#the field already has some native wildflowers‚ but i want more

[asgardian--angels]

I’ve seen nobody talking about this, so I will.

I study native bees and so the situation with Bombus affinis - the rusty-patched bumblebee - is never far from my mind. This is the bee that most people think of when ‘pollinator conservation’ is mentioned to them, if anything comes to mind at all (besides honeybees). It’s a shining example of our devastating impact on America’s prairies through decades of industrial farming, and the path that many more of our native pollinators will take very soon if nothing is done. 

The rusty-patched bumblebee was once found throughout the eastern United States, from the midwest through the northeast and Atlantic states. Through rampant and systematic destruction of the open grasslands and wildflower meadows it needs to thrive, it has been extirpated from all but a few states, representing nearly a 90% loss in range, and possibly even a 99% reduction in abundance. This is a species that is teetering on the brink of extinction, and unfortunately it’s neither the first nor the last of our bumblebees to do so. Franklin’s bumblebee (Bombus franklini) was endemic to a small area in California, and is presumed extinct after failing to be found in extensive surveys since 2006. Several other once common species - the American bumblebee (Bombus pensylvanicus), golden northern bumblebee (Bombus fervidus), western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis), and yellow-banded bumblebee (Bombus terricola), have all been experiencing sudden and severe population collapse in the past thirty years. 

The cause? Habitat loss. There is no doubt in any pollinator biologist’s mind about that, and to proclaim otherwise is not only false and foolish, but actively dangerous and certainly fueled by political and economic motivations from on high. Habitat loss (along with its cousins, degradation and fragmentation) is the primary cause of biodiversity loss and population declines of all species worldwide. Any other factors contributing to bee declines - pesticide use, diseases/parasites, climate change - are attacking already weakened populations, weakened by a lack of floral resources, nesting sites, and refuge from human disturbance. Once a species has been dealt such a hard blow, these other factors compound and make the situation worse. It is then that a species may begin a downward spiral that leads to extinction if we do not intervene and work to eliminate the threats they face. We have removed so much habitat from the landscape that many bee species cannot support healthy populations anymore, leaving them vulnerable to the impacts of pesticides and disease, due to stress, inbreeding, and a compromised immune system. 

I cannot be clearer in this. Lack of critical habitat is the reason we are losing our bees. They cannot cope with new threats like climate change (which is having a serious impact on them, by the way) and neonicotinoid pesticides without sufficient habitat to rebound from disaster, to support robust populations with genetic diversity, to even find enough food to provision the next generation. This failure to designate critical habitat means nothing will be done to ensure the rusty-patched bumblebee has enough space and resources to maintain a foothold in the remnant prairies. It means economic interests can continue to develop these dwindling refuges because there’s nothing legal stopping them. The rusty-patched bumblebee represented hope when it was added to the Endangered Species List in 2017, the first bumblebee to be federally recognized. But it won’t be the last, with several more bumblebees in severe decline, and without the willingness and pressure on the government to put its resources towards protecting pollinators, this and many others could go extinct within our lifetimes. 

I’m posting this because I just want you all to realize how ridiculous this is, that they have refused to act to save this bumblebee by failing to acknowledge the reason it is dying out, and how harmful it will be for the survival of the species. The rusty-patched bumblebee faces extinction right now - not in the far future, but within a couple decades if we continue on our current trajectory. The decisions we make in this moment will determine if it survives the Anthropocene or not, and it will makes a clear statement as to how much our vital insect pollinators - and all insects, and all of nature itself - actually matter to us. Are we willing to change our ways for creatures that ultimately determine our own fate as well? Are we willing to fight for them? You are seeing the bargains struck, the compromises made, that lead us down a path that will be worse for everyone. Fight it. 

Being in the field of conservation, I have had the lucky chance to see some disappearing species. To look into the eyes of a saltmarsh sparrow caught in a mist net, as its blood is drawn in an attempt to save its kind. Saltmarsh sparrows will, by overwhelming majority opinion, go extinct within 50 years due to sea level rise. I have seen Bombus fervidus, and Bombus terricola, workers going about their duties, unaware of their peril, and sometimes queens, a small beacon of hope for a new beginning. It is awful for me. It is painful to think that I may live in a time when they do not. When a lineage inexorably tied to this land and perfectly suited to handle every challenge comes to a sudden lurching halt. A silence without the deep droning hum of bumblebees. 

I’m sure there will be pushback against this. It’s a long process. But I wanted you to take a few minutes out of your day to be made aware that this is happening. Make a ruckus about it. At least tell a friend. And please, if you can, support native pollinators like the rusty-patched bumblebee by gardening and landscaping with native plants. Any amount is better than nothing. If you live in a prairie state, get involved with conservation organizations and efforts to restore and protect prairie habitat. You will be making a difference in the lives of many small creatures. Small, but so very important. And so very loved.

[chibinightowl]

13. “Here, have a flower crown, grumpy pants.” jaydick

Dick lowers his binoculars and sighs. “If we’re going to have any chance at making it to the next portal, we need to get through that encampment. My scanner says it’s in the cave behind what I think is their main temple.”

Beside him, Jason rolls onto his back and groans. “No. Please, for the love of all that’s holy, do not make me go in there.”

There being a village full of very nude men and women who appear to be in the midst of preparations for some festival as there were flowers absolutely everywhere. Everyone was sporting crowns and garlands woven from brightly colored blossoms and vivid green grass.

“You want to get home, right?” Dick prods. Jason’s dramatics aren’t new; sometimes he just needs a reminder of the bigger picture.

“Yes, you fucking douchenozzle, I do.” Jason sits up and snatches the binoculars from him. “Why can’t we just sneak in tonight after everyone is drunk and fucked out from whatever orgy they’re planning?”

Dick wordlessly holds out the scanner, knowing Jason can see the clear red digits counting down.

Four hours left before the portal closes. If they miss this jump, there’s no telling when the next one will be. Weeks, months… his mind shies away from years. They’ve already been gone long enough, lost in the Multiverse, and while there are some changes to his and Jason’s relationship that Dick is exceptionally glad for (strange times makes for strange bedfellows; in their case, literally), he just wants to go home.

“Fuck.” Jason hands the scanner back to Dick with an absolutely disgusted look on his face.

Dick laughs as he tucks it away and retreats back to the big field they’d passed through earlier. While picked over, there are still plenty of wildflowers left for what they’ll need to blend in with the natives. So many different versions of Gotham they’ve passed through and this one has to be one of the most carefree he’s seen. Luckily, an almost long forgotten skill is about to come in handy.

While Jason paces around and swears, Dick plaits a couple of practice crowns with grass to get a feel for the weave before he feels up to adding flowers. The first one is crooked and he grins, holding it up for Jason to inspect.

“That looks about as demented as your ugly face.”

“If you can’t say something nice…” Dick says leadingly and tosses it at Jason. “Start stripping down and packing our gear. I think we still have that hide from a few worlds ago we can use to make a bag?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m on it.”

With something to do, Jason’s grumbles settle down and Dick is able to focus on their costumes. He’s not shy about his body at all, even with his numerous scars, but he’s not entirely sure about Jason. Just the two of them, his little wing is never gun shy and absolutely revels in when Dick maps the lines scattering his body with his lips and tongue. 

Showing off all of those wearing nothing but flowers is a completely different story.

They’re down to two hours by the time everything is ready. Dick strips down and hands what remains of his Nightwing uniform to Jason, as well as the jacket and boots he’s picked up in their travels, to pack into the neatly sewn hide sack. The summer sun feels nice against his skin and he wishes there was a little more time to just catch a nap and enjoy the fresh air.

He also can’t help but admire the way the sun dances on Jason’s skin, still tanned from several worlds ago where they did end up passing a few days in a place where Gotham was in the tropics, surrounded by white sand beaches and plenty of drinks that involved coconuts.

“What are you staring at?” Jason asks defensively, crouched in front of the bag and putting their precious scanner case on top.

“You.” Dick leans over and sneaks a quick kiss. He loves the moments where he can catch Jason off guard and this time is no different. “Ready to get pretty?”

“You can take those flowers and shove them up your ass.”

Dick rolls his eyes. “Here, have a flower crown, grumpy pants. And a garland.” He hands both to Jason and helps arrange them. The piercings in Jason’s nipples are blocked from view, which while sad because he loves playing with them very much, is probably a good thing as it doesn’t look like the study of metallurgy has occurred here yet.

Jason sighs as he returns the favor and gently places Dick’s crown on his head. “I hate feeling this exposed.”

The truth finally comes out. Dick clasps Jason in his arms and draws him close, pressing their foreheads together. “Me too, but you what’s making this easier?”

“What?”

“You’ve got my back.”

Jason chuckles and captures Dick’s mouth in a brief, but no less searing for it, kiss. “I’ll always have your back. Because that ass is mine now and I’m not sharing it with anyone else.”

“Love you too, little wing.” Dick kisses him again. “Come on, let’s get this over with. We’re almost home. We can do this.”

Sighing hard, Jason releases him and stands. “Right, because what’s a little modesty being tossed right out the window?”

“You’ve never been modest.”

“Look who’s talking.”

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

A Pittsburgher Undertaking Native Tree, Shrub, and Forest Restoration on a Small Budget

Our guest blogger notes that he has no formal training in gardening or botany which perhaps makes this an even more inspiring story. In the past two years this one individual (with the help of a friend) has planted 1,500 native trees and shrubs as well as numerous native forbs on about 15 acres of his own property and that of willing neighbors. His goal is to attract pollinators such as native songbirds, butterflies, moths, and other insects. His plans include planting at least 500 more native trees and shrubs each upcoming year. We invited him to share his experience, written in his own words, on this ambitious endeavor as part of a blog series inspired by our new exhibition We are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene.

Motivation

My parents taught me bird watching starting from my preteens. I finally saw my first pileated woodpecker (Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina) at age 14. Canoeing through the Okefenokee swamp in southern Georgia/northern Florida in the spring, we would see brilliant yellow/orange-ish prothonotary warblers flitting some 20 feet away among the knees of towering cypress trees and also the flocks of honking sandhill cranes overhead. One of my daughter’s middle names is Dendroica for the warblers. The other daughter is named after the tallest tree species (if I am pressed, I am not sure if it is for giganteum or sempervirens; my father calls her ��little twig”). And my son is named after the last name of the most famous modern biologist. This project for me is about giving back. I am no expert about what I am contributing here. I welcome corrections and comments. The other motivation is that this project is doable with not much money, and anyone could do this. If you do not have the land, find a willing neighbor/friend who does, and start planting natives and removing invasive plants on their property.

Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania are marvelous ecological areas and the birth areas of noted environmentalists such as Rachel Carson and Edward Abbey. We get plenty of rain, even in the summer, which means we do not have the droughts observed in other parts of the country. Western Pennsylvania is riddled with creeks, which are ample places to plant native trees and shrubs that will never have to be watered as the creek riparian zone will take care of them. We also have clay soil (I know I will swear about the slate rocks when digging holes with a posthole digger by hand), which holds moisture and minerals. Lots of things can grow here. Because of topography, there are many places where houses cannot be built, so there is ample space for native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.

