, which are also known as Indiana bananas

Sweet Gem Berry - Native Juneberry (Downy Serviceberry)

2023

Garlic - Native wild garlic

Blueberries - I planted three varieties and only one survived. Don’t shortcut your bed preparation, friends

Wild Horseradish - Not wild, but contained with my mint

Hops - Teamaker hops which is good for tea since we’re not alcohol fans

2024

Blue Jazz - Native Ozark Bluestar

Beets

Apricot Tree - Native passionflower vine, also known as wild apricot

Sunflower - Both native and non-native sunflowers

Pumpkin

Cactus Fruit - Native prickly pear cactus

Melon - Cantaloupe

Oak Tree - Native dwarf chinquapin oak, which took me forever to get

Hot Pepper

Palm Tree/coconut - Native palm sedge

Poppy - Native purple poppy mallow, after other native poppies failed. I still want to grow bread seed poppies, though

Corn - Tried some gorgeous colored corn and popcorn that didn’t grow great but they did grow!

Green bean

Hazelnut - They’re supposed to be easy to grow but they do not like me. Third time’s the charm, right?

Carrot

Summer squash

Powder melon - I decided to do honeydew melon because it’s kinda powdery and I don’t really have any other ideas

Planned for 2025 and beyond

Potato

Pineapple - White strawberries (pineberries)

Winter Root - Hopniss, a native root vegetable

Red Cabbage

Artichoke - Native Jerusalem artichokes

Yam

Bok Choy

Leek

Fiddlehead Fern - Ferns do not like me

Blackberry

Crystal Fruit - Probably honey berries, which produce fruit earlier than anything else

Ancient Fruit - Native Aronia berries. They’re blue(ish) and have lots of antioxidants so you live to be ancient

Tea Leaves - Native New Jersey Tea bush. The previous ones were murdered by rabbits

Mango Tree - I thought one of our pawpaws was a variety called mango but I was wrong

Ginger - I want to try growing native wild ginger again

Rice - Native rough-leaved rice grass

Wheat - I have some gorgeous ornamental blue wheat seeds

Summer Spangle - Possibly native prairie lily? I was unsuccessful growing it from seed this year but maybe in the future

Parsnip - I can’t get them to germinate to save my life but one day I will be successful

Sweat pea

Holly - Native winterberry holly

Mushrooms - I'm just gonna ignore varieties and try some plugs or similar

Peach - Vine peach. It’s a melon, and more doable than a tree

Mahogany Tree - I think I’ll resort to mahogany nasturtiums

Broccoli

Pomegranate Tree - I could try Russian pomegranates?

Taro Root - I would have to plant it in pots

Snow Yam - Not actually a yam but maybe native sweet potato vine?

Qi Fruit - Very creepy, not sure what to do with this

Over halfway there! If anyone has suggestions for plants please let me know because I’m still stuck on a few and very open to alternatives.

In other news, I’m making Stardew Valley Fair displays with cross stitch patches for each of the items I’ve added that year. I’ll have to post pics of those at some point.

[persephoneprice]

i am asking, nay pleading, for more lore on dotty lee and pawpaw les

thank you for asking about them 🥺

i love dotty lee and papaw les so much <3 and grandma lin, of course!

i haven’t fully come up with a vision for how lin and les fell in love and got married but i do know they’re kind, caring people. a lot like jessup.

les was always really devoted to his faith and often held little sermons for the people in 12 who wanted to listen. i think it was pretty popular around 12 for the people to gather around and listen to him speak. they mostly tried to not draw much attention to it though, because of the peacekeepers.

of course, they noticed and at the first chance they could (when they caught him talking badly about ravinstill) they killed him.

it was devastating for dotty lee and her siblings. her mother is still alive but lives with betty and corbin.

les and dotty lee were really close when she was growing up. no one would outright say she was his favorite, but she was. he felt like her dreams where a gift from god himself and he loved telling her about jesus and such.

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

My Garden Flowers Part 9

All photos mine.

In order of appearance:

241. Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

242. Nodding Wakerobin (Trillium flexipes) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

243. Moss campion (Silene acaulis) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

244. Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflora) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

245. Yellow Wood-Sorrel (Oxalis stricta) Small yellow flowers. You often find them growing as weeds, but they're native at least to the northern USA bordering southern Ontario. The leaves, flowers, and fruits are a very lovely snack, with a tart refreshing flavour.

246. Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis) A fairly common garden weed, but native so she can stay where she pops up from time to time. Not pictured as I haven't got pictures.

247. Stiff Goldenrod (Oligoneuron rigida) Not pictured as I haven't got pictures yet.

248. Fourflower Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadriflora) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

249. Smallflower Forgetmenot (Myosotis laxa) At least I think. Her flowers are certainly much smaller than the European pink and blue species I see around. Not sure what else she'd be.

250. Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

251. Tall Meadow-Rue (Thalictrum pubescens) Yet more lacy white flowers! I imagine if you preferred white you could have a full native garden of such.

252. Northern Bog Violet (Viola nephrophylla) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

253. Wool Grass (Scirpus cyperinus) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

254. Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

255. Square-Stemmed Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens) More leggy than her yellow cousin, but still very attractive flowers that look a lot like snapdragons. She needs things moist.

256. Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

257. Meadow Sundrops (Oenothera pilosella) Not quite as intensely yellow as her cousins, Oenothera biennis and Oenothera fruticosa, but still very bright.

258. Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) We don't have a ton of red or orange flowers native here as compared to yellow, white, or pink/purple flowers, so each one is a treat.

259. Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) Yet more lacy white flowers! Not complaining, though, I think they're lovely in the garden. You find these growing in shaded woods.

260. Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) Unlike her cousin in the front, this one produces lots of berries...but they're white! That's not usual for the species but not unheard of. It's kind of fun to pick little white strawberries each year from that patch.

261. Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

262. Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia) This is a cultivar. I will have the wild type one day.

263. Strict Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium montanum) Her cousin in the front prefers things dry, but this one, like many members of her family (irises), prefers things moist. It was actually easier to get her to take than the dry one, though, which I had three failed attempts at before the one I planted last year.

264. Downy Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

265. Purplestem Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

266. Wrinkleleaf Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

267. Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia) Not pictured as I haven't got pictures yet.

268. Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

269. Silverberry (Elaeagnus commutata) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

270. White Lettuce (Nabalus albus) Not pictured as she hasn't flowered yet.

[dispatchvampire]

Radio Free Bucky - Bucky x Fem!OC

Pairing: Bucky x OC (in progress)

Warnings: Fluff, mild angst, casual swearing, smut in later chapters

Series Summary: A bunch of interrelated  of fluffy ficlets about Bucky and Penelope. Strangers in the night, tenuously connected by the past, finding their way together a little at a time.

Chapter Summary: In which Bucky has a birthday and someone unexpected knows about it.

It was his birthday, but he’d kept the proceedings low key. Dinner with Sam and his family, some cake, before retiring to the fixer-upper he’d bought not far from their family homestead so he had a place to stay in Delacroix  that wasn’t the front room couch when he came down. That’s really all he had the mental and emotional space for these days.

The soft patter of rain on the roof and windows droned in the background as he worked on the birdhouse Sarah had asked him to. Sam’s sister was a sweetheart, very unlike her brother, and he had no problem giving in to any and all requests from her and her boys. They did love them some Uncle Bucky. 

A memory of a warm summer afternoon on the bayou made him smile as Chet Baker’s smooth voice crooned about falling in love too easily, just a shade louder than the downpour. As much as Sam gave him shit for it, Bucky liked what he liked, and he wasn’t ashamed. It was good music. 

He’d found this satellite radio station one day online, looking for god knows what now, but it had been a revelation. A whole channel devoted to 40’s music, and it was like the universe was giving him a bit of comfort after kicking the hell out of him for so long. 

The soulful trumpet at the end of the song faded into the gathering shadows in his workshop.

“That was Chet Baker on vocals and trumpet there, and I think that might be my favorite song of his. It’s ten past eight here on the east coast, and this is 40s Junction.” 

Just hearing her voice made Bucky smile. It was warm, knowing, with a spark of humor that made him wonder if her actual smile was as nice as what he pictured in his head. And, to be fair, he’d pictured her a bit.  

This woman, the only female DJ at the station near as he could tell, was a nightly companion as he worked on his projects and unwound at the end of the day. Hearing tiny snippets of her life, and how joyfully she related to the music that was clearly way too old to be current for her, made him feel a little less alone in the world. It was an unusual feeling and he’d started to enjoy it. 

“Now, I know I promised you all I’d get to some Ella Fitzgerald this hour, but…” she trailed off and he turned his head to look at his phone like he expected to see her there, with a mischievous grin. “I wanted to take a moment to share something with you all. Today’s a special day in my family. It’s a tradition my Pawpaw started way back in 1945.

“I’m sure you all have guessed by now that he’s the reason I’m here with you, five nights a week from four to midnight. He was my best friend growing up and I miss him terribly. 

He served in the Army in Italy, with the 107th Infantry Regiment.” Bucky carefully set his work aside as his fingers went numb. 

“You history buffs probably recognize the unit, but for those that don't, that’s Captain America’s outfit, and my grandfather was Gabe Jones, one of the original Howling Commandos. 

“Today is March 10th, the birthday of one of my Pawpaw’s fallen comrades in arms, Bucky Barnes. For years, on this day, he’d raise a glass and tell us about the man who saved his life more than once. A man who gave him a reason to go on, to keep fighting, even when all seemed hopeless. Whose death marked his young life indelibly. You get the picture. 

“He’d raise a glass and ask us to remember the fallen and their families, and to help those still around us carry on. After the Blip, I’m sure a lot of us can relate to those sentiments.” Her sigh held paragraphs he didn’t need a translation for. 

“Anyway, long story short, it feels weird to say that Bucky isn’t dead, as Pawpaw informed us, but I’m celebrating his day just the same. I’d like to think he’s having a good 107th birthday, out there, somewhere. 

“As for me, I raise a glass to him, and all the boys who served.” She paused and he could faintly make out the sounds of ice cubes hitting glass. “And with an extra sip for those who didn’t make it home. Happy Birthday, Sergeant Barnes, wherever you are. Now, here’s Ella, serving up some Black Coffee.” 

Bucky’s gasp when the music kicked back in told him that at some point he’d lost air, and even though he was breaking currently, the lump in his throat was throttling him slowly. Of all the things… so many thoughts in his head, fragments of memories, imaginings. Abandoning his workbench entirely, he shuffled across the room to toss himself down onto the couch in the now mostly-dark. 

