Gay Ramblings, Probably @hellofromthe-otter-slide - Tumblr Blog

The thing about food and eating is that I think very very few people just have like. Fully normal and healthy relationships to it. And all of the Huntrix girls have different kinds of weirdness to what’s up with them even given that someone (Celine) has done her best to make sure that they are able to eat despite the standards of the kpop industry

This is in part because Celine herself had a severe eating disorder as a younger person, and while she’s recovered to the point where she understands that what was happening with her and the other Sunlight Sisters was Not Okay and she really really wants to make sure that it never happens with her girls, she… has some weird ideas about what food is Okay and Healthy and Safe for her especially and about how to get people to eat in general

Which is why Rumi is the most chill around food but also does just kinda treat it as a necessity sometimes. She heard “food is fuel and you should give your body what it needs” constantly growing up, and so like she doesn’t do messed up “food as reward” or “food as overindulgence” viewpoints really but

She will just get disconnected from her body and forget to take care of it. Or sometimes, eventually, lowkey avoid taking caring of it. Because fuck it, she’s not a machine, she doesn’t need to be in perfect shape, why not go on an insane spiral and do something that sucks the whole way down instead?

For Zoey, it’s not the “what is having a body” autism as much (though that does happen to her), but the “I have sensory issues and food is An Experience” autism

Of course, it’s not like she can say that she doesn’t like mushrooms or that the texture of rice turns into something Evil the moment it’s even a little overcooked or she just finds lentils really very unpleasant. She can’t be picky and cause problems and make someone make a special meal just for her

(Her parents had a tendency to lash out. Maybe. Just a little. It’s fine! She’s not going to be a problem! It’s fine!)

Getting Zoey to express an opinion about food is a level four friendship achievement

Mira, meanwhile, grew up in the dance world, and so that came with a lot of bodyshaming—both from her teachers (too tall, anyone with an ounce of fat on them was fat (derogatory)) and from her family (too muscular, not feminine enough, etc)—and a lot of pushes towards restricting how much she ate and what foods were acceptable

When she moves in with Rumi and Celine, she’s very surprised to find that suddenly the attitude on food is not “let us control that heavily” and instead “yeah you’re doing a lot of work you need a lot of that so of course we’re making things with lots of nutrients in them for meals! You should feel free to get a snack whenever you want!” and, in classic Mira fashion, is probably the one who’s most worked through her existing issues to get more comfortable and healthy around food and in her body

frozenartscapes

It's funny because I was thinking about something in a similar vein. I was thinking about how Celine may actually be an unintentional Granola Mom, but not for any actual dietary or ecological reasons. Mostly because they've got this big ass garden and live on an island with the best growing conditions you could have, why bother with processed food?

Celine likely developed a lot of unhealthy eating habits for herself, but I imagine didn't apply those same things to Rumi, especially as Rumi was growing up. Before it became apparent that Rumi was going to be an idol, I think all Celine cared about was that she was eating healthy. And they've already got a leg up on that because they can grow most of their own fruits and veggies. There was probably a period of time in Rumi's life where "Cece I'm hungry" was answered with "The mandarins on the tree out back should be ripe by now".

And I can see that helping Celine's view on eating, somewhat. It gives a bit of control back to her. It's not just that she's eating "healthy" things like vegetables and fruit, but it's food she grew. She knows it's ok because she watched it develop from a seed. She was there for every step of the process, from the initial planting all the way up to the cooking or canning, depending on what she's doing with it. And the act of cooking - mostly for Rumi at the start - opened up the ability to see food in a different light. She started with the Most Healthy options: a lot of veggie or vegan dishes, ones touted as "the best for you and your kids" with a lot of organic ingredients and nutritional information. But slowly, very slowly, she starts to learn that it's ok experiment. Try new things. Indulge a little. Food is fuel, but it could be good fuel and she's always wanted to learn how to cook the abalone she always sees at markets.

It helps Zoey, as cooking means certain ingredients can be omitted or modified to suit her needs. And it's never a problem because it's a new way to try something. Celine keeps a recipe book of her own, one almost as messy as Zoey's notebooks thanks to all the notes about modifications and experiments. And the idea of cooking to take some control back is something she passes on to Mira. Celine recognizes similar patterns, though thankfully not nearly as ingrained in the teen...Yet. Thankfully Mira got out of there before it could get worse. Whenever Mira starts to get that "I'm hungry but it's not dinner yet and I don't need to eat right now" look Celine calls Rumi over. "Go show Mira the mandarin tree."