Pittsburgh National Park

We can think of Pittsburgh as “Pittsburgh National Park,” and the city already supports a huge biomass of bird populations such as the thousands and thousands of crows wintering here each year. If we would just plant lots and lots of flowering trees such as the dogwoods and redbuds and hawthorns and shrubs such as northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), we could increase the habitat to attract more beautiful songbirds such as rose-breasted grosbeaks, cedar waxwings and scarlet tanagers to spend more of their time here. I grew up in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, and every spring we would be greeted with the explosions of the dogwoods and redbuds that are endemic in the woods. The same could be done here with our hillsides that are refractory to building houses but not to populating them with dogwoods, redbuds, serviceberries, and hawthorns.

Growing native plants in large clusters

I am no expert on native plants and have consulted with many people as well as just Googled information. Somewhere I had read of a research study in which the authors determined that the planting of 250 wild flowers of one species was necessary to get another butterfly species to appear. A guiding principle is to identify multiple high wildlife value specimens, and then plant lots and lots of each of those species. (I should note that most wildlife management principles state that diversity is better than lots of one species; in my case I am promoting clusters of diversity). If we all wanted to purchase watermelons, but the markets would only keep a few in stock, we would eventually stop making plans to go to a market with the purpose to get a watermelon. And if a bird encounters not one serviceberry tree, but instead a forest of 300 serviceberry trees, we may instead have enticed a flock of these birds. For example, I have observed a flock of cedar waxwings rushing back and forth among a cluster of black cherry trees to eat the fruit. A solitary tree would get less activity. With sufficient establishment of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, we may entice birds to nest in the area. The Powdermill Nature Reserve (part of Carnegie Museum of Natural History) Bird Banding project has documented the precipitous decline of songbirds, with some declines as much as 70 percent over the last 50 years. We can repopulate our yards and our woods and our cliffs along the rivers and highways with native species that will restore habitats and help stabilize the populations of the songbirds that are left and perhaps even help grow them. 

Early in this project I was fortunate to get a state of Pennsylvania biologist on the phone, and he emphasized that I should concentrate on plant species that use lots of water as these species will generate lots of biomass. With the drainage creek behind by house, I am inspired to plant along its sides every step of its 1000 feet. I am on 2 acres plus. I also have multiple agreeable neighbors on similar or larger acreages, and all these neighbors have acres of woods that they leave alone and have allowed me to remove the invasive trees, shrubs, and grasses and plant the hundreds of native trees, shrubs, and forbs. I am inspired by the biologist at Indiana University who mowed an old overgrown field in Bald Eagle State Park to set back succession to an earlier stage of growth. The mowing was done in wide strips so that as those areas grew back they could mow additional areas. In the following spring he was able to observe several pairs of nesting golden winged warblers, a songbird species that has had a precipice decline in the last 50 years. While I do not expect such spectacular success, one can use the Allegheny County population data from eBird to gauge which songbird species we may be able to attract to nest in the area. In the woods behind my house, I have seen wood thrushes and hooded warblers sporadically each year. Perhaps the growing of a smorgasbord of native trees,  shrubs, and forbs will entice them to lengthen their stays. 

Bambi

One white tailed deer consumes 200 pounds of leaves and twig matter each month, roughly a ton per year. Typically, when one sees one Bambi, there are another 4 browsing within 50 feet, which is the equivalent of 5 tons of leaf and twig destruction each year. As a gardener, I think of Bambi as rats with long legs. While Bambi has evolved to eat everything, they have yet to develop a taste to eat galvanized steel. For this reason, metal cages are used to protect any plant at risk for Bambi. We have made metal cages from half inch mesh hardware cloth, chicken wire and 16 gauge welded wire fencing. Cages range from 1 foot high to 2 foot high, to 3 foot high to 6 foot high with diameters of 6 inches (18 inch linear fencing made into a cylinder) and 8 inches (24 inch linear fencing made into a cylinder). I am not planning to remove the cages. If I had more funds, the cages would be typically 8 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet in diameter as is done at the Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens as well as at Nine Mile Run in Frick Park. 

507 trees and shrubs planted in November 2017 

In November 2017, we planted

100 northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) seedlings, one to two feet in lengths (www.coldstreamfarm.net)

100 Norway spruce (although it is not a native, Norway spruce is recommended by the Penn State Extension, and I hope to someday attract crossbills which also fly over to Norway) four-year transplants, 12-15 inches in height with 12-15 inch long roots (Mussers Nursery, Indiana County, PA)

100 red-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea; www.coldstreamfarm.net) two to three foot in length seedlings

102 two to three foot long pagoda dogwood stakes (Cornus alternifolia; www.wholesalenurseryco.com/product/pagoda-dogwood-stakes/)

100 eastern white pine four-year transplants, 12-15 inches in height with 12-15 inch long roots from Mussers 

5 black willows from Mussers

Soon after planting, 4 inch by 6 inch rectangles of paper were folded over and then stapled in place over the terminal buds of the white pines to protect them from winter browsing by the deer 

In spring 2017, I got 300 six-year eastern white pine transplants (Mussers Nursery) that had roots of 2 feet in length. It took me multiple weekends and after work hours that spring to manually posthole the holes for these six-year transplants.  Rotting in the basement while waiting to be planted, at least 100 trees did not survive the planting process/the summer. 

I learned my lesson. I purchased a gas-powered auger with a 6-inch diameter by 30 inch long bit from Home Depot online. The 6-inch bit is much easier to dig with than the 8-inch bit. My volunteer and I and the gas-powered auger were able to dig over 100 30-inch deep, 6-inch diameter holes in just a couple of hours. This time we got four-year white pine transplants with only 15-inch length roots and planted them the same day we picked them up. The eastern white pines will grow to 100 feet and the spruce trees should grow to 50 to 75 feet. It is like planting an ‘instant forest’.  Half inch mesh two-foot hardware cloth cut into two foot sections to prepare cylindrical cages were used to protect the red-twig dogwood seedlings. Each cage was buried about 4 to 6 inches to prevent deer and weather from knocking over the cage.  I purchased 4 rolls of 100 feet by 6 feet of 14 gauge welded wire fence (Deacero Steel Field Fence 6 ft. H x 100 ft. L (7745)) from Ace Hardware, and what with shipping cost a total of about $500. We made 50 cages from each roll using tin-snips.  102 cages were used for the planting of the pagoda dogwood cuttings. About 12 inches of these 6 foot cages were submerged into the hole to prevent deer and weather from knocking them over. Native dogwoods other than the common flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) were chosen because of the flowering dogwood’s predilection for Anthracnose, a fungal infection that can make the tree look ugly and potentially die. The pagoda dogwoods were planted in moist soils, and the tall cages should protect them from the deer and allow the dogwood to eventually achieve 20 foot heights. 

The costs for planting in November 2017 The 100 spruce, 100 white pine and 5 black willows from Mussers cost $341 plus the cost of gas driving to pick them up. The 100 red-twig dogwood ($146 plus shipping) and the northern bayberry ($172 shipping included) were from Cold Stream Farm. The 102 pagoda dogwood stakes shipped from a Tennessee wholesale nursery were $187. The 200 foot of 2 foot hardware cloth to make the 100 cages for the red-twig dogwoods was about $140. And the pagoda dogwood cages cost about $250. 

So the cost of planting 507 trees and shrubs was about $1250 or about $2.50 total per plant which overall is economical. Labor is considered to be voluntary and is not included in these calculations. On the other hand, I am still living in my old unfixed house with my ancient toilets of which one takes 20 seconds to flush and is relegated only to flushing liquids. In 2015 when I got the house, I had repair insurance for the first year though I was unable to convince a plumber that a toilet that took 20 seconds to flush needed to be replaced under that home repair insurance plan. My skimping on fixing my old house allows me the funds to plant a forest that will live for ages. 

Invasive plant garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) removal With garlic mustard, I like to pull the first years of this biennial plant whereas others suggest pulling the second year flowers and leaving them to dry and die and decompose. Rosettes are hand pulled and can be left to dry out and die. First year plants including the entire root can be pulled after rains that softened up the grounds. The removed plants are placed in the crooks of tree branches to allow the garlic mustard to dry out and die and decompose.  

Example future project: American woodcock project One section of the woods is fairly open with a couple of acres of privet with moist soil and the idea is to replace the privet with alder (300 alder seedlings can be purchased from Mussers Nursery for $150 total) to improve the area to possibly attract woodcock so that the birds have space for their mating dances and space to look for earthworms. We have a heavy duty hand weedy-shrub pulling device (Pullerbear) which can be used to pull invasive shrubs such as privet, multiflora rose, and Japanese barberry out of the ground.  

Some sources of information on the web 

Landscaping for Birds - A go to website from Cornell Ornithology.  I use this website to help decide which classes of trees and shrubs to plant in mass. 

Beechwood Farms - Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Beechwood Farms has an excellent native plant nursery. 

eBird - (dates and populations and locations) of birds in Allegheny County from ebird.  

PSU Extension Lawn Alternatives - One of many excellent sites from Penn State Extension. 

Garden Planner Dripworks - Where I get my drip irrigation supplies. 

Prairie Moon - This is where I purchase about a hundred-dollars of native forbs and shrub seeds each January. 

Howard Nursery - Inexpensive trees and shrubs that can be ordered each January through early March from Howard Nursery. Presently have been getting grey dogwood and smooth alder seedlings from them. Recommended to order in January as soon as the website opens as they run out. 

Musser Forests - Mussers Tree Nursery. Being only about a 75-minute drive from Pittsburgh. 

Cold Stream - Cold Stream Farm wholesale nursery. Relatively inexpensive source for northern bayberry, dogwood shrubs, buttonbush seedlings and more. 

Audubon Native Plants - Audubon native plants database. For each plant, there is a listing of which native birds are attracted. 

Wildflower - Wildflower database

This blog series depicts Pittsburghers and their commitment to improving the local environment to celebrate our new exhibition, We are Nature: Living in the Anthropocene. Each blog features a new individual and explains the ways in which they are helping in areas of sustainability, conservation, restoration, and climate change. This blog was written in the author’s own words. Any opinions in this blog are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent that of the museum. 

[mmwm]

While away recently for a family funeral, spouse and I took two hours off from running errands, making calls, buying and arranging flowers, delivering food, and so on, to visit Mill Mountain Park in Roanoke, Virginia, on a chilly spring day (60F and windy!). Advertising for the park describes the trails at Mill Mountain Park as “some of the best in the area. The trails feature Roanoke’s highest point — the summit of Mill Mountain (1703 ft.) and the Roanoke Star. This area offers 900 acres of park space atop Mill Mountain, picnic areas, two scenic overlooks, access to additional trails, the Mill Mountain Zoo and the Mill Mountain Discovery Center.”

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We first ambled through the wildflower garden, 2.5 acres of land “carefully planned, weeded, planted and maintained by [Mill Mountain Garden Club] members since 1971.” (In 2014, the club used the “lasagna method”, a version of sheet mulching, laying down newspapers and leaves to smother invasive plants and prepare the ground for planting.) Having just driven south 13 hours from northern New England, where crocuses were about all that was in bloom, the sight of spring ephemerals and other perennials already in bloom made our hearts sing.

The entrance, with white dogwoods and pink-blooming redbuds:

wildflower garden trail

First, three species of trillium:

white Trillium grandiflorum

closer view of white Trillium grandiflorum (I think … was surprised to see the pink blush)

yellow Trillium luteum in bud

close view of red Trillium sessile, I think (variegated leaves)

small colony of red Trillium sessile (I think)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) leaves (the flowers had already gone by):

Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) flowers; lots of people want to eradicate this little gem from their lawns and garden plots as it spreads quite rampantly:

Another ephemeral, Twin Leaf (Jeffersonia diphylla), the leaves only here; Wikipedia says they’re “uncommon spring wildflowers, which grow in limestone soils of rich deciduous forest:”

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are also spring ephemerals; “[t]he flower buds of Virginia bluebells are pink due to a chemical called anthocyanin.  When the flower is ready for pollination, it increases the alkalinity of the flower, changing the color to blue.” I guess these were almost all ready for pollination!

