Green Greenie

New blog for, you guessed it, a beginning green witch! Spells, potions, tips and tricks will be reblogged and hey, maybe I'll eventually make some myself! My main blog is daiilha so if that blog follows you it's me!

[kaijuno]

This was in Sioux Falls South Dakota! The green sky is caused by large hail stones within the storm refracting back green light to the observer.

[kaijuno]

More pics from that day

[maria-aegyptiaca]

pareidolias

[sloppystyle]

[aurosoulart]

and the two side by side….. love some good sun and moon imagery

print shop here

[whitepeopletwitter]

[jupitersmusings]

good things will happen 🧿

things that are meant to be will fall into place 🧿

[martinihomestead]

Basic Homesteading Skills

Crafts

quilting

embroidery

cross-stitch

knitting

crochet

sewing

Cooking and Baking

homemade bread

homemade butter

homemade extracts

dandelion jelly

Canning

26 canning recipes

canning jars 101

60 canning recipes

Gardening

edible trees to plant

what to plant to save the bees

cure and braid garlic

save seeds for next year

braid onions for long term storage

build a greenhouse

Animals

homemade chicken feed

raising mealworms for chickens

why to raise nigerian dwarf goats

Outdoors

starting a fire with sticks

trail signs

knotting

find true north without a compass

Medicine

homemade neosporin

all purpose healing salve

[plantyhamchuk]

I’m gonna take a moment to talk about the greenhouse link above. Greenhouses can be quite a bit of work, time, and money to build - and they take up space - so some thoughtful planning and research can ensure that whatever you build you’ll get the most out of. 

Most people, when first approaching greenhouses, just build a generic shed that has clear walls and a roof. That’s what you see in the blog post above, while the author kept mentioning how incredibly hot it is. The author is located in central Washington state, USA.

Greenhouse with no ventilation/cooling or heating or electricity or gas, in a hot climate summer climate, cool winter. While conventionally attractive, it is not particularly functional, and is only useful for a relatively short period of the year.

How best to design a greenhouse can depend on factors like climate and latitude. 

If your greenhouse is located someplace very cold, you’re looking at issues with heating it, or else not using it at all during that time. There’s multiple ways to heat greenhouses, traditionally methane or propane gas, although in emergencies, and if it is wired for electricity, electrical heat may be used. Some people have even used wood furnaces (this is less than ideal) For any place with long winters this quickly becomes very expensive. Thermal mass is the clever trick to solve most, if not all, (depending on climate) heating issues in winter - no fossil fuels or deforestation required.

If your greenhouse is located someplace very hot, you’re looking at issues with cooling it, or else not using it all during that time. There’s multiple ways to cool greenhouses - fans/vents and shade cloth being the most common. Thermal mass can also help with this issue too.  

My favorite website on greenhouses (which longtime readers may recognize) is Penn and Cord. Heating and cooling greenhouses so you can use them for more than 6 weeks a year can be very expensive and very energy intensive - unless you start looking at passive solar greenhouse designs, such as those by Penn and Cord. You do sacrifice some space in the back greenhouse for the thermal mass aka giant barrels of water.

Can be built out of used or scrap material.

Above, barrels are on the left, hidden behind the plants. Below, this is what the wall of barrels looks like before plant beds are installed.

These 55 gallon drums filled with water and painted black, all along the north wall, are the “battery” that keeps these greenhouses usable year round. The roof angles are designed so that these receive direct sunlight (hence why they are painted black) in the winter, the sun heats the water, and they help keep the greenhouse warm all winter long. They’re working at high elevations in Colorado which means 1) wild temperature fluctuations 2) it’s pretty cold in winter there, down to -30F/-34C. The barrels also modulate the hot temperatures in summer. There are variations around this idea, but hopefully the concept makes sense. Sometimes people will create the northern wall out of concrete, and then put the barrels or bottles of water in front of it, for a similar “battery” or modulating effect. The interiors are painted bright white, to reflect as much light as possible to the plants.

Granted, this extremely energy efficient and far more sustainable greenhouse style does not have the same “aesthetic”, but the space is actually far more usable. Penn and Cord and their crew are growing 365 days of the year, in greenhouses mostly made out of used materials. None of these greenhouses obviously have electricity or gas installed, but they don’t actually need it either, thanks to their clever and regionally-appropriate design.

