Alder Burns

Oh always good! It's Jo Hickey Hall's "Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast". Listening to it every day again now while I sit and hull black walnuts out in the sunshine!

And drink water! don't forget the water!

The far west of the country has it's own species (Lysichiton)---now an "invasive exotic" in many parts of Europe; and there are other relatives in East Asia. But of course if you go back far enough all those places have colonialism in their past as well. Skunk cabbages rock!!

Looks more than a bit like a tiger she's on! Just like all those images of the Hindu goddess Durga and others! I wonder if some ideas and images went traveling....

It's also been recently discovered that common milkweed, at least, is an important forage for adult fireflies! Yet another of it's ecosystem benefits!

Listening to podcast about fairies sitting in the warm sunshine while taking the new small pressure canner on its maiden voyage with dumpster chicken curry in the jars! Gratitude!

inhospitable climates that are so happy elsewhere they are reseeding (like Florida torreya in the southern Appalachians). Assisted migration (to quote Connie Barlow) will become more and more important as climate change sets in..

Would that I had more budget for such adventures! But it's a good thing when endangered species find their way into recovery in numbers through becoming popular garden plants! There are some that no longer exist in the wild (Franklinia) and others that were "stranded" in progressively

There are definitely reply bots and troll accounts here in Bluesky. Liberal use of the block button is the default answer here as much as elsewhere...

And by growing and eating them, I'm participating in their long relationship with us humans. They are one of the Polynesian canoe crops, taken from island to island over vast distances. And they are the first proof of their early contact with the Americas (since validated by human DNA).

It's my staff of life. If I had to be turned loose in a temperate or tropical landscape and could only take one cultivated plant with me, it would be that. I eat them daily, sometimes 2-3 times daily, for much of the year (especially now that I've discovered grating and drying them)...

If you have some sunny yard space you will get a lot more, especially if you make a raised bed with light fluffy or sandy soil, without a lot of manure or fertility. Sweet potatoes are truly magical, with a magical history and tradition. Also, eat the greens! Cook them up just like spinach!

Yeah it's that time for hard choices! Just how many needy potted plants do I want to crowd in here for the winter. Especially competing with 2 cats for sunny window space!

One of my favorites!! It has escaped and grows wild in some parts of the east and south USA. It's closest relative is Iris dichotoma, and their hybrids, called pardancanda, are all kinds of colors. Wikipedia says this iris is also a Chinese medicinal.

Meanwhile most native people around the world have always used local plants, and most climates offer several, whether wild or easily cultivated. In many temperate climates, the various cedars and cypresses, sweet grasses, and various species of Artemisia come first to mind.

This reminds me that many of the world's popular incense plants are becoming rare and endangered in their natural habitats, partly due to over-harvesting for commerce. These include the Indian sandalwood, frankincense, some types of palo santo, white sage, and more....

Went up the road just a mile or so to grab bags of milkweed seed from a certain spot I've had my eye on....we have almost none of it on our site, and now we will, and the welcome it will bring to butterflies, fireflies, and more!

what happened? The post got deleted....

Those red Lycoris, often called surprise lilies in America, are pretty common in the Southeast and beyond. They spread around and endure forever.

A good feeling to have all the winter squash safely gathered and stashed under my bed! Between that and potatoes finishing off, and sweet potatoes next month, whatever else happens, hunger is not in my future!

Cool! I finally have this plant back in my life, after growing up with it and delighting in its fragrance. But for most of my adult life I've lived in climates too warm for it's liking. Now I get to see that it might be more than a fragrance and a deadly poison, as I've always read.

I'm just now drying the last batch of grated ones in the attic on screens with a fan on them. There are more in the fridge and in the freezer, and so few left in the cellar that I will be able to eat them up, rubbing the sprouts off...

Wow! Learned something new about a plant and the color blue! As someone long fascinated by both, this is a rare accomplishment!

A few years ago I came across a couple of websites where people were creating a whole religion from Tolkien's stuff, celebrating holidays with rituals in Elvish, etc. It was backed up by the idea that Tolkien's work actually presented real history, describing a world between previous ice ages..wow!

Yarrow is a pretty cool plant! A couple of loose tidbits: the dried stalks are the traditional material for casting the I Ching.
And the essential oil is bright blue!

It seems like most of the edible nightshades are thus. Only the one part is edible, like fruit of tomato or tuber of potato. The rest of the plant is poison. The beauty of it for the grower is that this makes them resistant to many plant pests and animals.

Thought maybe you'd written more and went and looked up omnibus...

Okay, timeline cleanse. 🖤

Everyone who sees this post, quote post 5 things that make you happy:
1. Things that glow in the dark (like fireflies, mushrooms, ocean lights & quartz light!)
2. Weird plants (aroids, night-blooming flowers, bulbs, parasites etc.)
3. Cats
4. Seafood
5. Dumpster Diving!

Between firewood work in the morning and watering the garden in the afternoon, today and the next several warm days my time will be literally devoted to "chopping wood and carrying water" :) Including shower water. Motivates one to conserve when one totes it outside in a bucket!

All good! Life on the land without drama....busy serenity...