May Apples (Podophyllum peltatum) were colonizing and blooming. They always remind me of childhood, when I walked a mile or so to 3rd through 6th grades, mostly through a suburban neighbourhood but also through some woods, the closest of which to the elementary school was filled with these every spring. We called them Maypops, which is one of their common names. It’s said that when the May Apple leaves start to flatten, it’s morel season!

This is a plant commonly in flower early in springtime here in N.H., too, if it’s Uvularia sessilifolia (Wild Oats) as I think. But it could possibly be Uvularia puberula (Mountain Bellwort).

One non-ephemeral perennial in bloom this late April was Honesty (Lunaria annua), also known as Money Plant: “Like all members of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), the flowers have four petals. The leaves of Lunaria are roughly heart-shaped with a toothed edge. … The easiest way to  identify honesty is by the unique, circular seed pods that form soon after the plant flowers. The shape of the pod calls to mind a coin, hence the name ‘money plant,’ or sometimes ‘silver dollar plant.'”

Another purple bloom, that of the dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata), I think:

This Red-Stem Stork’s Bill (Erodium cicutarium), also called Redstem Filaree, was a new one for me, even though it’s found in northern New England; it’s small, low-growing, and considered a lawn weed:

I also wasn’t previously aware of Primula elatior, oxlip, not native to the U.S.:

I think this is a wood or celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum):

This is a species of Euphorbia, perhaps Euphorbia cyparissias (cypress spurge) or E. virgata (leafy spurge) — I’m inclining toward the latter:

I took this shot of a variety of blooms because I liked the way it looked, and the Plant ID group on Facebook helped me identify Packera aurea (Golden Ragwort — the orange-yellow daisylike flowers) and Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium, the pale purple flowers) blooming.

The dogwoods were fully in bloom in Roanoke, both white and pink!

I had never seen this foliage before; it’s Arum italicum, also called Italian arum, Italian lords & ladies, and large cuckoopint. It’s not native to the U.S. but has been introduced to only seven states: Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, California, Oregon, and Washington. Its “[g]reenish ivory flowers resemble those of its relative, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and appear in midsummer followed by stunning orange-red berries” (per White Flower Farm). It’s very poisonous.

We saw a bluebird while in the wildflower garden, too, but a bit far away; still, it’s recognisable.

*

After basking in the wildflowers, we just had time for a 30-minute walk on the Star Trail before prepping for the funeral visitation at 3 p.m.  If I’m ever in Roanoke again, I hope to walk more of these trails; they’re not challenging, if you hike or walk much, through some can be a bit steep, and they are all short — ranging from the .22 miles of the Watchtower Trail to about 1.5 miles, the Monument Trail — but they interlock with each other and the roads up the mountain, so you can create a longer walk or hike, and they are only a few minutes from downtown, though, in fact, it felt to me like the sort of place you might run into a bear. And the views of the Roanoke Valley on a clear day — which we had — from the top of Mill Mountain (where you park), are forever.

There’s a handy sign mapping local mountains in view, with their elevation and distance away:

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The trail map, posted on a kiosk, was useful and seemed accurate for the most part, except that we could not find the Mill Mountain Greenway (inset map) — we walked around for about 20 minutes hunting for it.

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Some photos from the Star Trail (yellow).

Star Trail entrance (shows blue marking but it’s actually yellow)

on the trail

Star Trail with yellow trail marking

some of the trail was rock or gravel, some clay, with a bit of washout in places, but it wasn’t a wet day, so no problems walking it

I’m always happy to find Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata), here with a trio of tuffet-shaped seedheads

more Spotted Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata) plants — there were lots of them in multiple locations on the trail

mosses

Pearl Crescent butterfly (probably) with some damage but it was flying OK

boulder along trail

a duskywing (Erynnis sp.) butterfly

duskywing (Erynnis sp.) butterfly on blueberry buds

well-marked trails

bench near trail marker

Largus sp. (bordered plant bug) on a rock along the trail

Off the trail, we saw and moved this handsome millipede in the parking lot!

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Thanks for taking this field trip with me!

Field Trip: Mill Mountain, Roanoke, VA While away recently for a family funeral, spouse and I took two hours off from running errands, making calls, buying and arranging flowers, delivering food, and so on, to visit Mill Mountain Park in Roanoke, Virginia, on a chilly spring day (60F and windy!).

[rhythmantics]

a collection of doodles; stuff for a 3rd Orre game idea I bounce around sometimes and a couple of OCs

the dream is to one day make a fangame for the orre series

tbh with the way pokemon currently is i don’t trust them at all to handle orre

xd was already Lighter and Softer than colo, and i can only shudder to imagine how much lighter they’ll crank that dial. we might even see shit like...routes...and wild pokemon on them...like??

the orre games had this wonderful moral ambiguity and urban decay that i don’t think pokemon is capable of catering to right now, since they’re trying so hard to have this image these days of this sprawling, kid-focused series. and yeah, s/m’s story got dark and shit, but the game wasn’t marketed that way, and it’s more of a juicy tidbit than the core of the experience.

If a third orre game isn’t unnecessarily gritty and edgy then, like, what’s even the point lol

So i do have rpg maker xp and I do have pokemon essentials and i think i’ve more or less worked out the mechanics i need to have implemented, but i dont think i ahve the time to spare to actually finish it in any capacity because the amount of new assets i’d have to create - tiles, character models, etc - is so massive it would realistically take me several, several months even if i was doing it as a full-time job

so in any case here are some ideas to titillate your interest:

GAMEPLAY:

level scaling across the entire game, across every trainer (possible to turn off for a more traditional pokemon experience). Regular trainers would be set ~3 levels below your team, “strong” trainers (ie cail, rider willie) would be set at your team, and bosses would always be a few levels above. The only place this wouldn’t apply would be Mount Battle, which is, after all, a side challenge. This mechanic would pretty much do away with the need for level grinding except to balance out team levels. reasoning: the orre games are known for their higher difficulty curve, and this plays off it. Double battles also make for very interesting avenues of strategy exploration; with bosses always a little tougher than you are the hope is you might wipe out a couple times before figuring out a winning strategy.

Lucky egg given early but no exp. share.

higher catch rate on shadow pokemon - since the game would start you out at lvl 25 and honestly this is just an anti-frustration feature

Again, level scaling can be turned off for a more traditional experience, but the idea would be that the levels would get pretty high pretty fast, and by midgame you’d be going up against lvl 55s and stuff (just enough to start encountering some salamences and flygons), hopefully ending the game in the 80′s.

Pokedex -> strategy memo, and seen = obtained. Strategy memo actually contains opinions from the player character rather than just standard “animal facts” type stuff.

No routes! Just cities! Pokespots still in effect to limit the player’s pool of usable pokemon.

Missed pokemon integrated with pokespots or maybe made un-faintable so you have to catch them because i’m really not that good at programming guys

SETTINGS:

Orre is a cold desert. I know technically it’s based on the Arizona desert, and I’ve been there, but friggin look at the fashion, these people would all get heatstrokes in a matter of seconds.

So to that end, my orre is actually based on the Atacama Desert, whose topography not only resembles Orre’s (volcanic mountains on one side, ocean on the other), but is a cold desert (with daytime temperatures peaking around 60 degrees F) and is considered the driest desert in the world, with some places having not seen rain in centuries, having been compared to Mars in regards to how uninhabitable it is.

you know, like how apparently wild pokemon can’t survive in orre except at the pokespots.

also the orre colosseum looks just like the atacama hand and i dont think that’s a coincidence

canyons, oases, underground rivers and deep underground cave systems, forests to the northeast and a coast that’s actually somewhat habitable via fog collection

THE UNDER IS BACK

gateon renamed Io Port (the japanese name) to go with the gem/mineral naming scheme of the rest of the game. Plaque added outside lighthouse reading “Io Lighthouse” (GEDDIT)

cipher key lair being torn down by reformed eldes, working with lovrina and gorigan, in order to create an amusement park, hopefully to be an international tourist attraction of the more innocent variety than realgam

Areas given a name. Desert is orre desert, northwest forest is Tempor Forest, mountain range is Kabla Mountains, keeping in line with Eclo Canyon

A new town named Appoak, one of those aforementioned fog-collection coastal villages, which has the distinct honor of being the place you buy your wildflower seeds, which are often scattered in the desert as funerary rites because it’s kind of hard to build a grave out there and this is a tradition that natives of orre held long before the settlers/miners came in and which has overtaken the settlers/miners’ traditions, especially during and after the starvation riots that happened after the majority of the mines ran dry and the companies stopped sending their support to the workers that were now effectively stranded in one of the harshest environments on the planet.

Dead were littered on the streets, no one had the ability to bury them all, and so the tradition of scattering flower seeds instead of erecting graves that would simply be wiped out in the next sandstorm (and have you ever tried to dig a hole in dry sand) became popular since it felt like more closure

Anyways Appoak cultivates desert flowers year-round and sells the seeds and performs funerary rites, as a result it’s considered something of a sacred locale in that no one wants to mess with it because you have no idea who you might be pissing off whose loved one was buried with Appoak rites

CHARACTERS:

Michael, 5 years later, now 18 (in xd he’s called an “unknown teen” by ONBS and honestly he’s so short that i’d feel bad if he was older than 13 at the time of the game) is your player character! Trainer class Lab Kid, with a cool hover-scooter, who is now officially a staff member at the Lab HQ as a result of reaching adulthood (though he’s been helping out with field research long before that.)

Your starter is a sylveon, level 25, because this Michael is not a blank-slate character, and sylveon is both in character and doesn’t conflict with any choice of eeveelution from the first game. In fact, this michael made it through the entirety of the first game without evolving his Eevee, like an absolute madman.

Lily and Jovi start the game off overseas giving lectures on shadowfication and purification, mostly so that i don’t have to create their sprites. But also because them leaving is an excuse for them to take all your pokemon from the first game with them, for “demonstration purposes,” leaving you with just your eeveelution and maybe some second pokemon-i-don’t-know-what-yet-probably-your-choice-of-any-starter so you can hurry up and get to the double battles without sacrificing an ability to make a choice on your starter.

Wes is in the game and he is an asshole and you will love him

Cail actually serves a plot purpose

Cameos from all your favorite admins and named characters from Colo/XD, most of which remain unfought until either late or post-game (because the focus is on the new story, you know?)

Miror B and flunkies at Io Port, the proud owners of a popular and, more importantly, lucrative new ludicolo dance act.

Eldes, trying to make up for his past, sponsoring an amusement park being worked on by Lovrina and her brother, with Gorigan overseeing the construction. Snattle offhandedly mentioned as having been elected governer by default (no one else was running) and helping with greenlighting these projects since he and eldes are, apparently, sand-golf buddies and eldes has been twisting his ear for the greater good

also eldes wears a dress shirt with hawaiian print on it

Dakim lives on mt battle now

not as, like, part of the mt battle challenge. he just . sorta. lives there.

