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whatgaviiformes · 3 years ago

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Fic: Tracy Seaside Orchard and Farm - Part 5

Summary: Alternate Universe. Gordon is a farmer. And he seems to have nothing to do with International Rescue. Now on AO3!

From the Beginning

Prologue here

Chapter 1: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Ao3

Chapter 2: Part 4 | Part 5 (you are here) | NEW LINK AO3

A/N: Gordon recommends you have your emotional support chicken handy... (i have no pet chickens) ****

Gordon’s home was in the northeast corner. In the back of the house near the guest room, there was a door to the back porch with a deck that led down to his personal, seasonal food garden. The front of the house opened up immediately to the orchard trees cleanly planted in rows down the main stone pathway that led to the chicken coop and barn yard. The latter section was the fraction that Virgil had encountered on the journey from the landing pad to his home, and much of that was the original concept of the estate.

Gordon’s passion project had always started with the orchard and farm, but it had expanded over the years, especially as he brought in more staff who came with their own ideas.

“The goal of the estate is to be as self-sustaining as possible,” Gordon explained from the driver’s side of the small, yellow, open buggie he kept stored in the shed by his backyard garden for his bad knee days. “So you’re going to see a lot today.”

Virgil was quiet as he’d ever been the last few minutes. Once they’d finished their meal, Gordon showed Virgil where to add his banana peel to his kitchen food bin on the counter. The larger compost was outside, and they passed by it quickly after Gordon introduced his garden.

“And if we don’t do it here, there’s someone in town who does. We don’t buy anything mass produced unless we have to,” Gordon continued, not really sure if he completely had Virgil’s full attention. “And after a lot of research first to make sure its environmentally friendly and ethically sourced.”

Gordon shifted in his seat. The buggie was sleek, designed to be able to navigate the narrow corners of the farm, and he chosen it today because he knew better than to try to convince Virgil to take the hoverchair. The part he hadn’t planned for was the expanse of his brother’s frame. It was the closest he’d been to his brother in a long time, and Virgil’s shoulders brushed his own, even despite the space he tried to give him.

Since Virgil had passed parts of the farm already, he started him off west of his home where he maintained varieties of local flower for the butterflies and other natural pollinators of the region and rows of beehives nearby, the apiaries for honey production, his preferred natural sweetener.

"We'll head to the greenhouses next. We have four, and they are divided by grow zone. This way we can harvest year round." He drove slowly past them, continuing to recite what kind of conditions were mimicked inside and the various plants grown in each.

“We dabble in a few artisan trades. Scraps – you’ll meet her later – she does some micro-brewing. And I do wine and mead.” His eyes gleamed talking about it, though he continued to look where he was going instead of at Virgil staring off into space. Usually when people toured the farm, he had more of their attention. “We are known for our strawberry wine.”

He drove them towards the edge of the estate where the land dropped off with a cliffside that led to the sea below and pointed to a small, refurbished shed.

“This building used to be the original fishing shack. It was the only thing here at the time, and there were steps that led down to the beach front,” he explained. “We have an elevator that takes you down now, and there’s a dock and fishing pier at the bottom. Plus the beach if you are so inclined.”

“You must enjoy that,” Virgil muttered to his empty right side.

Gordon coughed.

“Why don’t we step out and stretch here?” He turned off the vehicle, flinging on the safety brake just in case, and jumped down, swinging himself from the pole to his left. His knees caught him with barely a twinge as he landed among the grass and strode purposefully towards the fence that protected them from the cliff drop.

He looked down at his feet and with a heavy sigh, swung in gaze upward to the open sea. Her rolling waves. She was, as always, beautiful. Virgil grunted behind him, the thud of footsteps, and then he felt a weight settle along the metal frame a bit away from him. Gordon knew he probably should keep talking, fill the silence with something. He could talk on and on about all they’d accomplished, but having to treat his words like glass, carefully sifting through what was most surface level and safe, was exhausting and one sided.

With kids, there’d be more jokes and smiles, making them feel at ease and comfortable in the natural world as she offered herself to them. With adults, it was more educational, a plea disguised as an informative tour showing them what the world had to offer if they treated her right.

With Virgil, it had never been a question of if Virgil’s heart was in the right place. And years ago, this tour would’ve been easy. Virgil would’ve been laughing along with his jokes and nodding along with the things that obviously brought him joy, his inner engineer already working to figure out how it worked or how to make it better, even if he didn’t understand. Especially if he didn’t understand.

But years ago, none of this had existed. Gordon had left.

And then he rebuilt.

It wasn’t a surprise, but it hurt to have hit Virgil’s walls. Virgil’s heart, for all that made him gentle and open, was also easily shattered.

It was to be expected. It was what he deserved.

The least he could do was avoid pushing, even if it meant the words he wanted to say stayed crystalline in his own throat.

A distant bark pulled him out of his musings and reminded him it was easy to get stiff standing for too long too.

“I’ve kept you long enough.” Gordon plastered on a smile. “Let’s go meet the animals.”

He whistled, knowing Skipper would hear and come running. The wheat fields swayed with the movement of camouflaged yellow lab before a black nose poked out between the stalks and a scramble of four legs landed sitting properly in front of him.

“Hop on, girl.” He pat the back of the cart where there was space for her to sit, then introduced her to Virgil, rubbing behind her ears in hello. Virgil, as he’d learned to do at any early age, held out his hand for the dog to sniff. “She’s mine, but she’s allowed to roam. She’ll adopt you in no time.”

Virgil pulled his hand back.

“Where to next?” he asked firmly.

Gordon was already a careful driver, and the buggie didn’t move fast in the first place, but he eased on his turns, both for the sake of his brother who was looking a little green around the edges and for the dog in the back. He drove them past the duckpond and swung around towards the coop he’d already visited once that morning.

“Here we are. Chicken coop.”

Virgil eased down from the buggie, and Gordon opened up the fenced in enclosure.

As was typical, TaterTot and Tabetha immediately crowded around his ankles, nudging, looking for food as he stepped inside. They were an inquisitive set. Mocha fluttered her chocolate feathers innocently. She was fine with newcomers, but she adored when Gordon was around, and he knew by the way she stood on his feet and turned her head towards him that she wanted to be held.

He picked her up, tucking her one-handed close to his side.

“The mug queen herself,” he smiled, as he felt the dark chicken purr in his arms. A lighter blur of color waddled past, and out through opening, moving towards Virgil, and nuzzling at his feet. “So that’s Ginger,” he introduced as Virgil sat down on the bench just outside of the enclosure. “Out of everyone, she—” the hen jumped up on Virgil’s lap and nudged his shirt, “—is most attracted to the color red.”

“Oh!”

“That’s a sign she likes you,” Gordon said, stepping around at Virgil’s intake of breath as the hen nipped at Virgil’s shirt. “She’s trying to clean. Is she ok? Do you need me to take her?”

He shook his head. “How do I hold her?”

Gordon used Mocha to show him how, shifting the bird into position where he had his dominant hand to keep her from flapping and slipping his other underneath her, correcting Virgil where his position didn’t perfectly mirror his hold. It came to his brother naturally, and his fingers stroked her neck the way she liked to be pet.

Gordon slid Mocha back to his side, where she protested as he fished his phone out of his pocket. One-handed he slid the lock screen off and selected the camera. His lifted it up where Virgil was in frame, his shoulders slightly hunched over the delicate creature in his arms, the tightness in his jaw loosened, and his eyes crinkling at the edges as Ginger nuzzled a smile out of him.

“They purr like cats,” Virgil mused, surprised, his gaze locked onto the hen content into his hold with her eyes closed.

“When they are relaxed and feel safe, yeah.” He grinned down at Mocha in his arms, pocketing his phone. His animals had been significant to healing his heart too. “It’s nice to see you looking happy, Virgil.”

“I’m not.” This time with fire, “I’m not happy.”

Gordon glanced up, dismayed to see Virgil’s eyes alight, his ears burning red, his jaw clenched in an angry foil to just a few moments before. “I just meant—"

“I’m not happy. I won’t be happy here,” Virgil snarled. The ‘with you’ went unsaid, but Gordon heard it anyway, and he flinched with the absolute disgust in Virgil’s tone.

“I’m sor—”

Virgil’s eyes blazed with fear and frustration and betrayal. ��“I’m not going to be useless here, no matter what Scott thinks. So you can stop your little pitch.”

“That’s not—”

“Did you and Scott plan this? I should’ve known. Well, I’m not going to end up here.”

The increase in volume startled Skipper, and the dog barked back.

“No, I—” “I’m going to get better.”

“Of course, you are. Virgil, that’s not –”

“I will fly again.”

“Please, Virgil, you’re scaring her,” he begged, managing to get a word in while Ginger protested the tension in Virgil’s hands. “We can talk about this later,” he urged through Virgil’s heavy breathing. “Just let me have her.”

He reached for Ginger with his free hand and the bird hopped into his arms.

She left, and Gordon felt the ire seep out of his brother, the air thick and heavy, but silent despite his coos for them to calm.