[suricata-passer-deactivated2022]

@nny11writes

[nny11writes]

General Grievous Voice: Ah yes this will make a fine addition to my collection,

[hanged-priestess]

Questions to Ask When the Major Arcana Appears

the fool - am I jumping into this too quickly? can I trust my gut? what do i hope to gain from this? is this in my best judgement to proceed? 

the magician - am I balancing parts of my life? am I focusing too much on the material world before me? am I properly utilizing the tools I have at my disposal?

the high priestess - am I trusting my intuition? am I allowing my imagination to roam free? have I grown out of touch with my spirituality? how may I further enhance my spirituality? 

the empress - how do I nurture others? do I, in turn, properly nurture myself? how do I express my feminine power? am I expressing myself creatively? 

the emperor - how am I handling authority in my life? how can I become a leader? am I taking strides to ensure material success? how do I express my masculine power?

the heirophant - am I honouring traditions? what can I teach others? what can I learn? how may I go about finding groups of likeminded people? where am I deriving my sense of security?

the lovers - are parts of me at war within myself? how can I unite very different parts of my life? what can I do to help build cooperation within my relationships? 

the chariot - how can I take control of my situation? how can I resolve my conflict? how can I tackles the challenges coming my way? which direction should I choose?

strength - how can I overcome my weakness? what makes me courageous in my situation? from where do I draw my inner power? how can I best work with my instinct? 

the hermit - what is driving me forward in life right now? where can I be truly alone? what do I need to reflect on? what wisdom can I draw from past experiences? 

wheel of fortune - what changes am I willing to except? how much of my life is left to fate? how do my every day actions influence the bigger picture of my life? 

justice - how can I make the best decision? how do I find balance in my life? what can I do to rectify my past mistakes? am I weighing all the pros and cons or am I overlooking something?

the hanged man - what should I hold onto and what should I let go of? how can I look at this with a new perspective? what am I willing to sacrifice? how do I let go of old habits and step out of my comfort zone? 

death - how can I use recent events to transform myself? what do I need to accept the end of? what will be born from the ashes? how can I mourn the ending of one thing and celebrate the beginning of another?

temperance - what led to the feeling of harmony? what can I do to hold onto it, grow from it, and become harmoniously whole? how do I remain patient through these experiences?

the devil - am I allowing myself to fixate unhealthy on something? what do I fear? am I too tied to the material world? how do I free myself from the bondage I have allowed myself to fall into? 

the tower - what have I been ignoring? why did I refuse to take action, what can I do to avoid this again? how do I free myself from my own ruin? how do I grow from this disaster?

the star - how am I using my gifts? what is inspiring me? what makes me happy and how can I embrace that? how can I continue on the right track to making my wishes come true? 

the moon - am I listening to my dreams, my feelings, my instincts? am I trusting them? how am I connecting to the invisible workings of the world? how am I using my creativity? 

the sun - am I approaching my problem with a positive attitude? how are my efforts being appreciated by others? how do I step into the spotlight to showcase my talents? 

judgment - how self-aware am I, truly? what actions have I taken that are wise? unwise? am I being honest with myself? what can I learn from my past and how can I grow? 

the world - how have my efforts payed off? how am I progressing in life, does it feel right? what in my life is coming to an end? what is beginning? what are my next steps? in what ways do I feel fulfilled? 

Major Arcana | Wands | Cups | Swords | Pentacles

[madsiemoon]

🌱Some helpful tips to keep healthy house plants🌱

[terpsikeraunos]

the plague: stay inside

everyone: i must bake Bread, immediately

[bimborights]

maybe if there was any fucking yeast on the shelves at the grocery store!!

[catalystofthesoul]

yeast recipe: mix flour and water into a somewhat liquid. cover, leave on counter. Every day, add a spoonful of flour to the mix, occasionally water if it gets too thick. When the mixture begins to bubble, yeast is active. Keep in fridge, use as much as you need in recipe, literally the yeast left on the edges of the container are enough to make more yeast. Keep feeding it every day :)

[fuckingrecipes]

Not a joke - this is how you make bread starter for sourdough, and how people worldwide make bread at home to this day.