He could see Gabe’s face in his mind like it was yesterday. Easy smile, quick wit, brilliant mind. Gabriel Jones had been a good man, and it warmed Bucky’s heart to know he’d gone on to come home, have a family, and that he kept the joy in his life. 

The tender affection in her voice when she spoke of her grandfather said more than any words could ever. That was the true measure of a man, the love of those left behind.

There was a voice in his head, one that sounded annoyingly like Dr. Rainor’s, whispering that he was well-remembered by those he’d left behind too, and that meant something. To them, to the world. It was a voice quickly snuffed out by the knowledge that while that may have been true at the time, a whole encyclopedia of lifetimes had transpired between then and now, and his worthiness of that sentiment, no matter how well-intended, well… it was more worn than not. 

Still, it warmed his heart a little to know that he was thought of fondly, and by his DJ-crush of all people, even if it was a strange coincidence. How could it not? He may have still been getting used to this time, but having that moment, that connection no matter how brief, felt like a much-needed hug in a world that has offered him precious little in the way of comfort. 

For a second, he could just close his eyes in the gathering darkness and let the music and rain rhythm wash over him, like a baptism of time, washing him clean once more. For a second, he could just… be. And it was enough

[antlersacornsandallium]

I don't talk a lot about myself and my life on here but this feels relevant and I don't have anywhere else to share.

I've been dedicated gardening for 4 years now and I'm finally, FINALLY starting my composting journey. And I'm so excited!

A worm bin! A compost tumbler!

Now my garden scraps will go back into my garden. When I chop the strawberries their tops will be sweet for the worms. When I cook carrots, their skins will be moist and nutritious for the bacteria. When I eat eggs, their shells will go back into the soil and enjoyed by the life there, and then by the plants, and then by me and my family.

The practicality! The cyclical nature of it!

So far this year looks like it will be a bounty of blueberries and blackberries and spring onions. I hand pollinated pawpaw trees and their fruit has been set by me and the flies.

I took a grafting class and came home with 10 apple and pear trees that are now growing into their 5 gallon buckets until I can get them in the ground, hopefully by next year. So far so good, as most of the grafts have taken. It's just a waiting game at this point.

I went feral at the plant sales this April and snatched up so many native plants. Woodland phlox, hoary skullcap, salvias and columbines and coral honeysuckle. I snatched up some pawpaw seeds I found on vacation last fall and overwintered in the fridge - now I have one that's sprouting.

I want to feed the world around me as much as I want to feed my family. And rebuilding the soil and rebuilding the native plant populations is how I can do this.

I want the zebra swallowtail butterflies to find my pawpaw trees and lay their eggs. I want the little bugs and the microbes to find the plants they love and be reunited again. I want the fireflies to blink their slow love songs because I left them a habitat to grow in.

So I'll sweeten the soil as often as I can and sow seeds and learn the names of each plant so I can greet them properly when I see them. I'll compost my tea leaves and the bits of my meals and leave them like offerings to the earth with my little prayers that things will get better, richer, more nourishing, and that each time I pull something from the ground I remember to put a piece of it back in so the cycle can turn again.

[lastjudgmcnt]

"Oh?" Oona's mouth caught in a small o-shape as he continued. "I don't know if I came by that belief through books or TV, but I guess I always thought it was like -- the dustier the bottle, the better." She smiled lightly, humming slightly in acknowledgment as he pushed a glass towards her. She didn't drink much, but she remembered how her mom's cheeks would grow darker when she had her allotted glass of wine at Christmas dinner. The memory caused a little stab at Oona's heart as she picked up the glass, observing the liquid through the light that shone from a small window. "What makes it change color?" She figured, for the sake of being polite, she'd at least have to take a small drink.

"Cheers," she echoed, then took the teeniest sip that would still allow her to report back on its taste. The last time she had wine, it was -- gosh, it must've been two years ago, she thought. It had been something sickeningly sweet and pink with little flowers and strawberries on the label. She had giggled a whole lot, and when she went to check on Lydia where she slept, she ended up falling asleep curled around her. As she tried to think of what to tell Diego, her eyes caught on the duck on the '97 Decoy, and she smiled to herself again. "It's good," she started. "Very... rich. Fruity, but not super sweet." Her expression turned a little rueful. "Now this is where you tell me what notes I should be picking up."

Wiping the pad of her thumb across her mouth, Oona nodded and placed the glass back down between them. "I did, yeah," she confirmed. Her parents had their own property -- horses, mainly. Her daddy was in the business of breeding when he wasn't in the business of lay ministry. Where she'd primarily been living before the world fell apart was at her grandparents' ranch, which was larger and passed down through generations. She preferred to talk about that one and let out a soft, short laugh at Diego's next question. "But no wine cellar. My pawpaw was a teetotaler, and our church mostly encouraged prohibition. Any intoxicants were pretty much a no-go."

His next questions had her at a brief loss for words. They were big ones, and she had big answers, but she wasn't sure how to articulate them. What was it like? "Wow. I don't... I don't know where to start," Oona said after a moment, touched that he even remembered. "Um. I loved the ranch -- I do love it. It's still there, in Colorado. Two hours north of Denver." She stopped, made a face, then shook her head. "Well, that's by car. By foot or horse, it's about a week out," she continued, illustrating the point by drawing a small line in the air that approximated the route. Oona took a deep breath as she remembered the blue sky, the tall trees, the lake, and the mountains. She released it heavily. "It's just about the most beautiful place this side of heaven, but that's just one woman's humble opinion."