Venus is now the onbs weather girl and onbs can’t decide whether they like her or hate her

the jail squad: greevil, nascour, and evice. They’re poker buddies. orre jail for the rich is basically a retirement home because orre is ridiculously corrupt.

ardos? ein? well...

PLOT

So, your field assignment is to collect samples of M18 - also known in Almia by the name of “Dark Crystal” and sometimes colloquially referred to as “shadow crystal” in Orre - for research.

As you probably already assumed, this stuff works as a catalyst for shadowfication and Orre happens to be supernaturally abundant, though it having been strip-mined out by cipher during the last two cipher events has made it much rarer (and it’s theorized by NPCs that the return of wild pokemon may have something to do with the lessened M18 presence).

touching it initiates a small flashback cutscene, as it’s apparently transformed from normal quartz into M18 by the abundance of negative feelings somehow (again, you’re collecting it for study) so that’s how we get some nice backstory about michael’s dead dad (who isn’t eldes, sorry guys, he’s a guy named Prof. Taiga because - haha - Taiga Lily) and other characters

Somehow this investigation leads you to the first rumblings of a resurgence of cipher, who is also collecting M18, though for much more nefarious purposes

So, anyways, in XD, when you beat ardos in the orre colosseum, he sent you a creepy-ass email declaring that he’s basically gonna stalk you forever and kill you during cipher’s - what, third? - third coming, which he’s totally gonna do. Sequel hook! which comes true! because HELLO, your opponent is Ardos, who’s been working in secret this whole time, plotting your demise.

Also ein is there, which is important because...

QUICK HEADCANON BREAK

In colosseum, Cipher specifically targets Celebi because they know celebi’s power is directly tied with undoing shadowfication. (Material in-game suggests that celebi has been responsible for purification for generations of rui’s family, which means cipher didn’t INVENT shadowfication, but they did create a method for doing it ARTIFICIALLY)

However, in XD, cipher doesn’t target agate at ALL. they never even step foot in it. In fact, they’re so woefully underinformed about purification that they feel the need to kidnap Prof. Krane over it.

How does that happen?

Well, we know cipher in game 2 is the main branch, and cipher in game 1 is actually just an orre side branch. Whose only real plan with shadow pokemon was just to rig up really exciting and morally inexcusable colosseum matches for rich people to bet on. No world domination in game one!

So my theory is this: Cipher orre branch created shadowfication basically on a whim and tried to make money off it, which you stopped. When you stopping it attracted attention, cipher main branch had to take notice, and realized that, hey - fucking shadow pokemon ,fuckin world domination, right??? so they promptly took over all of cipher orre branch’s operations and replaced the old personnel with new ones from main branch, while forcing them to hand over their research.

Ein did not take being fired well.

In fact, he took it so poorly that he made sure to destroy all his information on purification before handing over his research.

Cipher in game 2 has no idea the connection between Celebi and purification.

BACK TO THE PLOT

Because Ein has been re-hired by Cipher, he brought with him his knowledge of purification.

They know about celebi.

Also wes is there? He plays a major role, mostly after it’s revealed he’s actually a cipher admin.

...His eevee and espeon are missing.

time travel shenanigans idk

it rains at the climax for the first time in 10 years!

this is a wip

if this is interesting to you guys lmk! im always open to talking about it more in-depth or hearing ideas. hahah...

[dfroza]

the True nature of the Scriptures are a conversation

of words inspired by the Spirit speaking to the heart to reveal our Creator and the Source of grace.

A point made in Today’s chapter of the New Testament from the ancient book of Acts when Paul was in Athens:

[Athens]

The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols.

He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: “What an airhead!” But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: “That’s a new slant on the gods. Tell us more.”

These people got together and asked him to make a public presentation over at the Areopagus, where things were a little quieter. They said, “This is a new one on us. We’ve never heard anything quite like it. Where did you come up with this anyway? Explain it so we can understand.” Downtown Athens was a great place for gossip. There were always people hanging around, natives and tourists alike, waiting for the latest tidbit on most anything.

So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?

“God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

At the phrase “raising him from the dead,” the listeners split: Some laughed at him and walked off making jokes; others said, “Let’s do this again. We want to hear more.” But that was it for the day, and Paul left. There were still others, it turned out, who were convinced then and there, and stuck with Paul—among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.

The Book of Acts, Chapter 17:16-34 (The Message)

to be accompanied by its paired chapter in the book of Job when God directly addressed him:

God Confronts Job

[Have You Gotten to the Bottom of Things?]

“Why do you confuse the issue?

Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?

Pull yourself together, Job!

Up on your feet! Stand tall!

I have some questions for you,

and I want some straight answers.

Where were you when I created the earth?

Tell me, since you know so much!

Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!

Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?

How was its foundation poured,

and who set the cornerstone,

While the morning stars sang in chorus

and all the angels shouted praise?

And who took charge of the ocean

when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?

That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,

and tucked it in safely at night.

Then I made a playpen for it,

a strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,

And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.

Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’

“And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!’

told Dawn, ‘Get to work!’

So you could seize Earth like a blanket

and shake out the wicked like cockroaches?

As the sun brings everything to light,

brings out all the colors and shapes,

The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked—

they’re caught in the very act!

“Have you ever gotten to the true bottom of things,

explored the labyrinthine caves of deep ocean?

Do you know the first thing about death?

Do you have one clue regarding death’s dark mysteries?

And do you have any idea how large this earth is?

Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer.

“Do you know where Light comes from

and where Darkness lives

So you can take them by the hand

and lead them home when they get lost?

Why, of course you know that.

You’ve known them all your life,

grown up in the same neighborhood with them!

“Have you ever traveled to where snow is made,

seen the vault where hail is stockpiled,

The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness

for times of trouble and battle and war?

Can you find your way to where lightning is launched,

or to the place from which the wind blows?

Who do you suppose carves canyons

for the downpours of rain, and charts

the route of thunderstorms

That bring water to unvisited fields,

deserts no one ever lays eyes on,

Drenching the useless wastelands

so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass?

And who do you think is the father of rain and dew,

the mother of ice and frost?

You don’t for a minute imagine

these marvels of weather just happen, do you?

“Can you catch the eye of the beautiful Pleiades sisters,

or distract Orion from his hunt?

Can you get Venus to look your way,

or get the Great Bear and her cubs to come out and play?

Do you know the first thing about the sky’s constellations

and how they affect things on Earth?

“Can you get the attention of the clouds,

and commission a shower of rain?

Can you take charge of the lightning bolts

and have them report to you for orders?

[What Do You Have to Say for Yourself?]

“Who do you think gave weather-wisdom to the ibis,

and storm-savvy to the rooster?

Does anyone know enough to number all the clouds

or tip over the rain barrels of heaven

When the earth is cracked and dry,

the ground baked hard as a brick?

“Can you teach the lioness to stalk her prey

and satisfy the appetite of her cubs

As they crouch in their den,

waiting hungrily in their cave?

And who sets out food for the ravens

when their young cry to God,

fluttering about because they have no food?”

The Book of Job, Chapter 38 (The Message)

and a few lines from Psalm 40 for the 40th day of Spring:

[A David Psalm]

I waited and waited and waited for God.

At last he looked; finally he listened.

He lifted me out of the ditch,

pulled me from deep mud.

He stood me up on a solid rock

to make sure I wouldn’t slip.

He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,

a praise-song to our God.

More and more people are seeing this:

they enter the mystery,

abandoning themselves to God.

Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,

turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”

ignore what the world worships;

The world’s a huge stockpile

of God-wonders and God-thoughts.

Nothing and no one

comes close to you!

I start talking about you, telling what I know,

and quickly run out of words.

Neither numbers nor words

account for you.

Doing something for you, bringing something to you—

that’s not what you’re after.

Being religious, acting pious—

that’s not what you’re asking for.

You’ve opened my ears

so I can listen.

So I answered, “I’m coming.

I read in your letter what you wrote about me,

And I’m coming to the party

you’re throwing for me.”

That’s when God’s Word entered my life,

became part of my very being.

I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,

I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.

I didn’t keep the news of your ways

a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.

I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.

I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth

For myself alone. I told it all,

let the congregation know the whole story.

The Book of Psalms, Song 40:1-10 (The Message)

my reading from the Scriptures for Sunday, April 28, day 40 of Spring and day 118 of the year

[williamemcknight]

The National Trust outlines ambition to help restore UK’s natural heritage

The National Trust have recently outlined ambitious plans to help reverse the decline in wildlife on all land in its ownership – including an aim to create 25,000 hectares of new habitats by 2025.

As one of the country’s largest landowners, the Trust wants to play its part in addressing the dramatic slump in UK species and improve soil quality and water quality in the countryside. An in-depth study last year found 56% of species were in decline. (*see footnote)

The conservation charity, which was set up to protect places of natural beauty,  hopes to create and restore “Priority Habitats”, areas identified by the government as threatened and in need of conservation support, on 10% of its land.

Farming will remain vital to the Trust’s approach to countryside management and the charity will work in partnership with tenant farmers to see how they can help deliver nature-rich, productive, fertile landscapes which are good for wildlife and good for farming. Supporting sustainable farming will be crucial for the plans to succeed.

Many of the Trust’s 1500 farm tenants are already farming in a way which benefits wildlife. The charity said that it wanted to discuss, listen and learn from them and other groups as it explores how nature-friendly measures could be introduced or enhanced across all of its farmed land.

The aim is that at least 50% of farmland will be ‘nature-friendly’ by 2025, with protected hedgerows, field margins, ponds, woodland and other habitats allowing plants and animals to thrive.

The Government, tenant farmers and conservation charities have all welcomed the Trust’s approach.

Peter Nixon, director of land, landscape and nature at the National Trust, said: “Our charity was founded to protect our natural as well as cultural heritage and we believe we should be playing an active role in reviving nature – by doing what we can on our own land.

“Nature has been squeezed out to the margins for far too long. We want to help bring it back to the heart of our countryside. Despite the battering it’s taken over many decades, nature has an incredible ability to rejuvenate and revive if given the conditions to thrive.

“Birds such as the lapwing, cuckoo, and curlew are part of the fabric of our rural heritage. But they’ve disappeared from many parts of the countryside. We want to see them return to the fields, woods and meadows again, along with other wildlife which was once common and is now rare.”

The Trust will look to implement the “better, bigger, more and joined up” approach to nature called for in a Government commissioned review by Sir John Lawton.

Planting more hedgerows, which act as ‘wildlife corridors’ for birds and bats, establishing more lowland meadows and creating wetlands where appropriate could all help establish new habitats and will be considered in partnership with tenant farmers and other stakeholders.

The Trust’s approach could also involve:

Better: Adapting drainage systems, removing invasive non-native species, re-naturalising rivers and adapting farming practices to help improve the condition of habitats.

Bigger and More: Enlarging existing small areas of habitat, to make them more resilient. Sometimes this will mean more of the same, allowing a habitat to spread out. At other times it will be best to create a complementary habitat.

Joined up: Seeking ways to improve landscapes so that wildlife can move through them and make use of all the area rather than just the patches of habitat.

The Trust has outlined plans to help support farmers post-Brexit, when £2.6billion of EU subsidies for the industry will end (**footnote), and the charity said tenant farmers would continue to be essential partners in helping to restore the health of the natural environment.

Peter Nixon said: “The future of farming and the environment are inextricably linked – they are reliant on the other to succeed. So, it’s not a case of supporting one at the expense of the other. We want both to thrive.