The wild yeast found in flour and in the air of your home can be cultivated by just.... leaving wet flour paste and a sprinkle of sugar out as free real estate.

Yeast moves in, you feed it a bit more every day, and that’s a bread starter!

Mine is about two months old and going strong. Some bakeries pride themselves in having bread starters over a century old. The wild yeast gives bread a complexity and depth of flavor that gives sourdough it’s iconic flavor.

—-

When the yeast is hungry it starts to smell like wine or acetone.

When it’s eating well and happy, it smells like vinegar and fresh bread.

Keeping it cold slows its metabolism, so you can put it in the fridge if you don’t make bread every day.

In the fridge you only have to feed it every 2 days or so. Left out at room temperature, you have to feed, and take a piece off for baking every day.

Yeast is killed at temps over 85 degrees Fahrenheit, but it can withstand short periods of being frozen, so the cold fridge is fine.

As long as you have flour on-hand, it’s basically infinite ready-to-bake bread.

——

So far I’ve used my bread starter, mixed it with flour and water, and made:

Dumplings (rolled dough flat and stuffed with minced veggies)

Bread loaves (duh)

Fried dough balls

Elephant ears (that cinnamon-sugar ❤️)

Pizza crust

Plus eggs and butter = cakey bread

[weonsinnombre]

[savagebeastrecords]

[annesmiless]

Some eaiser variations of push ups to help you build the strength to do a traditional one!

[moniquill]

I don’t generally reblog ‘fitness’ stuff but gaddamn could I use some more arm strength.

[the-goddamazon-deactivingsoon-d]

Push-ups are my worst nightmare. I can only do 44 before I pass out on the floor.

[maxxiegalaxy-deactivated2022032]

“I can only do 44” hahaha omg I can’t even do one.

[o-lascaux-o]

yes good

I was always frustrated how my P.E. teachers wanted all of us to go “all-or-none” and basically hurt ourselves without letting us build up from square-one like in the first gif.  Then they’d fuckin yell at us for not doing it right >:|

Knee-pushups is not square-one.

[arkilliandragon]

When I got my first personal trainer, she had me doing push ups almost standing upright in the weight lifting bars so that I could do 15 reps and 3 sets of them. It’s more about the technique of the push up, and if you’re pushing too much weight, you can’t exersize the correct muscles within their tolerances. This post is pretty important tto know cause of that.

[jhameia]

I was introduced to the knee push-up last year and it was such a fucking game changer. I had NO idea it was possible to work those same muscles just with a slight variation in position. 

[personal-scientist]

I wanna just verify that these are excellent for building strength, both as someone who took weights class in high school with a good teacher, and as someone who’s had a lifetime of physical therapy (not for my arms specifically, but I’ve spent a lot of time in sports medicine centers). And again, if the vertical one in the first gif is difficult, you don’t even have to lean into it like that. Start standing, and only lean as much as it takes you to lower towards the wall.

And remember, many exercises can be modified in this way! I did an image search for “modified pull up” and got exactly what I was looking for right away, which is this:

Doing pull ups on a lower bar, or from the straps with handles that gyms sometimes have (called the TRX - they can also be used to support yourself during squats and some balance exercises) is a lot easier than jumping straight into vertical pullups, and lets you build up that muscle with exercises that are still comfortable and safe for you, so you can do more sets of more reps.

As a general rule, always start with lower-strain exercises and practice good form before you work your way up. You don’t want to have to unlearn bad habits that could lead to injury later as the difficulty increases.

[jecook]

@imfemalewarrior I’m assuming you’ve seen this post but in case you haven’t—it seems like your kind of thing

[imfemalewarrior]

Here are push up and pull up progressions! 

-FemaleWarrior, She/They 

[peppervl]

Because I have serious issues with core strength and cannot do a sit up or a crunch without using muscles I shouldn’t and hurting myself, I looked up core exercises for beginners (because modified sit ups just have me ways to make it harder), and here’s what I found.

All from here, which also includes sit ups with the idea that you start up and don’t go all the way down.