"What about you? Where were you before your fancy-pants school, where you learned your fancy-pants words?" Oona asked, then immediately flushed. Her expression scrunched up in chagrin. Voice low, she continued: "Oh gosh. Did I forget? Did you already tell me?"

In the past few weeks, Oona had fallen victim to his ramblings twice. And so he rubbed the back of his neck, nervously, feeling that familiar 'sting' which had existed solely to remind him he was, in fact, a 'real live boy' still capable of embarrassment. "I'm working on it." he replied, and a soft smile pushed into his cheeks. Then his attention shifted quickly to the wine and he nodded affirmatively. "It sure is." good stuff. Best stuff. "You know it's a common misconception that all wine gets better with age. It's not true. Roughly 90 percent is meant to be consumed within the first five years." he pulled the cork out now, placing it to the side. "But the remaining 10?" the wine filled the bottom quarter, and Diego pushed it gently toward her. "Red wine gets lighter with time, you see? Brick-orange just like that." he let her take a look, itching to mention that white wine did the opposite, and got darker and more golden. But he refrained. "Cork allows micro-oxygenation which helps with the ageing. Screw caps on the other hand, airtight. They preserve the freshness. Neither is necessarily better than the other but --" he bit his tongue again, and a moment passed as he poured himself a cup to follow. "Cheers." glass clicked against hers, and he let his tongue examine the flavour with that first sip, focusing on the vanilla notes absorbed via oak barrel. "What do you think?" Shortly after, he proceeded to take a seat atop the tall chair by the counter, never once pausing to question why the bar had a mini bar in the back room too. The reason had to have been some sort of convenience. "You uh, you grew up on a ranch right?" he knew the answer, sometimes asking was more of a strategy than anything else. "No wine cellar?" his uncle had a wine cellar at his ranch in Wyoming. It was during a brief visit, some fifteen years ago, that he'd learnt about the complexities and art of wine-making. Fascinating stuff. "What was it like? Your ranch? Your uh, your life, before?"

[sijey]

18 Years of Existence | Autobiography

I am Coleen Jasmine Priagola, I just turned 18 on last 9th of March 2023. I'm the eldest daughter of my parents Roxan and Dave Priagola. I am currently residing in Dasmarinas City, Cavite while my dad lives in General Trias Cavite. I grew up idolizing my lola, who died of health complications years ago. Writing my autobiography appeared to be a simple task before, but after what happened to my lola, I found it difficult to explore and observe the events in my life. I am a student at Emilio Aguinaldo College and have been an Emillian since 2021. As a student, I strive to be active and functional not only in my classroom, but also in school organizations. I joined the Supreme Student Government, Journalism, and Hygiene Advocate organizations in junior high, but as a senior high school student, I was only able to join journalism as a news writer. I enjoy a wide variety of music and art, I like all sorts of music genre such as pop punk, rock, opm, country music, indie, and a lot more. As of the moment, I enjoy listening to Rex Orange County, Taylor Swift, My Chemical Romance, Eggboy, Queen, and many more. I sometimes enjoy listening to classical music most especially the one made by Antonio Vivaldi. I have eight cats whom I consider my family since my lola died. Their names are Patoti, Bachi, Pawi, Pawpaw, Popaw, Tsooya, Ampi and Pochi. These cats have been with me through thick and thin and I can safely say that I am more attached with them than any other animals of even people. Coffee is my favorite drink aside from matcha and iced tea. I drink coffee when I am happy, sad, stressed out, burnt out and even when spacing out. I drink coffee causing me to have health complications but anyway coffee is life as they say.

All of these facts about myself are part of my journey as a senior high school student, and I hope to look back on them when I go to college. To be a lawyer is what I want to attain and in able to acquire that, I must be consistent, persistent and wise in every steps and plan that I will take to make my dream of ideal self happen. Upon thinking deeply of my ideal self I realized that aside from being a lawyer, it is essential for me to be happy also. Treat yourself like a plant that needs water, air and sunlight to grow. For me, to be able to have my dream profession it is also important for me to prioritize my happiness and mental health. To conclude, my ideal self has to be mentally strong and capable to handle things in life. Unibersidad ng Pilipinas has always been my dream school although it is indeed difficult to pass UP's standard, I am still hoping to pass the qualifications.I took a picture when I went there once that has a sign saying "never again, never forget". This sign represents my political stand, principle and political awareness. Last presidential election I became woke about the injustices roaming around the Philippines and I realized how people are blinded by fake news, red tagging, misinformation, distortion of history made by dirty driven politicians, Marcos’s clan for example. Leni Robredo the one I supported had serve as a light for the hopes of many Filipinos. Concluding my existence would be too early, although my 18 years of existence have been tough for me, I sometimes wonder how life will turn out if I will continue my life’s journey.

[toadstoolgardens]

Low-Maintenance Gardening

There are so many reasons to choose a low-maintenance garden. Gardening should be a peaceful and fulfilling hobby, not something that adds stress or causes pain. A beautiful, bountiful, low-maintenance harvest is possible!

