Ran

From "You're not mourning this hateful white supremacist enough!" to "Murder's funny again!" and back without a speck of self-awareness

Nature is healing* *"healing" Look, y'all, that fwd about milkweed instantly killing lanternflies is nice to think about—but it's got no legs. Yellowjackets, however, have six legs, & now we know they'll make snacks out of these invasive buggers. Let's let the zesty little monsters work.

Me: Viking Blod mead is made with hibiscus, so hibiscus mead is definitely a viable concept— Also me: add jasmine, make Viking Soape

I have still managed to grow weirdly pretty garlic, even with the onion fly catastrophes of this spring. This year my garden savior was neem soaks; next year I'm adding a mesh tent + yellow sticky traps.

This does mean, though, that my reaction to a destructive + invasive groundhog was . . . Possibly a little disproportionate.

That awkward moment where I'm supposed to show prep & plan for the future, when the future's just been fucked over in ways we're not gonna fully understand for a long, long while.

This year's regular strawberries continue to struggle, due to birds/chipmunks/friendly fire (strawberries are allelopathic)—but the feral patch of f. virginiana persists, despite having been mowed over a few times.

This could be us but you got no brisket

"No worries!" All worries. ALL of them. They're mine now. Don't tell my therapist. :b

Folks call your Senators now!! A ban on any state laws on GenAi for 10 YEARS is gonna do unthinkable harm! For those of you wondering what to say here are two posts you can use to build your own script (use alt script to cut and paste) Need to find your representatives? Here you go: 5calls.org

"I want to make new things" + "Wait, I planted something here?" + "Wtf did I plant here anyway??" = Flower stack on 16ga stainless, with a handy plant tag. It weebles, it wobbles, it doesn't blow away or wash off or crumble or turn to mush like the rest of this year's plant markers.

Brotip: If you get spammed by "Join our fuzzy animal team!" bots every time you post on IG, try reporting & blocking the page they're promoting too. Or, y'know, make some distance from the unrepentant shitty bot farm that is IG, since it's rapidly diving into non-functionality.

There is a possibility I have been on the Internet for too long.

Jesus Christ, Pittsburgh. If the street light is off—and a ton of them are off right now—you treat it like a stop sign. You don't just go blasting through it.

The bunnies have built an nest in my thyme plant, so cleaning up this section of the garden will wait until this little dude's not there to give me the hare-y eyeball.

Not me having to explain food allergies to an entire grown-ass Boomer "They didn't have all these peanut allergies when I was younger—" They did, you just didn't hear so much about them because kids were dying of 'em before they came of age. "People now are weak—" People now are surviving.

The album cover for Egg's upcoming musical debut, Late Night Opera Hours

Possum is ready for her supervillain era

"It's JuSt A MiStAkE!" Sure, which is why everyone they're kidnapping is getting their full & constitutionally required due process and—ope. Yeah. About that.

Someone get Miyazaki a mech suit already, you cowards

The SCA baby brewer's journey: - Mead looks like it might be fun! - We made this! - But what if we also grew it? - This one is yarden-to-table and this is foraged fruit— - Also our cats are on the label, look how cute it is - Oops I've planted an orchard - bees? B E E S ?

"What do you mean, you aren't *allowed* to take pictures? What do you mean, your lightbox is full of hair? What do you mean, it's middle management's fault?" Behold: middle management. At least this one has some pretty strong feelings about everyone taking an appropriate amount of breaks.

Artist struggles: I like making travel memento shadowboxes. I plotted this one out, glued it all down last night ... Realized today that the hanging hook's on the bottom & it's all upside-down. I can add hooks & a wire so it's not a loss, but still had that moment where I 🤔😐🫠

Right now, the Internet would like to remind us (again) that the world is still on fire—which yes, it is, & it's gotdam exhausting But The hellebores I planted last year have Leeroy Jenkins'd themselves out of dirt that was frozen solid less than a week ago, & will probably start blooming soon.

I went to learn about tree grafting to better propagate some old heirloom apples—maaaybe via a little low-level crime—& some experienced grafters started talking about topping Bradford pears + grafting proper pear scions onto them as invasive control. Which This is an option? This is an option!

This was bound to be next. Save the US Postal Service. The vote-by-mail implications of Trumps move here are clearly for voter suppression. That alone should scare you, never mind higher prices. Call/ object. Here’s the petition for @resist.bot to sign and send: cc @legislationstation.bsky.social

"Americans are unhealthy and have low life expectancies—" Yeah, lots of things get us that could be prevented or caught in their early stages with access to nationalized health care— "—so we're gonna take away your antidepressants and ADHD meds." 😐

That unpleasant sensation of hanging out between "I didn't really *want* to pop up to pro-level backyard food production this year but here we are" & "Wonder how long it'll take before RFK & Co start trying to stuff people like me into 'work camps.'"