Awesome! Sometimes all neighbors need is to see it in action, to not be the first on the block. Like it gives people permission in a way 😊

These, or their cousin “we could lose a few billion people,” pop up on my instance from time to time. I’m not amenable to either, but I do understand the feelings of grief behind them. Myself, I adopted a secular practice in order to stay grounded, because it’s easy to fall into the pit… comment sections with debate lords proclaiming why whatever is futile, people raging and posturing or possessed by long dead philosophers, all while the machine gobbles up the world. Soul crushing.

Grief and its companions fear, anger, despair, are blinding and consume the larger liberatory project. The sense of powerlessness these states foster breeds the need to control, and it’s easier than people want to admit to slip. I feel similarly about the tendency to dehumanize. I always try to be empathetic, reminding myself that those thoughts once crossed my mind, the visceral frustration I once felt, but it’s disheartening.

Awesome choices 😍 Prickly pear is my absolute favorite. Gorgeous flowers, but weeding around them is tricky. I’m a few years in with them and have some glochids in my fingers right now lol.

Sea oats are beautiful, too. I have a patch in sandy soil in partial sun and another in clay in full blazing sun, mid-Atlantic 7b. Love watching the seed stalks sway in the breeze.

From a relative. They ordered theirs from etsy the spring prior.

I haven’t tried them yet, but that nickname gives me pause 😆

Spring has sprung! I’m jealous, someone ate my chokeberry to the ground 😩

Greening Your Homeowners Association: Wildlife gardeners are getting HOAs to relax rigid landscaping rules

Direct link to the Maryland bill passed: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2021RS/bills/hb/hb0322f.pdf

No sand spurs here, thankfully 😄 Both pictures show groundcover under low tree or shrub branches, so no humans step there. These type of plantings are meant to be soft landings for pollinators.

Violets can handle moderate foot traffic and mowing, especially when mixed in with grasses like nimblewill, but not heavy play.

This is awesome! Love seeing the younger generations getting involved and that your SO lost his mind when he found out lol.

So glad you chose solarpunk as your home on the fediverse :) It was a big reason I chose this instance and I’m happy to be part of the team!

I love Wild Geranium! The leaves just started emerging here in the Mid-Atlantic (with some violets waking up in the periphery):

After planting these last spring, I found Carolina Geranium growing in a sidewalk crack a few feet away 😆

It started bouncing between 60F and 20F here, weather whiplash! But some shrubs are starting to bud which is such a mood booster. I’m hoping to get brambles or hopniss plants this spring.

The North Carolina Extension has a writeup on it here. From what I’ve read organic is best, but either way the bananas should be scrubbed with soap, soaked in either a vinegar or baking soda bath prior to using them in a recipe.

Thanks 🤗 And that is awesome! I rarely see mantises where I am, but it’s such a treat. I love the way they eye people up lol.

Right? I found out from this video. The recipe in the post body was one I riffed, but search for banana peel curries or banana peel carnitas as well. There’s this playlist by Chef Jana, but I haven’t tried any of them yet.

I just finished making some! About to share in !homecooks@vegantheoryclub.org

Been using banana peels as a vegetable, shredding them into strips with a fork then simmering in broth. Kinda like a crunchy string bean texture after 20 minutes of cooking, no detectable banana flavor (for me at least). I’m on the lookout for more recipes if anyone else uses them.

As for hobbies, desperately waiting for spring to start gardening again. I miss all the cool bugs and being chased inside by carpenter bees 🐝 lol!

I made it plain, so very much like split peas. Definitely not a neutral flavor.

See, now I wish I had some edible flowers 😂

Tasty and cheap! Here, it works out to about 50 cents per batch.

I love these update videos! Most of the stuff I planted two years ago finally started to look like something this summer 😆 but seeing all the monarchs, sootywings, fritillaries, skippers, and so many different bees made the growing pains worth it.