Annual Crops for the Low-Maintenance Garden

These set it and forget it crops have a long season, don't need a lot of babying, and usually get harvested all at once. Many of these can also be grown in raised beds, and some in containers (potatoes grow great in a 5 gallon bucket!!) if that's best for you.

Ideal Annual Crops: These can all go into cold storage for up to 8 months.

Garlic

Onions

Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Winter Squash

Beans

Pretty Good Annual Crops: These need some attention after harvesting for them to last as long as possible.

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage ^^^Refrigerate these 3

Watermelon (Go into cold storage whole and last 2-3 weeks)

Tomatoes (You can grow determinate tomato varieties for a bumper crop that's harvested all at once. Sit tomatoes at room temperature 2-3 days and then process. Freeze, can, make sauce with them, etc.)

Herbs for the Low-Maintenance Garden

Herbs are the ultimate low-maintenance crop. So many options and they don't mind being ignored and can easily be grown in containers.

Ideal Herbs: These herbs are perennials and come back every year with just a little work on your part. All you need to do is prune them down to 5 inches once in the late spring and once around August to keep them growing indefinitely!

Chives

Oregano

Thyme

Rosemary (If you live in hardiness zones 7-10)

Pretty Good Herbs: These are annual herbs so you'll have to plant them each year. Both of these are also favorites of pollinators and beneficial insects!

Basil (put basil sprigs in a glass of water in the kitchen, change the water every few days, and after a while they should root for easy planting)

Cilantro

Fruits for the Low-Maintenance Garden

If you have the space and means to grow fruit trees or shrubs, they're an excellent low-maintenance choice. They bear a crop year after year with a little pruning (prune once or twice a year) and adding some compost or organic matter (once a year).

Ideal Fruits: These have a long storage life and require little processing after harvesting.

Apples

Citrus Fruits

Grapes

Pears

Pretty Good Fruits: These have much shorter storage life.

Berries (Grow a ton of fruit without much coaxing, but highly perishable so need to be eaten or frozen/processed after harvest)

Pawpaws (If you live in hardiness zones 5-9)

Plums

Some Tips for Low-Maintenance Gardening

Spend 15 minutes a day in the garden, whenever possible. This daily visit doesn't have to be spent working, especially if you're lacking energy, time, spoons, etc. It can be spent observing, enjoying, and just being in the garden, which is just as important as the doing!! Notice the changes as the days, weeks, and seasons change. Enjoy the plants, insects, birds, and other critters you've invited into your garden.

Mulch like a motherfucker. After planting, mulch that garden! A good mulching keeps weeds at bay, making less work for you.

Stagger harvest windows. Plan your planting times so you only have one or a few crops coming to harvest at the same time. This also allows for full appreciation and enjoyment of each crop, hopefully without burnout or overwhelm!

Put it on the calendar. Write down planting, harvesting, and pruning windows for each crop.

Most importantly, BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF. Gardening, even a low-maintenance garden, is hard! You will lose plants. You will lose crops. You will make mistakes and have failures. You weren't able to get to the garden and all your sprouts died? That's totally okay and you can always start them again! You weren't able to harvest in time and the birds got all your berries? You're welcome, birds! Do your best, do what you're able, and you're doing amazing!!💖

Source

[kedreeva]

Today I dug out the order form for native plants that my community sends out once a year. They offer a large variety of cool native trees, shrugs, bushes, flowers, grasses, and other plants at generally decent prices. I filled out the form and then realized it could be submitted online, so we went online and the site doesn't accept orders before Jan 3rd. so much for proactivity there!

But, since I was already on the hunt, I went and dug out the site we wanted to order fruit trees from, and I placed my order for a group of fruit trees to replace the ones we lost to our infected cedar trees. We took down the cedars in 2021 (along with a few other trees threatening my house and coops), and I'm hoping that clears up the issue because I would really like to grow my own apples.

once we can order from the native plants, I intend to get a big group of highbush blueberries, and then a few pawpaw trees, a couple of black cherry and persimmon trees, and a few others. Our lawn up front is basically this big, unused territory of plain, useless lawn grass. I want to turn the whole thing into food.

On a different note... my mom sent me a second sourdough starter packet, this one supposedly alive.... I haven't opened it, but it was in my mailbox through the hard freeze we just had for days. I'm not sure it's still alive, but I guess I'll see tomorrow morning. I also have a packet of Carl's starter on the way from a rec here, so. I guess I'm going to have to make a lot of sourdough bread... Might have to trade some for other things. There are a lot of folks around here who sell fresh eggs and raw honey and stuff. Surely someone wants to trade for some freshly baked bread.