Virgil whispered, spent, “I’m not going to end up here. I just can’t.”

“That’s not what any of this is about,” he soothed, the words for his brother, but the tone for the two birds in his arms. He walked back into the enclosure and placed them safely back down, comforting them with a gentle stroke down their backs.

“Sorry,” Virgil muttered from the other side. “She ok?”

“Yes, they are fine.”

“Take me back to the house.”

“Probably for the best,” Gordon agreed. “Dr. Mendoza should be here soon anyway.”

Crestfallen and confused by just how quickly the tides turned, Gordon sunk his face into Skipper’s fur while Virgil stepped back into the passenger side of the buggie and waited silently for him.

#Gavii Scribit #Fic: TSOF #Gordon Tracy #Virgil Tracy #Farming Estate AU

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drivingsideways · 4 years ago

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in search of a better dream

This is about three pieces of South Korean media that crossed my path recently: the dramas Search WWW and Flower of Evil, and the novel Kim Ji Young, Born 1982.

Disclaimer and context : I'm not Korean, I don't speak the language, and I've watched a very limited set of kdramas. The criticisms I make in this piece are not to single out kdramas, or kdrama fandom, as what I've described exists in Western and other Asian media and fandoms as well.

Under the cut for length:

There's a scene in the first episode of the hit 2020 k-drama "Flower of Evil" that made me want to quit watching the show within the first ten minutes. The scene goes like this: our protagonists, Cha Ji Won and Baek Hee Seung meet Baek Hee Seung's parents along with their four year old daughter. The occasion is Baek Hee Seung's birthday, and loving wife Cha Ji Won has set up a special birthday dinner for them. On the way to the restaurant, the daughter has already complained about how she's scared of her grandparents, and they don't like her. When we meet the grandparents, we see the truth of this- they are as cold as the Arctic to all three, but especially to their daughter-in-law and granddaughter. In a bid to smooth out the social awkwardness, Cha Ji Won instructs her daughter to greet her grandparents the way they had "practiced" earlier- a cutesy little greeting where the adorable Eun-ha makes a heart over her head and chirps "I love you grandma and grandpa". When this fails to soften them, Eun-ha retreats, looking scared and disappointed. Not to worry, Cha Ji Won has this completely figured out: if you try harder, she tells her four year old daughter, they'll eventually love you.

Reader, I was, as they say, mad.

We find out soon enough that this stellar bit of parenting follows from an abiding principle in Cha Ji Won's life. Her romance with Baek Hee Seung starts when a handsome oppa walks into the family store, and is a saga of her stalking and pursuing a man who repeatedly tells her he's not interested, until he finally gives in. The power of her persistence pays off when the emotionally distant and abrasive man, in a classic beauty-and-the-beast transition, becomes a loving boyfriend, and then later, husband and father. It's a fantasy- some might even say feminist fantasy come true- he's handsome, supportive, reliable, artistic, the primary housekeeper and caretaker of their daughter while she pursues her demanding "dream" job as a police officer, and they have enough money to live in a charming and lovingly set up two-storeyed house in ruinously expensive Seoul. This is heterosexual female wish fulfilment at its peak, and it is all made possible because she persevered.

It all threatens to come apart with the discovery of the perfect man's dark past- for a brief period, she's forced to contemplate the idea that he's actually a serial killer who's conned her for the entirety of their relationship of fourteen years; that the perfect life was, in fact, a lie.

However, since this is written and billed as romance melodrama, this horror is short-lived. As the story progresses through increasingly improbable, violent and sometimes downright hilarious twists and turns, we grow closer to the (inevitable) happy ending. Baek Hee Seung/ Do Hyun Soo is no killer, just a traumatized child with a horrific past. The lies are the result of psychological damage inflicted by a society that unfairly deemed him a monster; the cage of repressed emotions that he'd locked himself in needed only the unshakeable conviction of Cha Ji Won's love to be broken open. "I wish you could see yourself as I see you" she tells him, in one of the show's endless supply of tearfully emotional moments, "I wish you could understand yourself the way I understand you."

This framework continues right to the end, when a bout of short term amnesia (!!) has Do Hyun Soo questioning himself and her: do you know, he asks her, when I'm lying to you, and when I'm not, because I don't. The show answers that almost immediately- it doesn't matter, because it's her vision of him that he wants to be; in other words, he chooses the version of himself that she wants. The horror of the lie was a red herring, Cha Ji Won was right from the start about her husband- all it took was the power of her love and her perseverance to overcome the lie at the heart of her marriage, to restore it to its previous shape- quite literally. The dream house they built together, which was destroyed by the villain, is shown in the last shots as unchanged from how it was in the beginning. One of the last shots we have of the couple is of them kissing in the artisan husband's workshop, an almost perfect recreation of the first time we see them. Paradise Regained, and all of us- and Cha Ji Won- can breathe a sigh of relief. You, the twenty-first century woman, are the architect of your own fantasy and can have it all. What could be more powerful than that?

In Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 , a novel published in 2016, and often credited with kickstarting a new conversation about feminism in South Korea, the eponymous protagonist's story is also one of perseverance. It's a starkly written tale, an everywoman tale, a dryly narrated fact finding mission report complete with citations and references, about a woman born in the late twentieth century into a rigidly patriarchal culture, whose very existence is an aberration- her parents didn’t opt for a sex-selective abortion unlike many of their contemporaries when they found that their second child would also be a girl. Kim Ji Young, like the rest of us, grows up immersed in a misogynist culture. Even before she understands it, she learns to work around it and through it, rationalizing the micro-aggressions, burying the anger at the casual and institutional sexism that permeates her life, compromising and coping with it all, and achieving some semblance of having it all: a job, a decent, loving husband, a child. However, it's when motherhood arrives that it all falls apart- Kim Ji Young, faced with the exhausting carework of having a baby at home and another regular, full time job, does what so many women in her position do- quits her "outside" job for her parenting one. Fighting exhaustion and depression, a casually cruel and misogynist remark from a stranger in a park proves to be the proverbial final straw; Kim Ji Young suffers a mental breakdown, dissociating herself completely from her own life, and "seamlessly, flawlessly" taking on the personalities of other women she's known- her mother, her friend, her colleague. The novel ends with a narrative twist that's both horrifying and appropriate: we learn that our narrator is actually her male psychiatrist. Kim Ji Young doesn't even get to be the voice of her own story; instead, it is told by a man cocooned in his own privilege, who displays the same paternalistic and misogynist behaviour that he correctly identified as the cause of her breakdown.

There is no escape here for Kim Ji Young save that of a complete break from reality. In the light of the narrative that leads her to that point, it feels both inevitable and even more horrifically, a blessing. This is a horror story told as it is shorn of any hope; the ending is death or insanity.

Reading Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 was to confront the familiar and heart-breaking and horrific neatly distilled into 200 odd pages; it's "fiction", but not really. My only surprise was how similar the culture described there was to my own in specifics; how incidents in Kim Ji Young's life were things I had actually experienced myself or seen other women experience, in a country several thousand miles away.

I read this novel just after watching the 2019's Search WWW, a show with a bit of a cult following, I think. Before I started watching it, one friend assured me that I would love it, that it was made for me; another said that she dropped it because it "rang false" to her at the time. I've seen the show described several times as a feminist power fantasy, sometimes, if the reviewer wanted to demean it, with the qualifier, unrealistic.

This seemed an odd sort of criticism to me- after all, who turns to k-drama romances or really, any romance, for realism? Female wish fulfilment, which is the cornerstone of romance as a genre, whether in books or film, is still written and recognized as fantasy. So what was particularly unreal about Search WWW?

Well, simply put, it is written like the patriarchy doesn't matter, and has never existed.

The three female protagonists are all in their thirties, in powerful positions in their careers. As such, they are constantly walking into meetings where women speak more than 33% of the time. There are men in the room, but they never outnumber the women, and they don't silence the women.

The interests and decisions and choices of women in the show- even the lead antagonist, who is an older woman whom we often see casually making beefy young men pose nude for her paintings- matter, not just to domestic and private realms, but to society at large; the antagonist is a power broker whose reach goes right up to the highest echelons of the country's politics; the younger women's ethical choices directly affect the republic's functioning as a democracy.

What about the men? It's not that they've been ignored; it's just that their place in the narrative has been decentered. Do with that what you will, the writer seems to say, as she writes in speaking roles for women wherever possible—every second side character is a woman— I have no time or inclination to justify that choice.

As for romance- it's not just that two of the three romances fall into the "noona romance" category, which is subversive in itself. It's that the power of decision making in these relationships clearly rests with the women.