Side note: As a result of growing up like this, though, I like to think that Rumi didn't have much exposure to processed food until she was, like, eleven. Twelve, even. The first time she ever had a cup of noodles the sheer amount of salt nearly killed her. She basically curled up into a ball, like a snail, before Celine gave her a whole jug of water to drink. The first time she had a soda her head nearly exploded from the sugar high. She didn't sleep for three days. At one point Celine got up to get a drink at 2am only to have a small heart attack at the sight of Rumi hanging upside down from the rafters, eyes glowing in the dark like a freaking racoon.

fakelawyerbug

I like to think that Celine is a make your own soy milk and tofu kind of person. And a make your own noodles kind of person.

I think at some point, she got a dehydrator (or got gifted a dehydrator) that she doesn't really use but the girls found and there was a whole summer where they just put random food in the dehydrator to experiment.

(Tomato chips, surprisingly good. Cucumber chips, tasted like nothing. Spicy pepper chips, made Rumi cry)

thasmin-vibes

I fucking can't breathe

dragon-in-a-fez

idk if I've told this story on here before but one time I was sitting at my desk at work and a random dog I'd never seen before strolled into my office and curled up at my feet. and I was like oh you are adorable but what the fuck?

then a woman knocked on the door and said "oh I'm so sorry he's a therapy dog he's trained to seek out people in severe distress"

and I was like right okay, just getting my whole life drive-by roasted by a dog then

realest-slenderman

i do accomodate people with disabilities when they collect my pages btw

realest-slenderman

i cant provide adderall for you but i can give you an extended time limit + cryptic hints for collecting my pages

soupkiddo

thank you Slenderman! can I wear earplugs? the static is a bit overstimulating

realest-slenderman

yes you can 👍

soupkiddo

I love you Slenderman. can you kill my boss.

realest-slenderman

i love you too and i cant leave my forest but if you send your boss over to me i can probably arrange something

red-eye-radio

So I thought y'all would like this too This great white comes to the jersey shore every year and this year they named her and have been tracking her hella so this is Mary Lee and she decided to show herself under this rainbow for pride month A true gay icon

victoryyodel

#This is the representation I’ve been looking for

dankxsinatra

roxylalonde

princington

promises

stealingpotatoes

i don't know what older adults were on about when they said being a teenager was good <3

segamascott

anarchopuppy

sometimes being a fan of something means not wanting them to make any more of it

heartfairy

“what do you do for fun”

me:

headspace-hotel

A lot of people don't know about why lawns are so disliked outside of how they are a waste of water, so here:

carbon emissions put out by lawn mowers (and other devices like leaf blowers). Lawn mowers produce significantly more greenhouse gases per hour of use than cars, and majorly contribute to smog.

Fertilizers get into bodies of water and cause algae blooms, converting all the diverse water plants to homogenous green slime.

Pesticides kill fireflies, bees, and all sorts of other beneficial insects, and many can kill or harm fish, birds and even humans.

Herbicides can have negative effects on the wrong targets too, but they are also causing common agricultural weeds to evolve resistance faster, increasing our dependence on pesticides.

Watering lawns does waste a lot of fresh water.

Lawns replace areas that once could have contained 100+ plant species with monocultures of frequently invasive species. Butterflies can't find host plants this way. Bees can't find food. Thousands of insect species rely on specific plants for food, and no other plant will do. A huge amount of the land is taken up by these wastelands.

Lawns also create dead, compacted, lifeless soil that is hard to grow other things in or near. The root systems of turf grasses are not robust enough to allow water to penetrate in. No matter how much nitrogen and phosphorous you dump on a lawn, it will still be lacking in the organic matter needed to create lush, absorbent dirt.

Dirt is supposed to be full of fungal mycelium. Scientists have discovered recently that the vast majority of all plant species are dependent on a network of symbiotic fungi attached to their roots for 80% of their phosphorous needs and 90% of their nitrogen needs.

Yes, this means that when you put a fungicide on your lawn, you've just nerfed that plant's ability to absorb nutrients by up to 90%. And you've also devastated its ability to absorb water, because plants are partly dependent on their fungi to get water out of dirt.