[demidevildiva]

"Maybe you should show me sometime." Dante said giving Frankie a smile back while nodding to his words. In all honesty he didn't know too much about Frankie's family so listening to them speak now forced Dante's eyes to remain only on him. To take in all the words spoken, and try to see where their mind traveled. "What did that mean?" he asked, bringing some lasagna to his lips without once breaking his gaze, even when the other turned. He let out a silent sigh of content. "Do you admire your dad?" The question was a bit loaded on Dante's part. His parents not people that he liked to talk about much because of how things ended - it brought him immense sorrow and clouded his thoughts, but he did often wonder what his relationship to them would be now. They hadn't been the best of parents to him growing up. The constant fights, the endless drugs that were ever present in their home, and the constant yelling at his five year old self whenever he didn't leave them be. When they had friends over and he wanted to show them the song he'd been practicing on the mini guitar his pawpaw had bought him one Christmas. The sound of that same guitar smacking against the wall when his father grew tired of his little games. They weren't good to him, but he loved them still. He used to fantasize about them a lot when younger. Hoped they'd get clean and make music with him like his pawpaw always did. Hoped they'd love him enough to at least try. Hoped they'd somehow come back despite knowing well they never would. Dante put down the platter in his hand, setting it on the futon, before walking over to Frankie. "What are you doing?" he said with a laugh, reaching up to grab a hold of Frankie's wrists as his eyes were covered. He nodded, licking his lips as he waited to head what he could only assume was a mistake he'd missed. Frankie's words though made his breathe pause. Silencing everything out, but the song and their words. Dante wanted to shake his head and say no - that he couldn't sing any new music, but he didn't dare. Too much emotions associated with the song as it was, adding a piece on himself only made it hurt more. This was Marcy's song. "I haven't-" he began, but closed his mouth and took a deep breath forcing himself to finish listening to the song. He brought his hands up to his face, covering his eyes just as Frankie had previously done for him, feeling the tears threatening to fall while his lip quivered. Dante's always been too emotional. It was the one thing he hated most about himself. The reason why he forced so much happiness into everything that he did, but recording music had taken a dark path for him. Ever since his grandma passed away he hadn't been able to get inside a booth properly. He could mess around, sing an old song and shake a couple feathers, but something in him wouldn't allow his music career to continue. Producing was as close as he'd allow himself to get while still finding joy in the thing he loved most. "I don't record anymore, Frankie. Haven't in a really long time." was all he could bring himself to say after the song ended. His hands still attached to his features out of fear of the moisture that leaked. "Yeah, let's do that instead." he swallowed, squeezing his hands to his face until he felt confident enough in his motion to wipe off all remnant of his weakness.

All Frankie could offer to Dante’s question was a shrug. It was a windy road, anything that involved Frankie’s birthday - because then his family became involved, and that was more Sacagawea leading Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Coast. “I love Piper, I love everything she does - she can… do no wrong, I don’t think. But -.” Words - failing Frankie again. They gave another pitiful shrug. “Sometimes - being with lots of people… is lonelier.” Even with Lo in their lap, even when Juniper made them laugh, even when Piper dragged them to her room just to sing them happy birthday. Frankie was so desperate for company, he didn’t even know what to do with it when he was given it. It was nice now, though - right now, Frankie felt seen. Very fucking seen, to an intimidating degree. “Hm.” If there’d anything Frankie had ever been passionate about once upon a time, it’d been music. As time wore on, life bore its full weight on Frankie, and they’d given up - really, everything. But it made their heart skip a beat with excitement to be back in the thick of it, open invite to pull up a chair and join the club. Playing the song Dante had been working on, Frankie’s brows rose. It hadn’t been what they were expecting - nothing like they listened to. Glancing at Dante over their shoulder, they flashed him a tentative grin, “I don’t know - much. About this. Music, anymore. But it’s good… it sounds like - it reminds me a lot of, um, the music… my dad made.” Apparently Frankie was sharing all sorts of information today - maybe birthdays suddenly made him sentimental. Or he was having a stroke. Dante had that effect on him. “He was a, uh… kinda big deal. In France. Every time I’d visit him he’d say - Le monde, mon fils. Je possèdai le monde.” They quoted in quick French, replicating their dad’s accent with ease. “I actually think - he’d really like you.” The next few seconds, Frankie focused in on the song. Listened to where there was something amiss, something notable enough that it was clear - There it is, that’s it! But nothing stood out to them. It was a good song for all intents and purposes, but if Dante was as passionate as he seemed to be about it, Frankie could understand the frustration. “C’mere.” They said, nodding their head to summon Dante closer. “Quick - c’mon, come, I wanna show you something.” Waiting for him to finally make his way over, Frankie didn’t give Dante any sort of heads up before placing their hands over his eyes. “It doesn’t sound like - it’s missing… anything. Except, uh, maybe you. Just - I think it’d sound… nice. With you on it. Keep your eyes… closed. And listen. Okay?” Trusting Dante to listen to instruction, Frankie dropped his hand before restarting the song over again, watching Dante’s features - trying to gauge if he was hearing anything new. Anything less, anything more, if he was really imagining himself on it. Maybe he’d hate the suggestion, but it obviously meant the world to him. If Frankie had it his way, he’d add more of Dante to everything, might as well suggest it for the song he was stumped over. “Either way, you should get - a new perspective. Distraction, or. Deal with something, uh… new. Give it a rest for the… rest of the night. Before coming back. It’ll be brand new again.”

[ahedderick]

   I’ve been enjoying all the pawpaw posts floating around Tumblr, but let’s not forget the humble ground cherry. There are apparently a lot of related species that are so similar as to be difficult to tell apart, and they grow across the continental US and even Hawaii.

They are very tasty! Also frost-proof, you can find them when there’s snow on the ground and they’re still good to eat. I grow them in a flower bed near the house so I don’t have to hunt for them ‘in the wild’.

This site: https://www.bountifulgardener.com/when-are-ground-cherries-ripe/   seemed to have more info and looked accurate to me.