“We need the support of our farmers and want to help them in their businesses and combine our skills and expertise to deliver a healthier, more beautiful environment. That’s why we will work with them and explore how we make improvements together.”

The Trust’s new commitments could play an important role in helping deliver the Government’s own ambitions to improve the natural environment.

Plans to make space for nature are expected to help meet 12.5 % of Defra’s overall national target to create 200,000 hectares of new Priority Habitats by 2020.

SUPPORTING QUOTES:

Environment secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “The National Trust has always been synonymous with our beautiful countryside, and I welcome plans to create thousands of hectares of new habitat for some of our most important species.

“It is my ambition that we become the first generation to leave the natural environment in a better state than we found it, and we can only do this by working closely with farmers and land owners – growing hedgerows, restoring earth banks and creating wetlands.

“I’m really pleased nature will be prioritised across the Trust’s farmland, supporting even more of our plants and wildlife and helping deliver our target to create 200,000 hectares of priority habitat by 2020.”

George Dunn, chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association, said: “I commend the National Trust for its determination to work positively with its tenant farmers to achieve greater nature conservation objectives from its land. Accepting that it has much to learn from working in partnership with its tenants who are already farming to high environmental standards, the National Trust must now put in place the practical arrangements to deliver this.  Farm tenants will be heartened by the National Trust’s clearly expressed position that good environmental management in the countryside cannot be divorced from the achievement of productive and sustainable farming.”

Marian Spain, CEO of Plantlife, said:  “Half of our Important Plant Areas – botanical hotspots of international importance – includes land belonging to the National Trust. This ambitious new commitment from the Trust is exactly the approach these areas need. As part of our expert partnership, Plantlife is already working with the Trust on how to manage their land for threatened plants like cornfield flowers and oakwood lichens, how to create wildflower meadows, and even purchasing a flock of over 400 sheep for the National Trust shepherd on the Great Orme. It is a bold commitment by one of our largest landowners and we are excited about extending the breadth and scale of our partnership.”

FOOTNOTE

*Over the last 50 years, 56% of species in the UK have declined, while 15% are at risk of disappearing altogether, according to the State of Nature 2016 report by more than 50 leading wildlife charities and research organisations.

** Last summer, the Trust, which has over 1,500 farm tenants across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, called for the current ‘broken’ model for funding farming to be radically reformed after Brexit, with farmers receiving taxpayers’ money for improving the environment and helping wildlife – rather than being paid simply for owning land. The charity has said its long-term ambition of helping to reverse the alarming decline in nature would only succeed by working, listening and developing plans in partnership with farmers.

[biofunmy]

Seeing What the Fighting Is All About on Alaska’s Coastal Plain

Up in the right-hand corner of Alaska, like something freezer-burned and half-remembered in the back of the national icebox, lies a place called the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is the largest wildlife sanctuary in the United States. It is the size of South Carolina. It is also home to the country’s second-largest wilderness area. It has no roads, no marked trails, no developed campgrounds. The Coastal Plain, the narrow strip where the refuge meets the sea, is home to more diversity of life than almost anywhere else in the Arctic. It is the kind of place where you can pull back the tent flap with a mug of coffee in hand, as I did one morning in June, and watch a thousand caribou trot past.

The animals came slowly at first, by twos and by threes, and tentatively, lifting their black noses to catch the strange scent of 10 unbathed campers. Then they tacked across the river. Near the front was a bull with a rack big enough to place-kick a football through its uprights. Mostly they were females in dun coats, serious mothers leading coltish calves that slid and played on the snowfields that still collared the tundra’s low places. Ungainly in looks, but a natural for work — each hoof a snowshoe, with hollow fur for warmth and to buoy them across gelid Arctic rivers. The calves had been born three or four days ago. Already they could walk farther in a day than a human.

The few caribou became dozens. They materialized by the hundred out of the heat-shimmer that rose off the tundra, like those lawmen bringing hot justice in old Sergio Leone films. Confident in their numbers, they surged past the encampment, urged by some twitch in the marrow to keep pushing toward the coast where ocean breezes would scatter the mosquitoes and bot flies that soon would torment them. We watched for a long time, not wanting to move and disturb anything.

“This,” someone whispered, “is sacred.”

In late 2017, a Congress controlled by Republicans badly wanted to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. To help win the crucial vote of Lisa Murkowski, the senior Republican senator from Alaska, the Senate added a sweetener, a provision that opened to oil drilling the refuge’s Coastal Plain, a roughly Delaware-size piece of ground where the Brooks Range reclines and the tundra tilts toward the Arctic Ocean like the baize of an old pool table.

Most of the country thinks that’s wrongheaded. Seventy percent of American voters oppose drilling on the refuge, a survey by Yale University’s Center on Climate Change Communication found at the time. They don’t want oil drilling where these calves had just been born, and where they now walked, and where wolf and bear and wolverine stalk them, and where threatened polar bears find respite in a melting world, and where more than 200 species of birds have been recorded, including many that brighten your day in the Lower 48, from the tundra swans that head to the Chesapeake, to the mallards that hunters stalk in Arkansas.

Fights such as the one over the refuge are, for most of us, abstractions — tussles over lines on a map of a place we will never see, and will never know. I was tired of this. I wanted to see this place. I wanted to see what we still have, and what we are willing to gamble, for money and for oil.

Getting on Arctic time

North of Fairbanks, the country seems to get bigger and the planes get smaller. Our four-seater arrows north, into the Brooks Range. The pilot finds a notch between mountains and sets us down on a cobbled bar beside water that’s the scuffed green of a dime-store gemstone: the Hulahula River. We transfer to a second plane, smaller still, that swoops down and deposits us downstream. We are 10, in all — a lawyer and his son, a retired teacher, retired doctors and avid birders, Libby and Victor — all here for nine days to float the river for about 90 miles on its course through the Coastal Plain, until, exhausted, the river empties itself into the Beaufort Sea.

But first, mountains. We set up camp in a great scoop of valley and wander, dazed at the sudden change of scenery after Fairbanks. The Brooks Range in summer disorients the newcomer: The rivers run north. The sun seems to rise there, too, after “setting” briefly behind the peaks each night. So far north, the mountains wear no trees at all, but instead are stripped bare, showing off the veinwork of their naked flanks. They are not so bare as they seem. What lives here grows low — lichen, moss campion in purple pillows and Arctic poppies whose dish-flowers track the sun.

The lead guide with the outfitter Arctic Wild, Andrew George, is 39 and from Dallas, but has more Alaska in him than most Alaskans born here. Each summer he runs a fish wheel on the Yukon River with his wife to cache and smoke salmon for winter, when he runs trap lines with his dog team. On his last job, he says, he was paid in gold.

At dinner Mr. George has a message for us. “We’re going to be on Arctic time,” he says. “We’ll eat when we’re hungry. Hike when we want to. Move when we got to move.”

Paddling north

By mid-June the Hulahula River, named by whalers after the Hawaiian dance, is not a deep river nor does it usually pose, for the experienced boater, exceptional challenges. But it is fast and its waters are a life-taking cold. The night before shoving off, the nervous and the curious among us pass around topographic maps of the week’s route, marked in esoteric shorthand with the accumulated wisdom of past guides.

“Class IV scout + portage if necessary run at high water”

“Big haystacks”

“Run Right”

“Tight + Rocky”

“Lots of Aufeis”

“Wolves?”

All we really need to know, though, is to paddle north. To the plain.

The next morning, Patrick Henderson — assistant guide, expert boater and a great chef — whips up Spam musubi, an Hawaiian snack of grilled Spam atop a neat brick of rice, wrapped in nori. We wrestle into drysuits. The guides cinch hard on the straps of life preservers. (“You can’t drown if you can’t breathe!”) We push off in a cold spitting rain, drifting over quick green water. Restive with its course, the river chews at its banks, sending clumps of wildflowers into the water.

Mr. Henderson rams our raft into the shore and motions for quiet. Two football fields distant stands a musk ox, chewing on grass. We pile out to snap photos. The ox turns. Stamps. Nothing says “get back in the boat” like a 600-pound bovid covering ground, fast.

We drift on. There are caribou tracks on the shore, and wolf tracks that follow the caribou tracks.

“What time is it?” somebody asks.

“The time is now,” Mr. George replies.

We drift and paddle and drift more. Faced with the unceasing light of an Arctic June, time loses shape. The tyranny of the alarm clock is replaced by a fainter pulse, usually lost to us nowadays: the rhythm of natural places. We eat later and later, and take meandering walks in the convalescent light of midnight.

One night after spaghetti, Mr. George suggests that, with the weather so fair, we break camp and paddle all night, out of the mountains and into the foothills. A few hours later, Dall sheep watch us splash through rapids from the grandstand of canyon walls. A moose startles. The sun drops behind those walls. The world, and lips, turn a shivery blue. Finally, the mountains release the river. The sun splashes us with caramel light and reviving warmth. “Morning is a place around here,” one of the guides says. We pull to shore at Old Man Creek, where the guides cook breakfast hash and we collapse on shore, only waking when the afternoon sun heats the tent.

‘Welcome to the Arctic Plain’

On the seventh morning the last foothills bow out. The land becomes as flat as a tabletop. The final rapid throws a slap of 45-degree water to the cheek. Call it a baptism. “Welcome to the Arctic Plain,” Mr. George says, standing in the stern of our raft like a Mississippi boatman.

So this is what all the fighting is about.

For almost a half-century, the stretch of land between mountains and sea here has been a sanctuary with an asterisk. In 1980, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which greatly expanded the original wildlife range; designated most of it as wilderness, off-limits to development; and renamed the whole place the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Congress did not include the 1.57-million-acre Coastal Plain, but directed in Section 1002 that the area continue to be studied. For nearly 50 years a battle has been waged between those who think drilling in the so-called 1002 Area is Alaska’s birthright and can be done well — the oil industry, many of Alaska’s politicians, the native corporations that would see needed funds from drilling — and those who say the place is too valuable for other reasons, and also too wild, to drill.

No one knows how much oil is under this ground. Only one exploratory well was drilled, decades ago, its results a secret. An investigation by The Times found those results disappointing. The federal government’s last estimate was that a mean 7.7 billion barrels of feasibly recoverable oil may lie under the 1002 Area, or the amount of petroleum the United States uses in one year. But opening up the area might also eventually open Native Alaskan areas for drilling, and make adjacent state lands more profitable to drill, if new pipelines and other infrastructure are built.

The 2017 tax law that opened the refuge to potential oil development requires a minimum of two lease sales in the refuge of at least 400,000 acres each. One must be held by the end of 2021, the second by 2024.

But a draft of the required environmental study released earlier this year by the Bureau of Land Management, the author and the agency that oversees drilling on public lands, contained mistakes in basic ecology and didn’t seriously look at climate change’s effect on permafrost. That’s according to nearly 60 pages of corrections and additions to the study that were proposed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that manages the refuge. The study even mentions a river that doesn’t exist, pointed out Michael Wald, a co-owner of Arctic Wild. Environmental groups have vowed to challenge the study, and any drilling approval.

Proponents have pitched drilling as a windfall to the United States Treasury — $1.8 billion, by an early White House estimate. But a Times analysis has found it may yield as little as $45 million over the next decade, or less than 3 percent of what’s been sold to the public.

What we do know is the area’s natural value. During the brief, frenetic Arctic summer, millions of waterfowl and shorebirds use the Coastal Plain here before dispersing to every state in the union, and almost every continent. Two dozen of them are birds of “management concern” by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Some are in even more trouble.