In the "main" romance track, in a reversal of the usual trope, the woman is the one who is emotionally unavailable, and whom the man has to convince to take a chance on their relationship. What was hugely refreshing was that the reason for her emotional unavailability isn't trauma, that the man has to help her heal from, unlike the gender reversed versions we often see, eg in Flower of Evil. Instead, it's a difference in perspective that has its roots in the years of experience she has compared to him; it's the difference in life perspective of a twenty something man, and an almost-40 woman. She considers the implications and possibilities of entering into a relationship with a man who wants marriage and kids, while she doesn't want either and is unlikely to want them in the future. She thinks through it, and sees the pitfalls of it, perhaps all too clearly. In the end, when she makes a decision to commit, it's with the understanding that she's choosing to live in the moment, that he makes her happy; that they make each other happy and it is worth something, even if it doesn't last. But both of them understand that her happiness is not centered in him or their relationship being successful. The other two romances end on a similarly open note- the possibility of love with the man you just divorced, but there's no hurry to get there; and a long distance relationship that may or may not last the two years of military conscription the man has to undergo.

The happily ever after in this series is not the perfect heterosexual family unit; it was always going to be the complicated, thorny and intense queerplatonic relationship between the three women, who, in the end, literally drive off along an endless open road under a blue, blue sky, to "a place with no red lights", as one of them describes it.

For a week after watching Search WWW, I wandered around in a daze. How did this show get written, I kept asking myself? How did it get produced? Aired??? What magic was worked to put it in my eyeballs, and how can it keep happening?

That feeling intensified when I read Kim Ji Young, Born 1982. But the book also provided the answer, at least to the first question. Because it is Kim Ji Young's voice in Search WWW. This is the fantasy that Kim Ji Young would have wanted to live in; a society and a life where she's seen as a person, entire, and it's not something she has to fight every day for. The gigantic leap of imagination that the writer of Search WWW took was only because that fantasy has been yearned for, in a way only a person growing up in Kim Ji Young's world- our world- could.

"Flower of Evil"- and other dramas like it— are also, undeniably, products of this world. It's unsurprising to me that in many ways, Cha Ji Won's little fantasy domestic world in Flower of Evil, on the surface, looks exactly like a post-feminist world. If the real revolution is men doing housework and childcare, then that fantasy has already been achieved on the individual level for Cha Ji Won. Sure, she's the only female member on her squad, and maybe the entire police force, for all you see women in her workplace. Sure, the other female characters with speaking roles exist mostly to be tortured for manpain by the narrative or literally by men as part of the plot. She seems to have no friends outside of work, which means that all her friends are men. As for relationships with other women, except her mother, who exists mostly to share the burden of childcare, and her mom-in- law who turns out to be an evil sort herself, there are none. When she meets her sister-in-law, the entire scene gives off a strange catfight vibe- her sister in law is the only other woman who can legitimately be said to have a claim on knowing the real Do Hyun Soo, and Cha Ji Won's reaction is to deny that claim and tell her to buzz off, basically. "I'm his family now" she tells her sister in law, "He has a wife"; firmly establishing the primacy of a heterosexual romantic relationship over all others.

Her "dream" job means nothing much despite the work she has put in to get it; for most part of the narrative she ends up betraying every professional ethic and her squad- her only friends. Of course, she is easily forgiven for it, without doing any of the work to earn that forgiveness, but that's really because who has the narrative time to develop those relationships which do not matter, like her work, which is shown up for the narrative prop it is, just like her daughter? Even her sociopath (but not really, poor baby) husband ends the series with a tentative sort of friendship with a person he's not married to, but not Cha Ji Won, whose entire world by the end of the series has narrowed down to the four walls of her perfect little house and her perfectly-rescued husband. "I can't be happy if he's not happy," she tells her mother, who suggests that maybe it's time she let go of her not-so-perfect husband. "So please accept him."

In the end, the fantasy is based on this : self-improvement as the winning strategy, not structural change. Try hard enough and you'll get what you want. In the fine print, easily ignored: as long as what you want falls within the bounds of heteronormative patriarchal standards. It's an attitude that is passed down to the next generation; Cha Ji Won's early conversation with her daughter is an example.

The writer's vision is clear- what could have been an interesting and intimate look at our deepest fears in a relationship- that the other person will see us for who we are and horror-struck, leave; or even a deconstruction of the heterosexual woman's fantasy of The Perfect Man, is instead a tired repetition of the Beauty-and-the-Beast trope. You can dress it up and put a gun-toting, career woman wig on it, but that disguise falls apart pretty quickly. Cha Ji Won openly states not once, but several times, that she would rather live the comfortable lie; it's only when even that isn't an option- and not because of her choice or agency, but circumstances and the man coming to a decision, that she begins to let go. But only for a little while- barely ten minutes in show time- because ultimately, this is a female wish fulfilment fantasy, isn't it? Her longsuffering perseverance is rewarded when he decides to mould himself to her fantasy version of him, and the past is erased, and time reset, complete with soft lighting and soaring soundtrack.

Some love stories are horror stories, but others are horror stories masquerading as love stories. Why are we so often sold the latter, and so accepting of the narrative gaslighting? When I look at the popularity of Search WWW vs Flower of Evil, I feel bitter despair and quite a lot of anger. Why do so many women- and it is women, who are producing this work, for women, primarily (I mean, romance, as a genre)- settle for so little? It's the twenty first century, I think, why are we still here, I rage, gnashing my teeth, and indulging in the vicious satisfaction of giving Flower of Evil a single star rating that will make not a dent in its popularity. If we can't demand and aspire to a better class of fantasy, what hope do we have? As you dream, so you will do.

I often think that these days feminism is made toothless because we're shaping it into something that will validate every little feeling of ours; we don't want to be made uncomfortable by it. But feminism is not meant to make anyone comfortable; interrogating your own desires and pleasures is as much a part of smashing the patriarchy as fighting for fundamental human rights like bodily autonomy.

I guess, in the end, what I want to say is this: for the love of sanity, dream better.

#flower of evil #search: www #kim ji young born 1982 #unpopular opinions cw

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waggishcomics · 6 months ago

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TWO DAYS!!!

...

I'm not nervous. Who said anything about nervousitity?! I didn't say it.

YOUR NERVOUS! Cause it's not me...

I'm a confident little bean. 🫠👍

#waggish #comics #puppies #comedy #family friendly #funny #current events #authorbooksigning

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farehamwinecellar · 1 year ago

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Terra Georgia Kindzmarauli, Semi Sweet Red Wine

Terra Georgia Kindzmarauli is a naturally semi sweet red wine from Georgia. It is produced from Saperavi grapes grown in the Kindzmarauli micro-zone located in the Alazani Valley of the Kakheti region in eastern Georgia.

Terra Georgia was co-founded by Archil Chitadze, and some friends from his student days, as a small, artisan wine producer making just two or three different Georgian wines. The company is located in Atskuri near Telavi, the main city and administrative center of Georgia’s eastern province of Kakheti. Quite soon Terra Georgia won an award from the Georgian Rural Development Agency. With the money they were able to scale up production allowing them to process up to 200 tons of grapes and released 11 different wines in 2022. Terra Georgia have vineyards in the Telavi, Mukuzani and Kindzmarauli micro zones and the wines are produced by Winery Bakhrationi.

The emphasis is on producing quality wines. The wines are made using Qvevri (traditional, clay wine-making vessels) and traditional Georgian wine-making techniques whereby only indigenous yeasts are used and both red and white wines are aged on the skins; the way they have been for thousands of years. A variety of red wines is produced including fresh and fruity Saperavi wines through to heavier, richer styles. They also produce a semi-sweet red wine from the Kindzmarauli region. There are fresher styles of white wines and richer “amber” wines, the preferred term for orange wines in Georgia.

The Saparavi grapes for the Terra Georgia Kindzmarauli are harvested at peak maturity and undergo a traditonal alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel; however, fermentation is stopped by cooling the wine when it has achieved the right balance of freshness and sweetness.

Did you know? Saparavi is a “teinturier” grape, a red skinned grape which also has red flesh. This is actually quite rare amongst red skinned grapes and Saperavi, along with Alicante Bouschet, are probably the two of the most famous. it produces very dark coloured wines. Saperavi means “dye” in Georgian.

The post Terra Georgia Kindzmarauli, Semi Sweet Red Wine appeared first on Fareham Wine Cellar.

source https://www.farehamwinecellar.co.uk/product/terra-georgia-kindzmarauli/

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therealvagabird · 5 years ago

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Jasper Reed

I have a new short story out - a little fluff piece featuring a farming girl rehabilitating a desolate world. More of a short character showcase for an OC and the little homesteader life she leads than anything.

Below the cut, though you can also give it a read and leave a comment on WordPress.

Jasper felt as though her lungs were filled with pure energy when she took a hit from the oxygen canister. Putting the supplemental to her lips like an inhaler, she helped herself to a long drag of fortified O2 as she watched the storm on the horizon.

The sky was grey, as it always was, but far over the western wastes it darkened in an abrupt wall of thunderheads that flashed and crackled with silent lightning, the thunder coming long moments after like a diminished drumroll. There was no telling yet if it would spell rain. Across the barren, rocky expanses of the countryside, transitioning from her small patch of black-soil flats to broad waves of glassy, igneous hills, the sheer size and majesty of the storm couldn’t be ignored. With no mountains to block their progress, and nothing but dust and stone beneath them, the winds could be a fearsome force.