   I know some people cook them into jam or pie, but my local variety doesn’t taste good cooked, only fresh. I found that out the hard way, after preparing 6 cups of the little bastards and cooking them into rank, yucky pie filling.

@headspace-hotel​ perhaps of interest to you.

[twstarchives]

Happy Birthday・Epel

Card: Birthday Attire - SSR Characters: Epel & Yuu. Mentioned: Vil, Leona

Chapter 1

—POMEFIORE DORM - BIRTHDAY PARTY VENUE—

NRC Campus News Interview with the Birthday Student ~Epel ver.~

Yuu: Happy birthday!

Epel: Thank you. I feel a little embarrassed... I’ll get people coming up and wishing me a happy birthday just by walking through the halls.

Did your family do anything to celebrate?

Epel: Yeah, they sent a letter and a bunch of apples.

My family lives on an apple farm that’s been around for generations. We grow all kinds of varieties all year round, so they send me some this time of year too.

But there were way too many for one person to eat, so I’ve been handing them out to people I know around the school...

I passed them out to all my classmates and the magift club, but I’ve still got some left over.

Please let me know if you know of anybody who might want to take a few.

Could you tell us about your family next?

Epel: Mawmaw and Pawpaw—er, I mean! There’s my mother and father, my grandfather, grandmother...

My great-grandma, my uncle and his wife and son. We all live together.

All of us work on the farm. But it’s so huge that we’re still kind of short on hands.

Since the neighborhood’s made up of farmers, everyone helps each other out during the busy season.

We all feel really close because of that, like we’re one big family.

We have a thank-you party for everyone after the busiest harvest season of the year. Everyone brings their harvests, or small dishes...

It’s huge celebration, almost like a festival! Gee, there ain’t nothin’ as fun as—ah! I mean, it’s a lot of fun... I think?

Is it difficult to harvest the apples?

Epel: The apple trees on my family’s farm are really tall, so I guess it is... maybe. It’s real tiring going up and down the ladder.

But not when you use magic. You can hop a broom and fly from tree to tree, which makes picking them really easy.

My grandma and great-grandma can use magic, so they’ve always been the ones in charge of the high-up places.

When I was little, I really wanted to help the two of them, so everyday I got on a broom and jumped up and down...

Then one day, I really flew!

Ever since then the three of us have been doing any harvesting you need to fly for.

Chapter 2

—POMEFIORE DORM - BIRTHDAY PARTY VENUE—

What’s your favorite food?

Epel: BBQ! It’s so darn divine! Gets my mouth waterin’, it’s that good!

Back home we’d round up my family ‘n the neighborhood folk, all the parents, ‘n kids ‘n do a whole lotta barbecues, all of us.

We’d all sink our teeth into the chunks o’ meat we grilled over the charcoal.

There ain’t nothin’ better than wolfin’ ‘em down like that!

Also ‘cause our vegetables are fresh that day, grillin’ them is enough to get ‘em nice and sweet.

So they’re real delicious without needin’ to add anythin’ to ‘em!

I can tell you really love it.

Epel: Ah...! B-But, actually, I love macarons the most...

What do you like about macarons?

Epel: Th-They’re cute, you know? And sweet, and they have all kinds of flavors...

...They’re not really filling, though.

What else do you like besides food?

Epel: Magical wheels... maybe.

They look mighty, and their movements are powerful too. And yet they can make such swift turns...

When I was little, I thought “Those look so cool!” and dreamt about getting one.

Sometimes the people who own one in my neighborhood let me ride on theirs.

The first time I got to go on one, it left me so excited I couldn’t sleep that night.

Ahh... Someday I want to have one of my own.

Chapter 3

—POMEFIORE DORM - BIRTHDAY PARTY VENUE—

What club are you in?

Epel: The magical shift club. It’s so much fun!

It’s exciting going up against players bigger than me, and there’s nothing more motivating than scoring a goal!

But I really sucked when I first joined, and I’d get hurt any time I tried going in for the disc...

Vil-san would give me an earful for “not taking care of myself” whenever I’d scratch up my nose or cheeks.

Since I was always getting scolded, I stopped going after the disc head-on and instead practised a style where I make surprise attacks on my opponents.

And just the other day, I managed to nicely dodge a player that was trying to stop me...! I was so proud of myself~!

On top of that, Leona-san told me that I could play in our next game!

I don’t get hurt or get scolded by Vil-san as much anymore, so I think I’ve improved a lot since I first joined!

Be careful about getting hurt, okay?

Epel: Thank you, but I’ll be fine. Nobody’s got more guts than me!

I’ve been teased my whole life for seeming “weak” just because of how I look...

But I kept going up against students older and stronger than me without ever giving up... and finally, I turned the tables on every single one of them!

Soon I started getting called “The Poisoned Apple of the Felmier Family” around the school.

It means “despite how he looks, he’s fearsome and persistent.” Ahaha.

Thank you for sharing all of this with us. Once again, happy birthday!

[rjalker]

ugh.

sigh.

okay, we'd need $75 + whatever tax it is to buy three more hard plastic cat carriers.

We're going to be moving, thankfully just into a different apartment in the same setup thing, this one's on the ground floor so we won't have to keep lugging groceries up the stairs (and we could actually bring our bikes inside to keep them out of the rain and stop them from being stolen!!!), and we have soft sided cat carriers, but the cats decided they were beds. But instead of sleeping inside them they squashed them and now they're all bent out of shape and need to be washed.