Even closer to the coast are polar bears, listed as “threatened’’ under the Endangered Species Act. The population of polar bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea has declined 40 percent in recent years, thanks largely to impacts related to its shrinking sea-ice habitat. Now these bears increasingly use the Coastal Plain, where females first raise their newborn cubs.

Steven Amstrup, who for three decades was head of the federal government’s polar bear research program and now is head of Polar Bears International, has urged against energy development here. So have the 200 Alaskan members of the Wildlife Society, a professional group of wildlife biologists and managers.

An unending circuit of caribou

And then there are the caribou. The previous day, from our camp on the boundary of the 1002 Area, we watched as hundreds fed on cottongrass and willow buds. We spent the day stalking them with cameras. They always edged farther away, as if they knew the limits of an amateur’s telephoto lens.

Few Americans probably realize that their nation possesses one of the world’s great migrations. Although there are variations, most years the 218,000 animals of the Porcupine herd of barren-ground caribou move in an unending circuit — from the south side of the Brooks Range; around the eastern and southern side of the mountains; then westward in late spring onto the Coastal Plain to drop their calves. They spend the summer fattening up on tundra plants. Then they reverse course. These caribou are the original commuters. A female will walk 2,700 miles in a year, on average.

The Coastal Plain has all of this — the birds, the bears, the caribou. It is still a place that can say its own name.

A week earlier, we had briefly landed at Arctic Village, a native Gwich’in village outside the refuge’s southern boundary. The Gwich’in are against drilling. The caribou forever have walked past Arctic Village on their circuit, and their meat has fed the Gwich’in, David Smith, the second chief, told me. Where the caribou are born — where the drilling might happen — his people do not even go, he said. “This is kind of where life begins,” he said. “It’s God’s place.”

An energy industry representative told me that oil and caribou can mix, that it has been done before with success elsewhere on the North Slope.

That’s misleading, countered Ken Whitten, who, for many years, was Alaska’s lead state biologist for the Porcupine herd. Yes, caribou inhabit some areas around Prudhoe Bay, where the pipeline begins. But studies around the oil fields have found that pregnant females will avoid development. As development increased, calving caribou were pushed southward where the food wasn’t as nutritious, resulting in the mothers having lower-weight calves.

These problems will likely be exacerbated in the refuge, said Mr. Whitten. A 2002 report by him and others predicted that extensive oil development would probably stop the growth of the herd, and perhaps worse. “We don’t think there’s any way you can have a large oil development on the 1002 and not have adverse effect on caribou.”

Another caribou expert told me that they simply don’t know for certain what will happen when pipelines and drill pads are introduced into a valuable habitat. While some caribou will walk miles to avoid a road, said Lincoln Parrett, regional research coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, others have noted that caribou in some places do acclimate to low-density development.

Treeless, flat and far from desolate

Caribou line the shore as our rafts drift onto the plain. They lift their snouts and hunt the air for a memory that tells them whether to run. But they do not run, at first. And we drift close, staring at one another across a moat of ice water.

The sun rides its circuit above camp. The days heat up. June will be the second-warmest June on record in Alaska. In our bags, the chocolate is melting.

Over the next several days we camp and float and camp again, occasionally taking long walks across the lumpy mattress of the tundra.

The Coastal Plain confounds a first-time visitor. It is too big. It is too treeless, too flat. The pancakes at breakfast had more relief. Trying to make sense of things, I head out with Libby and Victor, expert birders. Cast your eyes downward, their actions say. Where there are no trees, the ground is full of life. Scoops in the dirt are a sign that a grizzly bear has rooted out a ground squirrel. A twitch among the tussocks is a buff-breasted sandpiper, flown in from winter vacation in Uruguay.

“There’s a Baird’s!” Libby says, pointing out a Baird’s sandpiper. “That’s the one that winters in the high Andes, after raising its babies here.” It has made a nest for four speckled eggs on a gravel shore of the river. We wonder at the tenacity of having come so far to place such a fragile bet.

“The Arctic Plain is really nothing,” Don Young, Alaska’s representative, said during a 2011 Congressional hearing on the refuge. “It is not the heart. It is the most desolate part of the area.”

‘Desolate!” we say each time a snowy owl lifts off in search of a lemming.

“Nothing here!” we call out to one another as the next herd of caribou shimmers into view. We know better than to chase them, now. And we wait, patiently, for their arrival.

The sun is high. My watch is dead. It is exactly the time it is supposed to be.

Christopher Solomon, a 2019 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow, was the 2018 Lowell Thomas Travel Writer of the Year.

52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Follow our 52 Places traveler, Sebastian Modak, on Instagram as he travels the world, and discover more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you’ll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.

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[mado-science]

... of the Michigan field guides by Stan Tekiela are excellent! This is the first guide I go to ... All of the Michigan field guides by Stan Tekiela are excellent! This is the first guide I go to when trying to identify wildflowers. My favorite feature that really sold me on these are the clear pictures. They always seem to show just the right amount of detail. I also appreciate that the range within Michigan is listed. For each flower type there is a section called, "Stan's Notes" that includes various interesting tidbits or further details to aid identification. The "origin" of each flower is helpful for those wanting to plant wildflowers in their garden but prefer to only plant native species. It's nice having a guide specifically for Michigan so I don't have to wade through flowers from other states when I go to identify a wildflower. The size of the book is another plus as it can fit nicely in a backpack or glove compartment. This one is thicker than some of the other ones by Tekiela, but not so much to make it cumbersome. Go to Amazon

Compact, Useful Guide I found this book immediately useful. It helped me identify several "mystery" flowers in my wooded yard. (I am a new resident of Michigan.) The flowers are arranged by color for quick ID. The text also explains whether it is a native wild flower, a naturalized plant from elsewhere, etc. Go to Amazon

Good starting place for amateurs I love this book! Admittedly, I'm an amateur with identifying wildflowers -- I know my basic dandelions, daisies, and lady slippers, but not much more. This book groups flowers into basic colors, with a little color code at the top of each page, from blue, green, yellow, white, red, purple, etc. For example, to identify your basic white flower -- turn to the pages marked with the color white at the top right hand corner. The flowers are then in order -- smallest to largest of the white flowers. Each left side of the page has a full-page photo of the flower. Each right page has a description of the flower, including family, height, flower & leaf, when it blooms, cycle/orgin, habitat, range, and "Stan's Notes" which add stories or tidbits, such as if a plant is popular for certain butterflies, or legends as to how the flower got its name. At the bottom of each page is a little box, with Flower Type (regular, tube, bell, etc), Cluster Type (round, flat, etc), Leaf Type (simple, simple lobed, compound, etc), Leaf Attachment (Alternate, Basal, Whorl, etc), Fruit (Pod, Berry, etc). Go to Amazon

Great Michigan field guide Tekiela puts out the easiest to use, most beautiful, Michigan field guides. I have been very impressed with his work. These are great for those of us who refuse to take out our phones to identify things during a hike. Go to Amazon

Wildflowers of Michigan Feild Guide I purchased this book as a quick way to identify wildflowers around our property. The book gives you a full page (pocket sized) of each flower, and is organized nicely by color, which is helpful. However, though most of the pictures are clear and focused on the flower itself, the leaves and stems in the picture are out of focus, making it impossible to use this book for a more concrete identification, unless you are already familiar with the flower (in which case you would not need the book). Go to Amazon

Wildflowers of Michigan book The books of Wildflowers of Michigan is a nice, quick reference field guide for quickly identifying the items in question. Our entire family is enthralled with their large pictures and descriptive summaries! Go to Amazon

stop and smell the flowers This is the best book ever on wild flowers. Its not quit pocket size but it does fit easily in a small pak. We love our Michigan vacations and are always wanting to know what plants are what, even poison. It is a field guide so pictures are limited but do show the picture of the flower clearly. It has also helped us grow native, nothing better then a Michigan garden. Go to Amazon

Five Stars Very Informative! Go to Amazon

Four Stars Great book I was able to learn about the plants ... Five Stars Nice field guide Fantastic. Includes flowers by color Is good Too Small Perfect handbook!! Five Stars

[trendingnewsdotstream-blog]

Voxgro: Why Tech Companies need gardens

Question: When is a garden not just a garden?

Answer: When it is also a place where over 1500 employees can meet, converse, learn, meditate, grow fruit and vegetables, explore creative arts, and set up businesses.

Voxpro has seven Centres of Excellence in four different countries; the company Headquarters are in Cork, Ireland. ‘Campus 1’ sits on a four acre green field site that, until two years ago, was just a four acre green field site. But then someone had an idea. As part of an entry to the company Innovation Programme, a Voxpro technical support specialist named David Humber suggested that part of the site be opened up to staff who would like to grow their own fruit and veg. And it was approved.

David’s idea became the ‘Voxgro’ project. In just two years it has grown to include a bio-dome, gardens, a disco ball pizza oven, an outdoor bar, and a family of chickens, all overseen by a full time horticulturalist and volunteers. But far more than just being an outdoor space, it has become a channel through which the Voxpro community can pursue and develop individual creative and entrepreneurial ideas.

Here is the story of Voxgro, in the words of some of the people closest to the project.

David Humber — The Man with the Vision

The Voxgro Project first started in 2015 when Voxpro launched its Innovation Program. The Program enables employees to submit any idea to Voxpro’s leadership team for adoption by the company.

My original idea was to speak to the local authorities to see if we could use the spare bit of land next to Voxpro’s HQ in Cork, Ireland, for employee’s to grow fruit and vegetables. I’d always had an interest in food, horticulture, and the environment and it seemed like a very good/fun thing to do.

It was decided it would be best to first test the idea at an existing allotment close by. So during 2015 a number of volunteers and I transformed an allotment near Cork airport and grew loads of veg. It was a steep learning curve as none of us had ever done this before and there were some failures, but we all really enjoyed it.

A few months later, due to the interest in the allotment, it was decided to move the project to the land at Voxpro HQ. So we got together with some great builders and came up with a really funky garden to mirror the transformation which was taking place inside the offices at the time.

Following discussions with all parties, Voxpro engaged the services of a team of external professionals to advise and work on the project to bring it to its current stage of development. The result was a really funky garden to mirror the transformation which was taking place inside the offices at the time. This external team was headed up by Paul O’Flynn — Landscape Designer/Project Consultant, Tim Farley and Jack Thorne — Bespoke Structures who are responsible for our Geodome and all the nice paving. Hendrik Lapel — Bakehus responsible for the Pleasure Dome and unique disco-ball Pizza Oven.

By the end of the first phase, we had a huge Geodesic Dome greenhouse, vegetable beds, herb pyramid, chickens, outdoor amphitheater/cinema, plus a one of a kind ‘disco-ball’ pizza oven with attached bar… We even teamed up with a local cork brewery (The Rising Sons) to produce our very own Voxpronanian beer.

In May 2017 Voxpro hired a full-time Horticulturist called Kitty Scully to help expand the project. This is kind of a big deal as we believe it’s the first such hiring by a tech company in Ireland, showing Voxpro’s commitment to education, health, sustainability and the environment.

Since the project first started in 2015, there have been a lot more Innovation projects by other employees, all really feeding into one another. There’s Voxdetox: a juicing operation at our HQ’s restaurant, that aims to have all the produce coming from the onsite gardens; there are also cycle schemes and even plans for electric car charging points.