Managing to pull her eyes from the awesome sight, Jasper Reed set her attention back to the task at hand. She wasn’t afraid of the storm – at least she didn’t fear for her life. Regardless, if it decided to roll in the direction of her farmstead it could spell trouble for all her operations if proper precautions weren’t taken. She pulled her facemask back on to ward against the cold, though she yanked off one glove to access the maintenance hatch of the machine in front of her; one of the pipeline regulator pylons which managed the flow of fuel, water, waste, and other underground conduits that fed through its section of the property. Jasper had seen to shutting down all conduits to the outer perimeter of the farm to ensure that if they were damaged in the storm it wouldn’t cause leakage problems. Of course, when she’d accessed the main controls back at the house, just one pylon had to be acting up.

“Ornery thing…” she muttered to herself, muffled by layers of cold-weather gear. One dexterous hand worked its way along several rows of breakers, before she disengaged another latch that allowed access to the circuitry of the controls themselves. She saw that one of the rotors had stripped itself, though she had no clue how. Preparedness was her middle name, however, and so she stepped away to access the half-buried repairs trunk that was attached right by the pylon’s base. A second rotor was retrieved and, with cursing all the while, installed in place of its broken predecessor. Another round of fiddling with the breakers, and the regulator came to life, just to be shut down in the proper manner by Jasper.

“There!” the homesteader exclaimed with a mix of satisfaction and tired relief, slamming the access panel shut and heading back for her home.

Her’s was a multipurpose farmstead in the more rural reaches of Q11-R01-D33-S49. Locals preferred the name Evernest. On the horizon, not an hour’s transit by rover, could be seen the lights of Silvermead township. About the town, a few miles removed from its outer buildings, rose the artificial forms of great steel and concrete buffer walls, same as those that rose like miniature mountains at broken intervals past the edges of the Reed Farmstead, beyond the outer fields and the micro-quarries. It was these buffer walls that ensured storms rolling in off the wastes were seldom fatal, as their colossal bulk prevented largescale uptake of the fragile soil, or even lesser buildings. Still, the walls couldn’t do as much for the other symptoms of the storm, and so people and animals were always encouraged to seek shelter.

Evernest, that region of the countryside in which Silvermead lay, was a rural settlement defined by its prosperous coastline and black-soil flats, along with the glass hills that marked where the wastelands began. It looked like many other places on the barren world of Epsilon Iota IV, or “Menelaus”. Silvermead was itself an ancillary town to the geodesic city of Erde, with the Reed Farmstead included as part of the township. It was – like the vast majority of settlements on Menelaus that were not massive, industrial cities – a colony dedicated to the long-term terraforming of the rocky, near-lifeless planet into something close to what it once was.

Jasper ran up to the steps of her house as the winds began to pick up again. Whether or not the storm passed over was irrelevant when the freezing winds of this time of year were reason alone to shelter inside. Her house – built something like a castle due to the way the architecture of colonial ready-made, reinforced construction approximated a traditional rustic manor – issued a golden glow from its windows promising warmth and reprieve within its otherwise imposing walls.

The beleaguered woman tramped inside and punched in the code to finalize the storm-readiness sequence for the whole farmstead on the terminal in the foyer. Silvermead didn’t have access to many outright luxuries, but they had all the tools needed to survive and thrive in the inhospitable stretches of the Menelaen wastes. Though the changes weren’t obvious to an outside observer, a complex series of mechanical failsafes were in place to prevent any catastrophic damage to the property, whether by natural disaster or freak accident.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Jasper pulled off her outer gear and hung it up in the entryway closet, mind turning to a hot mug of tea.

Jasper Reed was a well-built individual of average height, with broad shoulders and a fair amount of musculature, though her’s was more the build of a working individual and outdoorsman rather than something like a soldier. Her skin was a rich umber, and her features were strong and pronounced, though balanced by enough femininity to appear almost androgynous, with an elegant nose, full lips, sharp jaw, and bold eyes. Those eyes were one of her two more exotic markers, as her irises were a vibrant shade of gold – the color being a purposeful side-effect of expensive enhancements she’d splurged on many years ago. Her hair, likewise, was a rich violet. That was nothing more than simple dye, as her natural hair color was a straw blonde, despite what her dark skin would imply. Her cascading purple locks were brought together into two half-braided pigtails that were tucked away over her shoulders for convenience.

Heading into the kitchen, she had boiling water in just a few moments thanks to the automatic kettle and selected some homegrown loose-leaf she’d dried just at the end of autumn. Seasons were not too different on Menelaus, despite how alien and desolate it appeared, than other temperate or otherwise Terra-like worlds. Most of the year the weather was mild, if dry, with summer being hot but bearable save for the very worst days, while winter was about the same.

As she set the pot to steep, she spared another look out one of the house’s front windows. The Reed stead was a fair plot of black-soil flats, about twenty acres altogether. Most of that was given over to growing plots, though the barrier fences and squat, sturdy shapes of the stables, livestock barn, coops, and the like could be seen at the far edge of the property. Beyond them were the micro-quarries which ground down the glassy stones of the surrounding barrens into more usable topsoil. Quite compact. For almost four years now Jasper had sunk everything she had into maximizing the efficiency and quality of her little piece of Evernest. Where once she’d gotten by on subsistence farming and a few cash crops, now she was the proud producer of most of Silvermead’s artisanal goods and considered among the up-and-coming leaders of the township’s community. Even Erde City had taken notice, though Jasper had been hesitant about accepting anything from the local government, even in the ways of tax credits. She’d helped herself to more irrigation allotments, though. As her farm contributed to large-scale soil fixing and O2 balancing as part of the terraforming effort, she was entitled to enough water to compensate for the lack of natural rains in the thin atmosphere.

Among the fields could be spotted intermittent structures, no more than a handful, but with a distinct rounded shape and greebled texture that seemed to blend with the rest of the farm’s technology only when not given a closer inspection. Jasper, of course, knew what they were, and they were one of the major keys to her meteoric rise to success.

Not three decades had passed since the end of the War. Though the farmer looked about that old herself, she’d been in her teens during that time, and remembered life as a refugee on far-off Terra. A strange virus had swept the scope of the colonies, turning the burgeoning AI systems of humanity against them. It had almost spelled extinction for the entire human race, but by some miracle the machines had been halted, rehabilitated, and all that was left was to rebuild a now fractured galaxy.

Menelaus had once been a garden world of significant population, but both sides of the war had deployed superweapons of devastating power in their battles here, and now most of the planet’s surface was nothing but carbonized glass. It was the Terran Central Government’s wish that one day, through many, many years of careful terraforming, the planet might be coaxed back into working order. Of course, technology was only so advanced, even in this age, and so it was the task of simple people like Jasper to try, acre by acre, to set the natural magic of farming, moisture-locking, fertilizing, excavating, and various other life-seeding techniques to work. To build a biosphere from scratch.

The tea was ready, and as Jasper poured herself a cup her attention was drawn to a shuffling sound from the living room hallway, the kitchen being open to the living room itself.

“Have a nice nap?” Jasper smiled, “It’s alright, I was just freezing to death outdoors, but I’m glad you’re having a relaxing weekend.”

“I’m sorry—” Poppy’s voice sounded apologetic through a yawn, but Jasper just smiled and shook her head.

“No, it’s fine, I had to do a quick repair on one of the regulators. You want tea?” she saw Poppy’s nod from the corner of her eye, and so poured a second cup without a spare word.

Poppy and Jasper had been married for about two years now, with their anniversary having just passed. She was a Silvermead local – self-trained in a multitude of topics. Before Jasper had known her, she was a kind if somewhat awkward girl who spent more time at the local library than at her own rather run-down house. Her impish, darling face, short mousy hair, and overall rustic charm – along with her endless enthusiasm for as wide a range of topics as Jasper was interested in – had captured the homesteader’s heart from the start.

“Is the storm likely to hit the farm?” Poppy asked, taking her mug of tea as the two sat on the couch together, looking out the window at the sun falling towards the western horizon from the comfort of the antique loveseat. The shorter girl was dressed in baggy, comfortable clothes as she was want to do around the house.

“Maybe, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” Jasper allayed, “Don’t worry, hon.”

“What about the micros?” she asked, concern still tinging her voice, “Will they be alright?”

Jasper laughed, “What, like individually? Have you been playing with them again?”

“I meant like if their dispensers would get damaged.” The brown-haired girl pouted, “Don’t tease me! You got all upset last time you had to make repairs.”

“I know, I know,” dark lips planted a quick kiss on a rosy cheek, “They’ll be fine, along with the animals, the fields, the fuel lines – I’ve made sure of it”

The little mounds in the fields, the dispensers – those were the homes of the microtrons, or “micros”. One of the main reasons why Jasper was so unenthusiastic about any government types coming out their way. She remembered when she’d found them; or been gifted them, more like.