And we still don't have working washers or driers, so it takes forever.

We were trying to train the cats to eat their food in the carriers so they'd get used to them, which was going fine until they decided that sleeping on top of them was better than hanging out inside.

so if we want to actually train them to think of their carriers as a safe place, we need three more hard carriers that they can squash.

(and you know, of course they don't sleep on the actual pet bed, because why would they do that?)

The $75 would buy us three of Walmart's cheapest at $24 each.

My wallet got stolen a few days ago now, so Paypal is the only thing I actually have access to until my new bank card gets here.

My paypal is Rjalker, it'll have the same flower icon as here.

I don't really have anything to offer in return for donations unless you like my art enough that you'd want me to draw something, which I could do. If you need more incentive, I'm going to be giving away free food and native plants from my garden whenever the warmer weather gets here, and I also go around planting native plants and native fruit trees wherever I can find space for them in the wild.

(If you live in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and in 2030 or so there's fruiting pawpaws growing along the trolley trail and various patches of woods elsewhere, you're welcome! There should also be lots of butternut tree seedlings, but they won't fruit until...well, I can't find any actual information about their rate of maturity from seed, but I assume it'll be closer to 15 or 20 years? They live longer than pawpaws so I assume they also take longer to reach sexual maturity)

[shiningstages]

Not to be a huge debbie downer or anything, but I honestly don’t know when I’ll be on here for the foreseeable future, because bad stuff has just been happening lately (reason below - tw: hospitals, tw: gore mention, tw: grandparents / old people) (it’s bunches of family drama too, so be warned I  may not sound the nicest down there)

Both of my grandparents on my mom’s side are in the hospital right now. My pawpaw (as I call my grandpa), had been slowly deteriorating for months now - for a year or two actually, with growing dementia and jumping to past events, and absentmindedly (again, tw: gore mention) chewing his fingers off literally. I’ve seen his hands change and it’s not the most fun to say the least. He’s only been in and out of hospitals and service homes for I guess half a year? But he’s really gone downhill these last couple weeks though, not breathing well but being lucid enough to refuse breathing help like a tube, and plenty of other things I won’t really say (even though my grandma loves to text every detail to everyone).

My granna (my grandma; her name’s anna, so granna) fell in the hospital parking lot just now. Got staples in because she had a bit of blood on her brain; only let my mom know about it so as “not to worry the rest of the family”. My mom’s driving over to the hospital (while a tropical storm is coming through! yay!) to be with her in case decisions need to be made on her part.

And, to be perfectly honestly, I absolutely don’t care, while also feeling frustrated and upset about it. This side of my family has never really been kind (for the most part; one uncle and a couple cousins are cool, one of which being the cousin that introduced me to tumblr rp and everything, so I’m very thankful and kinda close to her still). When I was a little kid I never really noticed, but in my middle / high school years, and especially as an adult, these people just haven’t really cared about my immediate family at all. Most of this is emotional / mental abuse towards my mother during her time at the family business (stuff I won’t get into because it’s not my place), but also just not wanting to be a part of our lives and not including us in theirs, to the point where (as the adult I am now) they just feel like distant strangers. I’m not saying my grandparents specifically are in the latter camp; they’ve expressed love for my brother and I throughout the years. But as my grandpa had really started to mellow out / not really take in the world too much outside of food and the occasional conversation, my grandmother had gotten more noticeably self-centered with every remark. It didn’t help that my mom’s relationship with them worsened and I saw and heard her feelings firsthand about what kind of people they were versus what had changed or stayed the same about them, but they have truly felt so distant for the past few years especially.

Yet, despite that, and despite feeling much more okay about their passing once it happens, I know I’ll still be upset about it. I know that, despite her feelings, my mom is upset about it and will become more upset by it once it happens. My brother has so much more empathy and love for them than I can muster; he sobbed just looking at our grandfather when he agreed to go up and visit on Monday. I know other family members that I haven’t seen in years - in a couple cases probably a literal decade - will have varying degrees of feelings over it as well. And I know that’s all understandable and okay. That I don’t love these two people as much as I did anymore, and that I know I’m more upset for the people I love much more hurting around me. But that I’m still feeling upset over it, whether through the remnants of love I have for these people, or for the outpouring of love and comfort I want to give to my immediate family when the time comes.

My grandparents on my dad’s side died really suddenly. In the hospital for less than a week each (granted a few years apart from one another), and then suddenly they were gone. Really finally understanding the flipside of it with my grandfather - the slow crawl and loss of functions or mobility - only kind of makes my feelings on this worse. In part because - I know I’ve probably sounded really rude, but forgive me for sounding extremely rude and distasteful - I expected him to die so many times already, knowing that nobody (not even himself) likes how he’s living now. And then my grandmother reaching out to my mom for support once more, when that’s all she’s ever done...it really feels too annoying and heartbreaking. Find a different person who cares.

I just really needed to vent about this. I know this isn’t the best place for it, but I don’t want to clog friend discords with it since so much has been happening everywhere as is. If besties see this especially, hello and I love you bunches~ I’ll probably still respond to discord stuff, just know I may not be in the highest of spirits.