Voxpro also has an ambitious vision to completely transform the onsite Gyms, Restaurants and Outdoor Dining Venues too. All this combined really does have the potential to make something much greater than the sum of its parts.

I’ve really enjoyed my time here. When most companies say that they have glass walls, open doors, it’s usually just buzzwords. At Voxpro you’re encouraged to ‘DREAM BIGGER’ and given a level of freedom you just won’t find at other companies.

It’s really inspiring stuff and clearly paying off. When I started in Voxpro it was just a small section of rented floor space on what is now the 1st floor of Voxpro’s HQ. Just four years on, there are offices all over the world, an ever-expanding client list that works on the cutting-edge of the latest technologies, and the countless opportunities for Voxpro’s employees that go with that.

Hopefully, other companies will take a leaf out of Voxpro’s book. I think it’s what’s needed to make the really inspiring changes that we’re all hoping and, perhaps, need to see.

Kitty Scully — Voxgro Horticulturalist

Before joining Voxpro, I was Head Kitchen Gardener in the beautiful surrounds of Airfield Estate: a 38-acre working farm open to the public in Dublin, Ireland. It was such a wonderful place to work, a total gift of nature in the middle of Ireland’s capital city.

I came across the job spec for the position of Voxgro horticulturist in late January 2017 — it looked fun, challenging and cutting-edge, and I had the required skill set (plumbing and chameleon-keeping aside!). Also, having grown very concerned with how rapidly we are losing green spaces in our planet’s urban areas, I was really impressed that Voxpro were even considering a ‘Grow’ project, particularly one in an industrial area. Having said all that, I was also very happy in my role in Airfield so I had to give a huge amount of thought to leaving.

Ironically, what ultimately made me decide to join Voxpro was one of Airfield’s tag-lines: ‘A Gift of Nature’. Airfield’s original owner, hundreds of years ago, had had the innovative vision of establishing beautiful woodlands and gardens as a gift of nature to future generations. Joining Voxpro would give me the opportunity to be part of a similar vision at a start-up stage, and to lead a team dedicated to creating another gift of nature for posterity. Airfield is a gift, I wanted to create a gift.

I was also really excited to work with an innovative technology company such as Voxpro, and one that employs over two thousand Millennials from around the world. The fact that it was a Cork company and Irish success story made it even more enticing. Gardening, food and farming are generally the passions of an older generation so the thoughts of being part of a project conceived by and aimed at engaging a younger generation had big appeal. Greenfield sites also excite and challenge me.

My Vision: To Create A quirky Oasis of Productivity and Beauty

The project had enjoyed a really great first year when I joined. The garden infrastructure was in place and the vision for what the 3.5-acre green field site could become was evolving rapidly. My brief was not specific, but it was very clear that Voxpro wanted their gardens to expand and to be unique, quirky, beyond beautiful, engaging, and altogether representative of the company’s innovative ethos.

At the core of Voxpro, human connection and multiculturalism are both valued and celebrated. This aligns with my own personal philosophies. My vision is to create quirky, unique and beyond beautiful earth-based experiences that will enhance the lives of individuals and communities around the world. Voxgro will be a place to nourish nature, body and soul. The garden and dome are already epicentres for conversation, fun, food, learning, sharing, education, meetings, meditation, cultural exchange, relaxation, innovation and more. It can only get better.

The best is yet to come

The site will be transformed into a hive of healthy productivity where humans feel refreshed, connected and inspired by land and nature.

A diverse community of structures, trees, fruit, vines, vegetables, herbs, cereals, flowers, bees and farm animals will intermingle.

Native habitats, wildflower meadows, foraging forests, garden structures, art and zen spaces for yoga and mindfulness will also feature.

Education, events, markets and urban farm consultancy to promote sustainable food and pleasure production systems will contribute to the economic and ecological viability of Voxgro.

Commercial profitability will be achieved by growing high-value crops under protective cropping and using every inch of space including rooftops.

Mighty Oaks from little Acorns grow and I feel our Voxgro seeds first sown in Cork will germinate, grow, flourish, inspire and yield similar ‘Beyond Beautiful’ productive projects and experiences for people and places around the planet, changing the world we live in.

Karolyn Feely — The Voxdetox Story

Being a person who has always had a passion for health and well-being, I quickly realized the importance of have access to healthy food at the workplace. As one spends so many hours at work I felt the need to try and bring some healthy ideas and options to the Voxpro Offices.

As the VoxGro dome started to blossom with ripe fruits, vegetables and herbs it inspired me to come up with an idea for how these could be used to their maximum potential. And that’s when the idea of the juice bar originated. What better way than to use these fruits and veg than in their raw uncooked form.

I initially submitted the idea to the innovation team, writing up a project plan and business case. After a few meetings, I was given the go ahead to set this project up on a pilot phase. I started with a trial and testing session by creating four juice recipe ideas which I named them according to the Voxpro core values.

I set up samples for people to taste, printed out flyers and posters and had a feedback form available for people to fill out. I was blown away by the reaction, feedback, emails, messages that I received after this. It was then I realized how much everyone was behind this project idea.

After the trial phase, the sales figures proved the viability of the project. We set up the juicer bar with abundant fruits and veg as I realized that it was more pleasing for people to pick and choose as they wanted. It was surreal to see the sales figures soaring as the weeks went by. The positive feedback was rolling in and the juice bar became a huge success. We quickly needed to buy a second juicer to cope with its popular demand.

The next phase now involves introducing items from the dome in the juice bar so we can begin the ‘Voxdetox cycle’. Presently we have fresh mint and basil at the bar each morning. This is moving into the next phase of growing wheatgrass and introducing a second type of juicer ‘The wheat grass juicer’ to the bar.

Furthermore, this project has just been extended to Voxpro’s Dublin Centre of Excellence as part of the first pilot outside of the main Cork office. I have no doubt that this will be a success and hopefully the story will continue is Voxdetox expands throughout all of Voxpro’s Centres of Excellence around the globe.

Barbara Falke — Photographer extraordinaire

For me, the garden is the perfect place where I can combine both my passion for photography and gardening. I find it fascinating to watch plants growing from little seeds to their full potential. A garden can be also very rewarding and in my opinion, teaches you about living more consciously. In addition to this, it has a very relaxing and soothing effect which is great for people who are in the office for most of their time. I think that this project was an amazing idea and the feedback we’ve received so far from employees shows that it is a loved spot for slowing down from busy everyday life and to learn about gardening. We had a very successful last year with growing and harvesting different kinds of vegetables and are continuing this year with even more green attractions.

— — — — — — — — — — — — –

Question: When is a company not just a company?

Answer: When it is also an eco-system where people can be creative, entrepreneurial, innovative, and ultimately where they’re part of a community, not just a workforce.

The user and customer experience is more central to success now than at any other time. This is why so many tech companies focus so heavily on beautiful product design and intuitive interfaces. Achieving excellence in these areas means hiring creative people with digital skillsets. Similarly, games, animation and visual effects companies are dependent on hiring people with technical and creative skills in equal parts. Technology and creativity are becoming more intertwined every day.

So do tech companies really need gardens? Well, of course not. And for the majority, space doesn’t allow it. But they do need to be places that encourage and nurture creativity. Some of the world’s most successful tech companies provide the space and the practical tools for staff to be innovative and creative, and not just in a way that is directly relevant to their work.

In Voxpro’s case that space for innovation has so far led to a beautiful garden project, and a rapidly growing juicing business. But who knows where the next idea might lead? From Google’s ’20 percent time’ was born AdSense, which now accounts for about 25 percent of Google’s total revenue, Gmail, Google Transit and Google News.

Watch this space.

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[prevsapphism]

a long ass canon about margot and her plants! please like / reply if you read this and want to interact with her!

( or at least just the bolded info! )

margot has a. Peculiar gardening style. or, lack thereof a gardening style-- she doesnt do much Real Live Gardening in the way of ‘kneeling down and digging holes to plant stuff.’ keep reading the subpoints to this for elaboration.

her back garden has several old gardening plots and several old planters, the kind that r just pieces of wood in the ground to make a rectangle and filled in with potting soil aeons ago. those havent been used since she moved there. probably havent even been used ( much ) before then. theyre nearly uncontrollably overgrown by weeds and wild vegetation native to her area, but. you can tell the person that lived in margots house before her made a Half Assed Attempt at growing stuff. here is a loose example.

margots back garden is weakly constrained by a crumbling fence. past that fence is a BIG ASS fieldy-meadow area, with a worn path towards the end leading to. im not sure where yet. probably faerieland or a park or something. that space is wild vegetation, herbs and wildflowers completely. heres an example, heres another, heres the path.

if margot isnt at home, in her shed, in her sunroom or in her yard, shes there. sometimes keats and shelley are in tow for some Running In A Huge Space With Nothing In The Way / Unabridged Fetch time. sometimes margot is there by herself, brooding, interacting w faeries, gathering plants she doesnt have in her back garden, or all of the above. either way, its a good spot to find her if you need her.

anyway. contrary to popular belief, margot doesnt actually do much Conventional Gardening, because all the bending down and moving heavy stuff is hard on her hypermobility and aging body. she tends more towards potted plants instead.

her oldest living plants r howard, a pothos, and sam, a sempervivum. The Boys r at LEAST twenty years old -- shes had them since just after terrys junior year of highschool and Literally Inseparable -- if she moves them too far apart from one another, the other starts wilting.

she has a sequential watering schedule for all her plants: first the few round her bedroom, her bathroom and the kinda-sitting room on the highest lvls of her house, then the ones in the downstairs and basement bathrooms, then the ones round the sunroom, etc etc.

margot does have a garden, yea. but a better term wld b sporadic, littler gardens, in a few of the aforementioned older gardening spots. theyre mostly of things naturally occuring to the area that she maintains by pruning, occasional weeding etc. a lot of the plants native to the area also happen to b plants she needs for herbalism. she does occasionally introduce different plants she wants to study or cross-breed or for green witchcraft and whatnot, but only if shes sure that the plants already there wont snuff them out by taking up water, sunlight or garden space.

POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS POISONOUS PLANTS. I Cannot Stress This Enough. margot is Inundated w toxic plants. margot knows a lot of plants well, but she knows plants that can kill you the best. thats her bread and butter. botanical toxicology is her strong suit x 50. the plants she chooses to grow r usually poisonous ; albeit in her shed because her pets arent allowed in there. the other halves r medicines.

she can id most toxic wild plants and herbs on sight from studying them as much as she does, and can id houseplants that way just from seeing them all the time. its like toxic wild plants > herbs > houseplants in order of memory freshness.

she definitely has this decal on her macbook.

margot has like 700 field notebooks full of plants. she fills notebooks almost as fast as molly-elizabeth or igraine.

she talks to her plants when she thinks ppl arent looking. about anything and everything. things shes read, about their wellbeing, everything.

margot also hangs bundles of dried / drying plants from the ceilings in diff areas of her house for different reasons. for example, there r some hanging from the pot rack in her kitchen to keep bad spirits out and to purify. in her home office-y room, theres bundles of bay, eyebright and lily-of-the valley to promote mental power, etc etc.

i cant decide if margot has a greenhouse yet, but she definitely has a Plant Room where she keeps the ones that need Special Attention, like babies, cuttings to b propogated, air plants or finicky waterers. think of like a Sugar Free icu but for plants. theres a near-constant humidity spell going in there and about fifteen to twenty plants there at any given time. margot will sometimes slip out on her lunch break to go check on her Needy Childs.

wordsworth likes to hide out in there too :^)

she also has a shed outside w plants in it but thats mostly for her to study. ill talk about that in another post.