Not far from the Reed stead there was another settlement not marked on official maps, and which but a few people in Silvermead were privy to. Tensions had been high between humans and machines ever since the War, even with all moves towards amends. AI units had never been the same since the virus, showing degrees of sapience once reserved for humans alone. In that settlement, there was a colony of AI units – veterans of the War, who preferred isolation to risking reprisal for their past actions, even if they couldn’t be considered responsible. They led lives centered around their own pursuits, not unlike those of Jasper and her other homesteader friends; but where the humans took to farming, fishing, and otherwise trying to keep some balance of nature on this crippled world, the machines devoted themselves to unlocking those technological secrets still leftover, hidden, buried all over the countryside of Menelaus from the time of the War.

The micros had been a gift from these machines in exchange for Jasper’s amicability and discretion – automated harvester units of single-minded intelligence, but far greater sophistication than anything made by human hands alone. Government regulations weren’t fond of unaccounted AI, or any technology that might have some taint from the War on it, so they’d been the guarded secret of the Reed Farmstead.

Poppy liked to talk to them and play with them, when she wasn’t busy. Jasper had tried explaining that the spherical little robots, for how expressive they could be, were little more than advanced drones, but her wife had not had any of it.

“Maybe if we make sure they like us – like us for more than just keeping them repaired – we wouldn’t have to be so fearful about any kind of virus turning them against us one day,” Poppy had explained, in her frank and sincere way, “Maybe they’re not like humans or full AIs, but why would you treat them with any less love than the cat or the chickens?”

Jasper wasn’t the most sentimental type when it came to technology, but she had to admit Poppy’s romantic view of the little drones had rubbed off on her. She did owe the majority of her farm’s efficiency – and the fact she didn’t have to deal with managing any human workers – to the ministrations of the foot-high bots.

“Town fair is next week,” Jasper commented as the two sat close together, sipping their tea. It was delicious – so many people in the colonies had to depend on processed spacer food, but when you were an artisan farmer there were payoffs to all that hard work, “You still wanna make that cake?”

“Of course. I’ve been making sure the chickens stay nice and happy so their eggs will be top notch.” Poppy cracked a sleepy grin.

“Should maybe bring a gift to the machines as well. You reminded me, talking about the micros.” Jasper mulled. The settlement of the rogue bots was just a few miles to the west, in the ruins of what seemed to be some old facility that had weathered the worst of Menelaus’ apocalypse. They didn’t want for much, the AIs who sheltered there, but with the harsh realities of their day to day survival she knew they could get grungy, worn down, etcetera. They might appreciate some fine cleaning oils, crystals, and fresh cloth from the farm.

“Do you think this is gonna work?” Poppy asked then, to the faint rumblings of thunder.

“Is what gonna work?” her wife asked, leaning over to read her face, gold eyes meeting those colored like a deep ocean.

“All the terraforming stuff? I mean, I know from a mathematical standpoint it all makes sense, but – from a regular one? All the time and energy involved? You think people are still going to be rebuilding this world centuries from now?”

Jasper’s brow raised, a stark yellow on her dark face, “Getting a little existential there, hon.”

“Well?” Poppy didn’t appreciate Jasper’s blunt affect sometimes, when she knew they both were capable of serious discussion.

“I don’t see why not. Yeah, it’ll be hard, and a long haul, and random disasters may happen all the same, but—” the farmer shrugged, “Why shouldn’t we try? I think, y’know, so long as everyone works towards a common goal, there’s no reason for it to be impossible. But I understand – I’m honestly more concerned about people and AIs and how they’ll act, rather than things like time, or luck, or fate, I don’t know.”

“Mm.” Poppy muttered. Even when she frowned, her face had a beautiful softness to it.

“Hey,” Jasper leaned in, kissing her temple, “At the end of the day, it’s just us. We can’t change the universe all at once. We can only control our own lives, and how we approach them. And, well, how we treat each other.” She smiled.

“I think I want to try applying for university.” Poppy said then, “I don’t really know what for – maybe I could teach, or just be a clerk, or maybe go to a trade school or something, but – I feel like I’m at my limit for what I can do in Silvermead. It only really has so much to offer.” She looked to Jasper then with wide eyes, “Not here, of course. Not you. Just. I mean. It would be tough, being apart, but – I could achieve something.”

“It’s alright,” the farmer smiled, rubbing her wife’s shoulder. Poppy had dropped hints to this effect in the past. “I’ll support you no matter what you do. I’m proud of you! But you will come back to me, though, won’t you?”

“Of course!” she cried, almost indignant, “I never really wanted to do anything amazing. I just wanted to be content, and maybe help some people. Be important to some people. When I found you, and you offered to let me move in, marry, help on the farm – it was like a dream. But I think I maybe just want to see a little bit more of what’s out there, learn more than I can here, before I settle down for good.”

“We could go together.” Jasper spoke then, as their faces were but an inch apart.

“But the farmstead—”

“It’ll still be here. The micros will maintain things. We could have someone just keep the house. Maybe Preston, or your brother, or even one of the AIs. Maybe Rho?” her face furrowed in thought for a moment, “I never really intended to go anywhere else once I settled down in Evernest. I’d already had enough of travel and cities and whatnot to last a lifetime, but I didn’t consider that those were things you’d never even gotten to experience in the first place.”

“It’d only be to Erde.” Poppy’s head listed to the side, “I mean – I don’t think I’d have any reason to go off-world. Maybe if we took a vacation one day or something.” She laughed.

“Whatever you decide,” Jasper and Poppy’s poses were mirrored as they sat next to each other, looking into each other’s eyes, with the taller woman’s dark skin and almost alien hair and eyes playing off the simple charm of Poppy’s earthy bob and oceanic eyes, “I’m with you one-hundred percent. We can always figure out the details at a better time.”

“Yeah.” Poppy smiled then, before surprise graced her face as Jasper leaned in to catch her lips in a passionate kiss. They drew the moment out for a good several seconds before their lips parted, and a bright flush filled the pale girl’s cheeks. “I’m happy to just have tea with you tonight.”

“Not much of a choice,” Jasper grinned, “Storm’s not gonna pass until morning.”

“Then keep me warm.” Her wife brought her legs up onto the sofa, curling up beside the larger woman, eyes half-closed and steaming mug right below her nostrils.

Jasper reached over the back of the couch for a blanket, and once that was draped over the both of them, she grabbed a manual on chicken raising from the side table. The two women would stay in that pose long after they’d finished their tea, sharing a blanket, each with one arm around the other, reading their respective books.

#short story #oc #my oc #jasper reed #homesteading #romance #sapphic #farming #fluff

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jacensolodjo · 4 years ago

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Shaving Facial Hair, Especially for Newbies

Just in time for “No Shave November”, tips for new to facial hair ppl as well as those who might consider themselves veterans but want to try new things. Wet shaving only will be discussed.

Perhaps you want a ‘clean slate’ for November? Since that’s essentially what people do. (Also I know this probably will just look like an infomercial for West Coast Shaving halfway thru but they’re who I got most of my stuff from anyways so... Listen they have good deals. Once we get to beard care it’ll swap to being most Monster for Men. I get paid absolutely nothing from either. Nothing and no one especially not me is saying you MUST buy from either. Simply that they’re easy to navigate and aren’t gonna break your bank like some other companies. And also if you’re sensitive to scents and stuff like me you get a wide range of choices when it comes to soaps and oils.)

What you need (Details to follow):

Razor

Blades

Brush

Shave Soap (NO not just regular soap. Keep reading.)

Preshave (Not absolutely necessary but again keep reading.)

Aftershave (Also not TOTALLY necessary but your skin will thank you keep reading.)

Facial Hair Scissors

Get a nice razor that is absolutely not disposable. I use a closed comb safety razor. You can use a straight razor if you’re like... that confident in your skill if you’ve never even done regular wet shave with a disposable much less a safety razor. Which, ‘safety razor’ is kind of a misnomer because it is very not safe when you’re changing the blades but whatever. I suggest for your first one to be a Merkur. Many, many folks stand by it as a good starter, just be careful not to get one with a handle that is too chunky for your first time doing this because it can get unwieldy. You want a thinner one. Like the Merkur 33C or the 78S from West Coast Shaving.

As for any disposable versus metal kinda deals, it really is much more cost effective to buy the handle+head then get the blades changed out at least once a week (some people say every like, 3 days if you’re consistently shaving every day but it’s really up to you and how concerned you might be about dulling. The blades are relatively resistant to it and can also stand being left on the handle for weeks if not months at a time depending on where you store it.) Bulk purchase of 100 blades (which can last months) can be as little as $10. I know not everyone has that option to spend $30+ on a razor handle+head then another few bucks on blades and that’s okay! But this guide is for wet shaving w/o consideration of disposable razors. You will get similar results, of course, but the fact of the matter is while they like to brag about having so many blades it isn’t actually that healthy for your skin. More on that in the ‘actually shaving’ part.