[rosslynpaladin]

This stuff on the bottom is some of the stuff I do for physical therapy, can vouch for it

[violetwitch3]

what to do during different moon phases. i find this to be very useful so i thought i’d share

[systlin]

I just jerked out of my midday dissociation and realized that seed bombing a golf course with mint would be the ultimate crime.

Oh my god this is so evil. 

I love it. 

[terulakimban]

Not mint. Native wildflowers. Because sure mint’s hard to kill and never completely goes away. But mint can also be kept low to the ground, and if you turn the sprinklers off and returf, you can keep it in check. Flowers, though? With quick growth, and fast seeding? Plants that have bred themselves for millennia for exactly that soil and the natural local water conditions? Do it in small sections, and start near water features. By the time anyone realizes that they’re the “wrong” plants, they’ll have already flowered and gone to seed, and once that happens, they are there forever.  Source: mom may have used native wildflowers as spite plants before for a particularly obnoxious and lawn-proud neighbor who also lived downwind. Hypothetically, if she did this, she was also 1) a tenant and 2) not a fan of either the landlord or the local HOA. 

[kumabearsweetheart-deactivated2]

It’d be a shame if somebody linked to how to make wildflower seedbombs. It’s simple enough but some folks might not know how but might really, really want to because they’d want to do something they absolutely shouldn’t and so helping them with multiple links would be really bad, right? I am not suggesting you do anything. I’m not thinking of golf courses near me.

[meatthroat]

im flower bombing all golf courses this summer in the name of decolonization

[therestlesswitch]

Remember that ‘Native’ should mean native to your specific local region! So generic ‘native’ seed mixes from big companies aren’t going to be what you need.

But also, sorry to burst a little bit of this bubble, but golf courses are likely treated with herbicides that kill broadleafed (non-grass) plants… but it’s still worth doing elsewhere!

[underworldpunk]

Bad Vibes Spell

So this is literally just a spell jar to give someone bad vibes. It is not a curse and is only intended to make the target feel uneasy.

Ingredients:

Jar or bottle (needs to have a lid)

Amethyst

Black salt

Cayenne pepper

Chili powder

Vinegar or lemon juice

Name of target on piece of paper or object related to target

Small, sharp objects

Red or black candle

The Spell:

Take the piece of paper or object and place it in the bottom of the jar.

Take the sharp objects and pour them into the jar, focusing on the intent. (I personally prefer to use rose thorns because I have a rose bush at home and am able to collect them myself but for a longer lasting jar something metal like push pins or nails would do nicely).

Next, place the amethyst in the jar. Amethyst is representative of emotional sensitivity and self destruction, so placing it in the center of the jar will ensure anything that happens to the target will be of their own making while also making them more vulnerable to the emotional aspects of the spell, later.

Add the black salt, cayenne pepper, and chili powder. Black salt causes distress, chili powder causes general discord, while cayenne pepper causes anxiety, leading to an overall emotional wreck.

Now, pour the vinegar or lemon juice over the mixture in the jar, enough to cover most of the ingredients. The acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice will help the spell be more potent.

Close the jar and seal with wax from a red or black candle. Wait for the wax to dry and shake the mixture well.

Store the jar somewhere safe. You can give it an extra shake every once in a while if you feel the effects need a little boost.

*To undo, just dump the jar out and wash it*

[oshetart]

tea elements

green tea - water

rose rooibos - fire

lavender earl grey - earth

chamomile calendula - air

[futuremoji]

Your sixth most recent emoji is how your guardian angel feels about you

[futuremoji]

[little-mountain-witch]

Ecofriendly Witch Tips

🌱 Don’t bury anything in the soil unless it is biodegradable and organic.

🌱 If a spell does call for burying the contents, make sure it won’t harm the soil and organisms first, then bury it in a biodegradable planter.

🌱 If you’re going to put salt around the exterior of your home, at least make sure it’s on pavement or a doorstep. NEVER put salt in the grass.

🌱 Showering uses less water! Do shower spells instead of bath spells.

🌱 Grow your own herbs for spells.

🌱 Don’t use white sage. Just don’t. Try cedar instead!

🌱 Make your own natural hygiene products, such as shampoo, and enchant it for a specific purpose.

It may not seem like it will make a huge impact, but every person’s effort counts.

( Originally posted by @northern-witchcraft. )