[shtfandgo]

New Post has been published on SHTFandGO Survival and Emergency Supplier

New Post has been published on https://www.shtfandgo.com/2017/01/06/edible-weeds-herbal-medicine-chest-in-your-backyard/

Edible Weeds: Herbal Medicine Chest in Your Backyard

Don’t kill, spray, tear up, or destroy the weeds in your garden, yard, and fence rows. Many of them are actually highly-regarded, widely-used, and extremely-valuable medicinal herbs! What could be easier than growing an herbal medicine garden with no effort? Of course, you’ll have to harvest your edible weeds, but you would do that anyhow: it’s called weeding.

Spring is an especially fertile time for harvesting your edible weeds – roots and all – and turning them into medicines. Here then are some tips on how to find, harvest, prepare, and use a baker’s dozen (13) of common edible weeds that probably already grow around you.

To make your medicines you’ll need glass jars of various sizes with tight-fitting lids. And at least a pint each of apple cider vinegar (pasteurized), vodka (100 proof is best, but 80 proof will do), and pure olive oil (not extra virgin) or good quality animal fat such as lanolin, lard, or belly fat from a lamb or kid. You will also want a knife, a cutting board, and some rags to mop up spills.

In general, you will fill a jar (of any size) with coarsely-chopped fresh, but dry, plant material. (Do not wash any part of the plant except roots, if you are using them, and be sure to dry those well with a towel before putting them in your jar.) Then you will fill the jar with your menstruum, that is, the vinegar, the oil, or the alcohol. Label well and allow to stand at room temperature, out of the sunlight for at least six weeks before decanting and using.

A field guide is helpful for positively identifying your weeds. The one I like best is: A Guide to the Identification of New Zealand Common Weeds in Colour, complied by E. A. Upritchard. (Available from the New Zealand Weed And Pest Control Society, P.O. Box 1654, Palmerston North) This book even shows you how the edible weeds look when they are emerging.

Ready? OK! Let’s go outside and see what we can find.

Shepards Purse

Shepherds’s purse (Capsella bursa pastoris) is an annual in the mustard family. Cut the top half of the plant when it has formed its little heart-shaped “purses” (seed pods) and make a tincture (with alcohol), which you can use to stop bleeding. Midwives and women who bleed heavily during their period praise its prompt effectiveness. Gypsies claim it works on the stomach and lungs as well. A dose is 1 dropperful (1ml); which may be repeated up to four times a day.

Gallium Aparine

  Cleavers (Gallium aparine) is a persistent, sticky plant which grows profusely in abandoned lots and the edges of cultivated land. The entire plant is used to strengthen lymphatic activity. I cut the top two-thirds of each plant while it is in flower (or setting seeds) and use alcohol to make a tincture which relieves tender, swollen breasts, PMS symptoms, and allergic reactions. A dose is 15-25 drops (.5 – 1 ml); repeated as needed.

Chickweed

Chickweed (Stellaria media) this edible weed has many uses, including delicious salad greens. I cut the entire top of the plant and eat it or use alcohol to make a tincture, which dissolves cysts, tonifies the thyroid, and aids in weight loss. A dose is a dropperful (1 ml), up to three times a day.

  Daisy

Daisy (Bellis perennis) is a common perennial edible weed of lawns and open areas. Quite different from the native daisy (Lagenifera petiolata), the little English daisy is related to feverfew and has similar abilities. I use the leaves and flowers to make a tincture (with alcohol) or a medicinal vinegar which relieves headaches, muscle pain, and allergy symptoms. A dose is a dropperful of the tincture (1 ml), up to twice a day; or a tablespoon of the vinegar in the morning.

  Dandelion

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) is a persistent perennial of lawns and gardens and one of the best known medicinal herbs and edible weeds in the world. (The native dandelion of New Zealand – Taraxacum magellanicum – is medicinal too.) Those who love a pure green lawn curse the sunny yellow flowers of common dandelion. But those who are willing to see beauty anywhere (such as children and herbalists) treasure this edible weed. You can use any part of the dandelion – the root, the leaves, the flowers, even the flower stalk – to make a tincture or medicinal vinegar which strengthens the liver. A dose of 10-20 drops of the tincture (.5-1 ml) relieves gas, heartburn, and indigestion, as well as promoting healthy bowel movements. A tablespoon of the vinegar works well, too. More importantly, taken before meals, dandelion increases the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, thus increasing bio-availability of many nutrients, especially calcium. The fresh or cooked green leaves are loaded with carotenes, those anti-cancer, anti-heart disease helpers. And the oil of the flowers is an important massage balm for maintaining healthy breasts.

  Dock

Dock, also called yellow dock, curly dock, and broad dock is a perennial plant, which my Native American grandmothers use for “all women’s problems.” The Maori call it paewhenua or runa. It is another plant that disagrees with sheep, especially when the land is overgrazed. I dig the yellow roots of Rumex crispus or R. obtusifolius and tincture them in alcohol to use as an ally when the immune system or the liver needs help. A dose is 15-25 drops (.5-1 ml). I also harvest the leaves and/or seeds throughout the growing season and make a medicinal vinegar, taken a tablespoon at a time, which is used to increase blood-levels of iron, reduce menstrual flooding and cramping, and balance hormone levels. If the chopped roots are soaked in oil for six weeks, the resulting ointment is beneficial for keeping the breasts healthy.

  Groundsel

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) and Ragwort (Senecio jacobea) are hardy perennials that have a reputation for poisoning livestock, like their cousin tansy. Although not good for sheep, these two Senecios are some of the world’s most ancient healing plants, having been found in a grave 60,000 years old. You can use the flowering tops and leaves with your alcohol to make a tincture which acts slowly to tonify the reproductive organs, ease PMS, and stop severe menstrual pain. A dose is 5-10 drops (.2-.5 ml) per day, used only once a day, but for at least 3 months. (A larger dose is used to speed up labor.)

  Mallows

Mallows (Malva neglecta, M. parviflora, M. sylvestres) grow well in neglected gardens and are surprisingly deep-rooted. The flowers, leaves, stalks, seeds, and roots are rich in sticky mucilage which is best extracted by soaking the fresh plant in cold water overnight or longer or by making a medicinal vinegar. The starch is extraordinarily soothing internally (easing sore throats, upset tummies, heart burn, irritable bowel, colic, constipation, and food poisoning) and externally (relieving bug bites, burns, sprains, and sore eyes). The leaves, flowers, and bark (especially) of the native Hohere (Hoheria populnea) are used in exactly the same way by Maori herbalists.

  Plantain

Plantain, also called ribwort, pig’s ear, or bandaid plant – and kopakopa or parerarera by the Maori – is a common edible weed of lawns, driveways, parks, and playgrounds. Identify it by the five parallel veins running the length of each leaf. You may find broad leaf plantain (Plantago major) with wide leaves, or narrow leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata) with lance-thin leaves. Either can be used to make a healing poultice or a soothing oil widely regarded as one of the best wound healers around. Not only does plantain increase the speed of healing, it also relieves pain, stops bleeding, draws out foreign matter, stops itching, prevents and stops allergic reactions from bee stings, kills bacteria, and reduces swelling.

Try a poultice or a generous application of plantain oil or ointment (made by thickening the oil with beeswax) on sprains, cuts, insect bites, rashes, chafed skin, boils, bruises, chapped and cracked lips, rough or sore hands, baby’s diaper area, and burns.

To make a fresh plantain poultice: Pick a leaf, chew it well and put it on the boo-boo. “Like magic” the pain, itching, and swelling disappear, fast! (Yes, you can dry plantain leaves and carry them in your first aid kit. Chew like you would fresh leaves.)

To make plantain ointment: Pick large fresh plantain leaves. Chop coarsely. Fill a clean, dry, glass jar with the chopped leaves. Pour pure olive oil into the leaves, poking about with a chopstick until the jar is completely full of oil and all air bubbles are released. Cap well. Place jar in a small bowl to collect any overflow. Wait six weeks. Then strain oil out of the plant material, squeezing well. Measure the oil. Heat it gently, adding one tablespoon of grated beeswax for every liquid ounce of oil. Pour into jars and allow to cool.

St. Johns Wort

St. Joan’s/John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) This beautiful perennial wildflower may be hated by sheep farmers but herbalists adore it. The flowering tops are harvested after they begin to bloom (traditionally on Solstice, June 21) and prepared with alcohol, and with oil, to make two of the most useful remedies in my first aid kit. Tincture of St. Joan’s wort not only lends one a sunny disposition, it reliably relieves muscle aches, is a powerful anti-viral, and is my first-choice treatment for those with shingles, sciatica, backpain, neuralgia, and headaches including migraines. The usual dose is 1 dropperful (1 ml) as frequently as needed. In extreme pain from a muscle spasm in my thigh, I used a dropperful every twenty minutes for two hours, or until the pain totally subsided. St. Joan’s wort oil stops cold sores in their tracks and can even relieve genital herpes symptoms. I use it as a sunscreen. Contrary to popular belief, St. Joan’s wort does not cause sun sensitivity, it prevents it. It even prevents burn from radiation therapy. Eases sore muscles, too.

Self heal

Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris) This scentless perennial mint is one of the great unsung healers of the world. The leaves and flowers contain more antioxidants – which prevent cancer and heart disease, among other healthy traits – than any other plant tested. And as part of the mint family, self heal is imbued with lots of minerals, especially calcium, making it an especially important ally for pregnant, nursing, menopausal, and post-menopausal women. I put self heal leaves in salads in the spring and fall, make a medicinal vinegar with the flowers during the summer, and cook the flowering tops (fresh or dried) in winter soups.

Old Man’s Beard

Usnea (Usnea barbata) is that many-stranded grey lichen hanging out of the branches of your apple trees or the Monterey pines planted in the plantation over there or in almost any native tree in areas of the South Island Alps, where it is known as angiangi to the Maori. If in doubt of your identification: Pull a strand gently apart with your hands, looking for a white fiber inside the fuzzy grey-green outer coat. To prepare usnea, harvest at any time of the year, being careful not to take too much. Usnea grows slowly. Put your harvest in a cooking pan and just cover it with cold water. Boil for about 15-25 minutes, or until the water is orange and reduced by at least half. Pour usnea and water into a jar, filling it to the top with plant material. (Water should be no more than half of the jar.) Add the highest proof alcohol you can buy. After 6 weeks this tincture is ready to work for you as a superb antibacterial, countering infection anywhere in the body. A dose is a dropperful (1 ml) as frequently as every two hours in acute situations

Yarrow

Yarrow (Achellia millefolium) This lovely perennial weed is grown in many herb gardens for it has a multitude of uses. Cut the flowering tops (use only white-flowering yarrow) and use your alcohol to make a strongly-scented tincture that you can take internally to prevent colds and the flu. (A dose is 10-20 drops, or up to 1 ml). I carry a little spray bottle of yarrow tincture with me when I’m outside and wet my skin every hour or so. A United States Army study showed yarrow tincture to be more effective than DEET at repelling ticks, mosquitoes, and sand flies. You can also make a healing ointment with yarrow flower tops and your oil or fat. Yarrow oil is antibacterial, pain-relieving, and incredibly helpful in healing all types of wounds.

[mado-science]

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