Also, slant is another option for safety razor head but it... it is like a grandmaster wet shaving level of razor. And yet it is also wonderful for those with sensitive skin (or otherwise hard to shave hair like many with curly hair deal with thru the sheer virtue of having curly hair even on the face). I don’t use it but I probably should with how sensitive my skin is but eh... maybe later. Anyway. Here’s a comparison of how they look:

(source: 10 Facts About Open, Closed, & Slant Razor Heads That You MUST Know Before Buy [sic])

Get a nice brush, silvertip badger hair/synthetic hair are usually what you want to get. Be aware that the real badger hair brushes can get a little... stinky for the first few times using it. Though, because of my super senses perhaps I just notice it far more than others might. But I suggest a nice synthetic on your first outing because it’s easier to understand how lathering works with the synthetic and it can be cheaper than the ‘real deal’. Don’t let the wet shaving elitists out there make you break your bank when a cheaper option works just as well. Because real badger IS more expensive no matter the handle to the brush.

Find a shave soap you like. Lots of the big suppliers have samples with generous sizing but they are not always free (a lot of the suppliers are working with smaller businesses anyways so you have to think of that). I’ve mostly gotten mine from West Coast Shaving. But there are tons of other folks out there. You may feel like supporting smaller businesses which is cool! Etsy of course has some great shops. There are also shops like Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements that feel a little more high end and for the more experienced shaver. The main thing you want to remember/realize is that shave soap is indeed quite different from hand soap (or any other soap). The secret is of course, in the lather. It has to be nice and foamy that looks almost like Cool Whip which regular handsoap just doesn’t create. Next to that, shave soap is formulated for your face and the removal of the whiskers on said face. Go on, try to use regular ol’ hand soap and see how much your facial skin and hair hates you after. (Some people like my dad use regular damn soap and then wonder why they get razor burn and ingrown hair and cuts. It’s because you used goddamn hand soap with like no lather to it.) However, it CAN go in reverse. Shave soap can be used as hand soap, just not with the same benefits. What to look for in a shave soap besides what smells good: high fat (aka tallow) content (30-50%) and glycerin are the main ones followed by things like soy, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter.

As a note, shaving cream is also an option. But not the stuff in the can you spray on. A lot of shaving cream will come in containers similar to what shave soap does. It makes creating a lather much easier, obviously, and so cuts down (haa pun) on how long your shave routine is taking.

Get a shave bowl, preferably a shatter resistant one (especially if you are just starting to learn how to balance it while in the shower or w/e or you’re just prone to dropping stuff). I use this 2-piece shave bowl that can be dropped quite often and still not even crack and it makes lathering a breeze. It is also relatively easy to hold in the shower (or by the sink whichever way you prefer). Some people manage to do the whole lather process with just one bowl and honestly I can’t figure out how. 2 bowls is the absolute minimum for me but maybe you’re a grandmaster shaver.

Some people, especially if they aren’t going the complete bath/shower routine or have especially stubborn hair, will use pre-shave oil/gel. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from the name, you slather some on before you shave. The oil helps keep the shaving experience go smooth as silk and prevents snagging, tearing, stretching, etc., of the skin and follicles. Some people DO use only the pre shave oil, but I don’t recommend it because again, shave soap is specially formulated for shaving and has more benefits than the oil itself.

Aftershave! It gets a bad rap. I’m sure your mental picture of using aftershave is hissing and wincing as the alcohol/witch hazel seeps in (to skin that may be slightly sensitive). Generally witch hazel actually isn’t supposed to sting like alcohol but it can definitely go on cold regardless of how warm the bathroom you have it in is. Aftershave can come in a spray, as well as a gel in addition to the common mental image of putting a few drops in your palm, rubbing briskly then patting onto your face (with y’know... hissing and wincing in pain and making funny faces). Non-Alcohol aftershaves are most commonly called ‘aftershave balm’. Keep reading for why the common image of aftershave application shouldn’t be a common sight in YOUR bathroom mirror.

Okay so we all have our ‘ingredients’ for a great shave, right? Good. Preferably shaving should be done fresh after a bath/shower, when your hair has been softened by the hot water and your skin has been cleaned by the appropriate products (face wash and beard wash/conditioner is my preference but I guess regular soap is fine). As mentioned, not everyone has the time or desire to take a full on shower before getting to shaving. That’s cool! That’s why we have our buddy the pre-shave gel/oil. It IS suggested that you at least wash your face first if only so in case you do make a micro-cut in your skin any kind of ick on your face won’t seep into the wound. Anyways, step pre-1 out of the way. You can also choose to forgo the preshave stuff entirely if you want. It’ll just make your face happier if you give it this little shield.

While you have been showering/bathing you should have been soaking your shave brush. You can put it in a cup if you want but if you got the two-bowl setup mentioned earlier one of the bowls is meant for softening your brush while the other holds the soap. Dump out the water you have been using in that second bowl because that’s where you’re going to lather that soap after you have ‘loaded’ it from the other bowl. Loading is just the act of rubbing the soap briskly with the brush until you start getting the beginnings of a lather going then you swap to the other bowl. You need a good ratio of water to soap, otherwise the lather will be too watery to build on your face which is no bueno. Remember: Cool Whip. It must be creamy, thick, and not drip off the brush when you hold it up. You may need to gently squeeze the brush to get excess water out, you want the brush soft and pliable not damp. If you can flick that sucker and splatter water on the wall (or... mirror I guess?? why are you doing that you look silly aim at the sink/shower drain!) there’s too much damn water in the brush.

Time to slather it on your face! Some people say to do it in circles but honestly I’ve never been able to do that and it’s more often for those who forgo the bowls/scuttles entirely and ‘work on the lather on the face’. Broad, slow strokes back and forth works and feels a lot better (and can be rather soothing). Now’s as good a time as any to say that while media does show the whole shaving entire full beards off, it is a lot better if you trim that sucker down some. Your razor is not a pair of clippers. and this is related to the overall idea of using this kind of razor: less hair, not all of the hair. Don’t try to keep taking pass over pass on the same strip of skin. You’re just going to give yourself razor burn, micro-tears, all sorts of bad stuff. Until you get your technique down you may have to live with there being one little patch not quite as smoothed down.

Go with the grain, not against. Some people say it’s better to go against because of how the hair is not going to naturally lie against the skin, but it can cause irritation to shave against. Follow the line of your jaw on the first pass, then start to go from cheek down to jaw. Be sure to add more soap for each pass. Although, you can do lines from cheek to jaw first, it just depends on you and what feels best. There are no hard and fast rules on this.

As for holding your razor, with safety razors especially you basically want to let it do all the work. Let it slide down under its own weight, as it were. Keep an easy grip on it, preferably like you might hold a pencil. Then just let it glide on down and around. Too much pressure can increase the chance of microtears and cuts, which leads to wincing and hissing in the mirror when you put on your aftershave (especially the alcohol based ones), along with the classic razor burn of irritated skin.

Now, when I mentioned trimming down your beard before actually shaving you can use clippers if you want or it’s easiest for you, but you can also use facial hair scissors. The scissors can be used for ‘pruning’ your facial hair (such as snipping down an especially longer than its neighbors hair), and the clippers can be used for styling it (such as getting a neat rounded look of your facial hair). In general it’s a good idea to ‘prune’ your facial hair while it’s growing in. If only so it’s even easier to manage to later on. This helps to make it less unruly and you don’t look like a cave dweller.

In the end, your routine does not need to be set in stone. Nor do you have to always buy the same products. Feel free to experiment not only with scents but with actual products along with the combinations (shaving soap+pre shave oil or just the soap). But hopefully this gives you a jumping off point for learning how your shaving routine should work.

#Текст #wet shaving #shaving #long post #jacen's recs #shaving tutorial

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y3s2-20192020 · 5 years ago

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Synthetic Mangrove

The synthetic mangrove is a strategy of Silvo aquaculture fishery re inhabiting abandoned shrimp farm to practice the act of poly culture farming. The combination of passive terrain manipulation in parallel with mitigation infrastructure provides a possibility where multi-species native and non native could co exist together in the productive inter tidal landscape of Rayong.

On Monoculture Economy

Located on the Gulf of Thailand, Rayong is known for its rich and diverse marine ecosystem with over 40,000 edible species populating its coastline. However, the province is only known for its famous fish sauce and oyster products. This is because we humans only shortlisted the species we eat, disregarding those unfamiliar to us labeling them as trash or by-catch. Rayong is no different when it comes to production, the productive inter tidal landscape is bombarded with shrimp farms while river deltas are clogged with sediments deposition from oyster farming.

The act of mono culture practice, relying on one species to thrive on its own, almost destroyed the economy of artisan fisherman in Rayong. Their way of life has almost no tolerance to change and when unexpected factors happened to them like the construction of Map ta Phut station chasing away the only specie they harvest. They have to rely on donation money from those industrial company to survive.

My project, set out to redefine a new typology of resilience aquaculture practice, inhabiting the concept of polyculture in parallel with “Opportunistic eater” ideology. Opportunistic eater in this case, refers to how the species on our market would also be controlled by the state of the polyculture balance. Dishes such as oysters would be more common during the present of water pollution or sesame crab would dominate the market during nitrate depletion.