But fungicide isn't the only problem. Every plant in a natural environment is attached to multiple species of fungus, and most fungi are attached to multiple species of plant (though some are specialists). Trees literally use this system to send nutrients to other trees. We discovered recently that trees in deserts in California can survive extreme drought because they're attached to fungi that can break down rocks and extract water from the rocks.

If you don't have a good variety of plant species and rotting leaves and sticks and stuff, it doesn't matter how much fertilizer you put on it, your soil isn't "healthy" because it's not alive.

Vegetation that has been cropped extremely short doesn't hold in water, so a heavily maintained lawn is likely unnaturally dry for your climate, and a flower or bush in the middle of a lawn without tall grasses, shrubs and weeds nearby is getting pounded by the sun much harder than it's meant to handle.

Yeah, gardening isn't hard, most native plants are falling all over themselves to grow, it's just that the standard suburban backyard is ridiculously hostile to life.

Of course at this point you may be wondering

"What do I do instead?"

Well, here you go:

Stop weeding, spraying and fertilizing. Seriously. Stop it!! Stop it!! Chemical intervention in your lawn traps you in a vicious cycle of creating problems that need to be solved with more chemicals.

"Weeds" are a perfect example. Plants commonly considered "weeds" are adapted to take over areas that have been cleared out of other plants. Many "weeds" are actively harmed by the fungi that other plants depend on, meaning they can ONLY thrive in disturbed or devastated areas. The harder you work to eliminate biodiversity in your yard, the harder nature is going to bomb your yard with weeds.

By the way, google the "soil seed bank." Seeds can stay dormant in soil for years or even decades. If you want a "weed-free" lawn, get ready to apply herbicides for the rest of your life.

Mow less often. You really can't go wrong with this one.

Don't try to grow grass where grass doesn't want to grow. Lots of shade? Try moss. Extremely dry? Try drought-adapted plants. See what wants to grow there and let it do its thing.

It's fine to have a lawn area that you actually use. But if no one walks or plays on a stretch of your lawn, it should be something else. A wildflower patch, a stand of prairie grasses, some large shrubs, a grove of trees.

By the way, the idea that shrubs or flower beds are higher maintenance than lawns is wrong. The neat thing about native species is that once they've gotten settled, you literally just do nothing.

People think flower beds are high maintenance because people almost always underpopulate them. They think that there should be big spaces of mulch in between each plant. In a full sun flower bed that's actually filled to capacity, you shouldn't be able to see the ground. If your plants aren't babies anymore and there's still space, more plants.

if you live in an area that was once forest, PLEASE, plant some trees, and not just one tree. Trees are somewhat like guinea pigs, actually, they don't want to be alone. They send each other nutrients through their roots and screen each other from wind damage.

By the way, the "mature spread" of a tree as told on websites means when you plant it by itself. Trees can generally be planted 6-10 feet apart and be perfectly happy, they'll just grow taller and straighter instead of spreading out. (Look at pictures of forests.) HOWEVER large trees like large oaks should really be 25+ feet from structures and septic tanks

(Trees pop up by themselves in lawns. Constantly. Search for them in a woodland biome and you will likely find baby oaks and maples and other cool guys.)

Trees introduce competition for light into the areas you plant them, helping eliminate the "weeds." You know how fast your lawn grows up and gets weedy when you don't mow it? Yeah, that's partly because it's getting a CRAP TON of sunlight dumped on it with reckless abandon.

A shade garden gets "weedy" WAY slower, and unlocks all sorts of gorgeous flowers that don't thrive in a full sun garden. Fallen leaves serve both as compost and mulch. If you live in the right area for it and have room, you cannot go wrong with trees.

bisquid

Also also:

Because lawns are such hard packed earth with a very thin layer of greenery and roots on, they are TERRIBLE at rain absorption and cumulatively a suburb full of lawns WILL flood more often and/or quickly than one with more 'natural' gardens like those derin has described

Lawns are also more prone to erosion because the root systems of turf grasses, as mentioned, are terrible at infiltrating deep into the soil, so don't hold it together the way a more robust and complex root system would

Trees are very good for biodiversity and wildlife AND can provide nice shade for a human on a hot day