The adaptable strategy is divided into four main parts in which each contribute to specified function of the pond from filtration , coexistence, harvesting and assisted evolution.

Biofloc Filtration

The earliest state of transformation exists on the tidal barrier where strategic geotechnical excavation of concrete barrier propels the growth of phytoplankton turning what was once a road into a biofloc filtration system using an organic factor to clean the current acidic pond

The pattern defined in the biofloc pond reflects the crested terrain ideal for algae growth allowing it to extracts organic waste during the moment of high tide and provides a harvesting space during low tide.

Co-Managed Resident

The once isolated community of artisan fishermen, are joining up together to co manage the ponds. The importance of these fishermen wouldn’t be overlooked due to their knowledge of the dynamic ecosystem. Making them become the main actors who oversee the pond would allow the preservation of their community.

While sediment deposition was proven to be troublesome in monoculture oyster farms, placing it systematically would allow fishermen to control the deposition force of the incoming tidal wave where the vertices of each structural pole would crash against the prevailing wave.

Consequently, allow them to control the size and composition of dune with regard to the gradient of salinity, allowing non-native mangrove species to thrive in the micro seasonality of the central pond

Harvesting

When the productive rearing pond is established, the question we have left is “How do we harvest specific species to control the balance of the pond?”. This is where we once again revisit the intertidal nature of the pond, taking reference to traditional open sea harvest and allow low tides to trap the limited amount of specie according to our control.

The facades of the harvesting infrastructure contribute to the luring of specific species. The rattan panels are aggregation devices controlled daily by fishermen as a reaction to the state of the environment

Alien Specie

Lastly, a successful productive landscape requires constant evolution. What we know as alien species are welcomed into the pond in a controlled manner from ballast water around the world exploiting the nature of Rayong as a seaport. In the synthetic mangrove, alien species are appreciated due to their level of resilience during this period of food deprivation. And we should rethink the “alien” as an entity that actually constructs a new reality and bring a valuable hybridization rather than an invasive species.

Introduction of non-native species are done in a delicate manner passing through a series of fish gates and canals where fisherman could control the interaction between native and non-native species.

Through time, the transformation would spread throughout the coast of Rayong not only redefining what we know as a fish farm but also make us question same species we eat everyday.

#alicia lazzaroni #Jew Chinnapat Asavabenya #Phase4 #Rayong

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scorpion6knives · 5 years ago

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One of the last builds from this latest batch of knives headed to @edcfoundry This one features a @nicholsdamascus blade with a mulled fuller, nightmare grind main bevel, flat front and micro swedge (4 grinds styles and two milling operations in all), deep etched and polished. Handles are sculpted and anodized Grade 5 6Al4V Titanium. Hardware is anodized titanium and internals are stainless steel. Made by hand. Made in the US with US materials. Made by two. #itmatterstous #madeinusa #madeinamerica #handmade #custom #art #trade #craftsman #artisan #sculptor #titanium #steel #saturday #saturdayvibes #phoenix #arizona #santanvalley (at Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9KEIYMgce0/?igshid=20fm5affr0at

#itmatterstous #madeinusa #madeinamerica #handmade #custom #art #trade #craftsman #artisan #sculptor #titanium #steel #saturday #saturdayvibes #phoenix #arizona #santanvalley

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tsghuntsvillealabama · 5 years ago

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Scout Is Out!

We are very pleased to release The Scout Guide Huntsville - Volume 2 to our community on August 27, 2019. The complimentary guide can be picked up at the following locations beginning August 27 and throughout the year until supplies run out.

If you own or know of a business that we be interested in being a distribution location, please email us at [email protected].

Accents of the South

Acupuncture and Wellness Center

Anytime Fitness Jones Valley

Anytime Fitness Hampton Cove

Bragg’s of Huntsville

Brooks and Collier

Bullet and Barrel

Burritt on the Mountain

Carole Forêt Fine Art

Carriage House

Church St Wine Shoppe

Creative Lane by Lexus of Huntsville

Crush Wine and Food Festival

Dental Professionals on Whitesburg

DePriest Robbins

Domaine South

Elitaire Boutique

Faith Woods Events

Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy

4site, a Schoel Co.

FOW WOW Designs

Gina’s Balloon Decor

Golden Griffin

Good Company Cafe

Gray Analytics

GrubSouth

Haley’s Flooring & Interiors

Heritage Kitchen + Bath

Home Choice Windows & Doors

Huntsville American Cabinets

In Bloom

Interior Marketplace

Interiors By Consign-Huntsville and Madison locations

Jill’s Studio of Dance

Johnson Orthodontics

Jones, Paparella and Thomas Group | Merrill Lynch

K Butler Interiors

Keller Williams Realty | InTown Partners Real Estate Group

Lankford & Battle Allstate Insurance Agency

life as paper

Lindsey Jennings Art and Design

Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment

Lyn’s Gracious Goodness

Main Street South

Matheny Goldmon Architecture + Interiors

Maynor and Mitchell Eye Center

Mazzara’s

Moderne Jouel

MixItUp.Fun

Move Digital Group

Nesin Therapy Services, P.C. -Huntsville, Madison and Research Park

Offbeat Coffee Studio

Old River Interiors

Pillar and Peacock

Piper and Leaf-Downtown, Lowe Mill and Madison locations

Pizzelle’s Confections

Progress Bank

Purveyor

R City Eye Care

Radiant Day Spa

Randolph School

Regenesis

Roosevelt and Co.

Southern Essentials Company

Southern Reclaimed Salvage Barn

Straight to Ale & Shelta Cavern Spirits

Sweet City Micros

The Artnasium

The Chameleon Fabrics and Interiors

The Ledges

The Pourhouse

The Topiary Tree

The WEDC Foundation

TOC Spine Center/Larry Parker, M.D.

U.S. Space & Rocket Center

VanValkenburgh & Wilkinson Properties, Inc.

Vertical House Records

Westmark Construction

White Rabbit Studios

Windham Travel and Leisure

Limited quantities will also be replenished monthly at the following locations:

1892 East

AC Hotel

Al Christopher

Alison Wellness Clinic

Anthropologie

Arts Huntsville

Belk Hudson Lofts

Cafe 153

The Catalyst Center for Business & Entrepreneurship

Cil

Clean Juice

Cabana Wax

Cork and Crust

Downtown Huntsville Inc.

Edgar’s Bakery

Embassy Suites

Envy Boutique

Fresh Starts Coffee

Gold Sprint Coffee

Green Pea Press

Grille 29

Holtz Leather

Honest Coffee

Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau

J. Whitener

Kendra Scott

Mason Dixon

Melt

Metro Diner

Mezza Luna

Moe’s Barbecue

Moon Bake Shop

Neo Mode Hair Salon

Orange Theory

Oshi Poke Bowl

OTBX

Poppy

Preservation Company

Pure Barre Huntsville

Pure Barre Madison

Queen Bee of Beverly Hills

Shea’s Express

ShoeFly Huntsville & Madison

SiP

Starbucks

Stovehouse

Sweet Pineapple

Tangled Strings Studios

Terra Me Jones Valley

Terra Me Parkway

The Artisan Apartments

The Avenue

The Juice Bar

The Little Green Store & Gallery

Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Uncorked Wine Shop and Tasting Room

Valley Sole

Victoria’s Interiors

Vintage Cigar Lounge

Vintage West Interiors

Walker’s Market

Westin Hotel

Yellowhammer

Zoom Fitness

#scout is out #huntsville al #tsghuntsville #love

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epchapman89 · 6 years ago

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The Sprudge Guide To Edinburgh, Scotland

Coorie (ku:ri) is the Scottish art of living happy. It used to mean something akin to snuggle—coorie in, coorie down—but in the last couple of years it’s developed into a style of aesthetics and living. It’s not just about candles and coffee. Coorie is about taking comfort and energy from both the wild landscapes of Scotland and the cheerful interiors that inspire cozy togetherness. You might have experienced something like coorie if you’ve ever walked into your best friend’s living room or your favorite coffee shop and immediately felt welcomed and loved.

While traveling around Scotland last fall, I searched high and low for the best coffee I could find, the places that made us want to coorie down with loved ones, a book, and coffee. The local coffee haven is Edinburgh. Here, coffee shops sprout up like mushrooms after a good rain. In the center of the city, it’s unlikely you’ll walk a block without spotting at least one. In the last few years, the local scene has begun shifting more towards specialty coffee with a focus on top quality and good service. We’ve rounded up our top eleven coorie shops to help you get around the city without getting caught in the rain.

This guide is meant to be used in conjunction with Edinburgh cafes previously featured on Sprudge.

Artisan Roast

Artisan Roast is a welcoming, homey spot that feels worlds away from the central tourists hubs of Edinburgh. Here the roasters care deeply about their coffee, and tucked among plants, art, and knick-knacks are colorful flavor wheels and descriptions of the current coffees they’re roasting. Bags of coffee are displayed prominently and the bar is visually open, inviting everyone into the space.

When I visited Artisan, customers from the neighborhood and tourists from all over were making themselves at home in the front tables by the picture window and their comfortable back living room-style sitting area. When you visit, look closely at your surroundings, because hidden among the usual coffee shop trappings and home-like decor is a collection of funky wall art, a gold-framed photo of Morgan Freeman who reminds everyone to hydrate, and a cheeky promise “from” JK Rowling to never write there.

Artisan Roast has multiple locations in Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Baba Budan

Baba Budan has the kind of bubbly atmosphere that comes from baristas who are having fun behind the bar. The space is cheery too: high ceilings, sleek wood, and skinny lights pair well with their coffee to brighten up even the darkest winter afternoon. Named for the 16th century Sufi saint who is said to have introduced coffee to India, Baba Budan is a continued celebration of the spread of that beverage. The community table is a good space to work, and the whole cafe is a great place to meet up with a friend. The baristas were brewing up a Salvadoran coffee from Girls Who Grind on drip, along with espresso from Workshop. Rotating roasters include Square Mile, The Barn, Coffee Collective, and Dark Arts Coffee. If you’re feeling a little jittery from caffeine already, they have a selection of food using seasonal ingredients. It’s all made in-house.

Baba Budan is located at Arch 12, 17 East Market Street, Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Black Medicine

If you’re trying to drink coffee in the cafe where JK Rowling first wrote Harry Potter, Black Medicine is the closest you’re going to get. It stands where Nicolson’s used to, which is where Rowling wrote most of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. (Later books were written at Elephant House, but despite claims to be “the birthplace” of Potter, they didn’t open until Philosopher’s Stone was almost published.) Today, Black Medicine is a bustling coffee shop serving up good brews, bagels, and high energy. The baristas are an upbeat and friendly group, even when there’s a chaotic line. Their menu of milk-based drinks is reliably good, and espresso is served with a ginger cookie to make your coffee break just that bit more exciting. The bohemian decor and excitable environment is conducive to any creative who finds people-watching inspiring, and you’ll find writers camped out with laptops everywhere.

If you care about the environment (and don’t you?), you’ll be happy to know Black Medicine has experimented with using steel straws for cold drinks, has completely banned drinking from takeaway coffee cups inside, and offers a 10% discount if you bring your own mug.

Black Medicine is located at 2 Nicolson St, Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Brew Lab Coffee

True to its name, Brew Lab Coffee has an underground bunker laboratory feel that makes it a favorite of students. The rooms are laid out like a rabbit’s warren and packed full of young millennials writing, studying, and talking. There’s more exposed brick than you can shake a fist at, and the decor is focused on the scientific, including a menu that visually mimics the element squares of the periodic table. The focus here is on coffee: equipment is top of the line and the baristas are clearly extremely knowledgeable about the drinks they’re serving. Brewed coffee itself is not a rarity in Edinburgh, but the pour-over bar in central view for everyone is. Service includes drinks brought to the table (if you’ve found one) and friendly baristas. V60s are brewed into carafes and served on trays; flat whites show up with perfectly symmetrical rosettas.

Though it’s one of Edinburgh’s more spacious specialty cafes, popularity and proximity to the University of Edinburgh means finding a place to sit can be a challenge. If you can, try to snag one of the arm chairs at the back and settle in. When you’re done with caffeine for the day, Brew Lab also serves beer, wine, and cocktails.

Brew Lab Coffee is located at 6-8 S College St, Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Cairngorm Coffee

Behind the bar in Cairngorm read the words “Coffee and grilled cheese.” Generous sandwiches are constructed by the staff, and the coziness of this childhood favorite meal perfectly matches the coziness of Cairngorm. The ceiling is hung with burlap coffee sacks, and the natural wood and forest color palette evokes the eastern Highlands mountain range it’s named for. A snowboard, a skateboard, and skis hang on the walls to bring mountain adventure inside, or you can pick up an AeroPress and bag of this micro-roaster’s coffee to take on your next outdoor escape. When I dropped by, Cairngorm’s baristas were brewing up an excellent selection of Five Elephant coffee and their own Central American selection. They served up what was, hands down, the best flat white I had in Edinburgh. Attention to service is in everything Cairngorm does: tea was served with a timer to ensure it wasn’t over-steeped, newspapers were available for reading, and tablets set into bar seating were available to browse their website.

Find Cairngorm by descending some stairs from the main level of Frederick Street. The small patio outside is aces when the weather is great, or cozy up inside.

Cairngorm Coffee has multiple locations in Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Castello Coffee

Just a block off of the Princes Street Gardens and the main tram line, Castello Coffee waits to supply you with coffee and food to fuel up. The space is clean and bright, and framed art features prominently on the walls. Clearly named for Edinburgh Castle nearby, this shop serves up an Americano made with Allpress Espresso that’s fit for a monarch and delicious hot chocolates for everyone else. The breakfast and lunch soup options are great, as well. Friendly baristas are behind the bar and the bustling energy patrons bring in and out of the shop is the perfect pick-me-up to accompany the coffee when you need one.

If you’re out playing tourist or shopping nearby, Castello is a convenient and reliably good shop to drop in on. Grab a seat at the counter facing the window to watch people stream by in this busy neighborhood or enjoy their wide patio seating under umbrellas to protect you from the elements.

Castello Coffee has multiple locations in Edinburgh. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Cult Espresso

Tucked away on a small road close to the University of Edinburgh is wee gem Cult Espresso. This long narrow shop has a sapphire blue facade that makes it stand brightly out from the rest of the store fronts on the street, and the front door promises coffee, brunch, and good times—indeed, the service is amazing and the energy in the shop is cheerful and welcoming. When I visited I had a delicious long black and a good long chat with the baristas about the coffee scenes in the US and Scotland, what makes Cult special, and how excited they were about the coffee they were serving that day. As a group of self-proclaimed “coffee nerds,” Cult is constantly curating seasonal single-origin coffees from the UK and Europe, and they’re truly dedicated to making sure each cup is delicious.

Cult Espresso may not be an actual cult, but I could come to be (almost) as dedicated to it as a real one. Drop by the shop for their ritual brunch and coffee combo, and don’t forget to snag some of their branded swag on the way out.

Cult Espresso is located at 104 Buccleuch St, Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Fortitude Coffee

More than any other, Fortitude Coffee feels like a barista’s coffee shop. It retains the appearance of a converted rowhouse and is a peaceful background for great coffee, friendly baristas, and a community vibe. I sat by the windows and enjoyed a juicy pour-over roasted by Fortitude and perused the simple food menu. When I visited, they were quick to talk up the other coffee shops on the Disloyal 7 card, as well as recommend other must-try places around Edinburgh. They host the occasional cupping with their full lineup of coffees, and recently co-hosted a Meet the Roaster event with Edinburgh Coffee Society, so if you’re just visiting, check with the baristas to see if there’s an event coming up. Though still a relatively young scene, Fortitude is proof of how great a city’s coffee network becomes when everyone in it cares about the same main goals: delicious beverages and open community.

On a busy day, Fortitude is the perfect tranquil spot to relax, chat about coffee, and grab a bite to eat. Their full wall of retail coffee and coffee equipment is a great source for whatever your coffee-loving heart needs.

Fortitude Coffee is located at 3C York Pl, Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Lowdown

Literally low—down a flight of stairs—Lowdown is a minimalist shop. It’s a peaceful place to get away from the bustle of the main road, and has an airy feel to the decor and art. If you’re looking for a quieter place than Black Medicine to get work done, Lowdown is going to be your best bet for a distraction-free environment—the baristas are focused on careful, precise brewing. The coffee served and sold at Lowdown comes from all over Europe, including the delicious balanced shot of Ethiopian coffee from Colonna that was on drank when I stopped by. Similar to Artisan, Lowdown’s espresso bar is open and visible to guests, which invites an easy engagement that the baristas welcome.

The pastry case was full of beautiful pastries, including several cake options that are always the perfect pairing with any coffee for a good mid-morning snack. Bring a friend to take a break from shopping or sightseeing, or hunker down here with a good book. Lowdown is the perfect place to pass an afternoon with a cup of coffee.

Lowdown is located at 40 George St, Edinburgh. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

Machina

The coffee aesthetic is strong with this one. Above the bar hangs a black metal industrial light fixture from which a portafilter, a pitcher, and other various coffee implements hang from to float over the space. The walls are clean and white, and the tables are modernist sturdy wood and black metal. In Machina, several shelves are dedicated to different retail options; if you’re looking for equipment Machina seems to have the largest selection in Edinburgh. Located just up the street from Filament, this micro-roaster’s shop is another warm and relaxing space to escape rush hour or a quick rain shower.

Drop by early to enjoy the food menu options and sign up for their coffee subscription service while you’re there. Try to snag the window seat—not only is it super comfortable, it’s the perfect setting for your next Instagram photo with coffee.

Machina has multiple locations in Edinburgh. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Valorie Clark (@TheValorieClark) is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles. Read more Valorie Clark on Sprudge.

The post The Sprudge Guide To Edinburgh, Scotland appeared first on Sprudge.

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