imago

definition: emergence from chrysalis // romanticization of a loved one from childhood

[papilliondepapier]

The sun rises and sets and rises again. The tides ebb and flow. The world has not changed all that much. Pull on your work boots again: worn leather and frayed shoelaces. The work is no different than it was a few hours ago.

[grandenchanterfiona]

Why do my interests in canning, couponing, and homesteading overlap so often with blogs with titles like ‘The Obedient Housewife’? 

[livingdeadpoetssociety]

Like, I’m like, “I want to learn to make soap and farm,” and suddenly I see 500 “traditional family” motherfuckers like no you are mistaken. I am just a simple lesbian anticapitalist looking to limit my consumerism as much as possible.

[roachpatrol]

‘these fun crafts will keep your kids occupied until your husband gets home!’ no i want a clothespin crown for me

[plantyhamchuk]

As a nerd who homesteads, let me share the data I have gathered!

First is my megalist of homesteading-related links I’ve gathered over the years. I’m a mod over at r/homesteading and this is where I’ve put a lot of good sources (not all, admittedly some are still sitting in my bookmark folder waiting to be added). The search function at reddit is wretched, but there’s also been lots of good things I’ve shared there too. Please note that many of these sources are not actual webpages, but PDFs. That’s not an accident, PDFs are where you find the really good in-depth stuff.

Many of my sources are from the Extension Service. They won’t try to relate to you based on your lifestyle or sexual identity or religion or whatever, but due to that, they also won’t be alienating you either.

The Cooperative Extension Service (US only) exists in all 50 states and in most counties. It is taxpayer funded. The Extension Service exists to help people become more self sufficient, for farmers to be more successful, for people to be healthier, for kids to be well adjusted, to figure out how to grow the best plants in your area, etc. Some county offices even offer cheap classes in things like gardening, canning, soap making, and they’re taught by people with training in these areas (I once heard a great talk on composting from a soil scientist that way). Do you want to know what type of plant something is? Do you need help figuring out a plant disease or pest issue? You can now contact them online and get great info.

I HIGHLY recommend checking out your state’s extension service website, because they do offer different types of information, depending on what is grown/raised where you are (and how well funded they are). My county extension puts out a monthly gardening newsletter, which includes a helpful ‘this is the time of the year to do —-’ part.

Here’s an example from North Carolina - check out that left sidebar

Here’s an example from California - this website is HUGE so dig around

Here’s an example from New York - they have a calendar at the bottom, showing how they have things like hydroponic and urban agriculture workshops coming up.

Interested in raising animals? Penn State Extension is really really good. They have tons of free materials and courses available online, some I pulled for my megalist at the top of this.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - they cover the important aspects of food safety, and also have some recipes. Many state Extension Service websites will have lots more recipes.

If you have kids, check out 4-H programs for them. It’s part of the local public school system here. If you’re homeschooling, you can also purchase their science-filled educational and self sufficiency materials (materials are divided by age ranges - Cloverbud Member: ages 5-8, Junior Member: ages 9-13, Senior Member: ages 14-19). One of my coworkers is in 4-H, she’s still in high school, and last year she raised an award-winning heifer.

Congress grants the money for funding these programs, and they’re connected with various universities. There’s a level of cutting edge scientific knowledge and academic rigor you don’t find in blogs or even most books. There’s LOTS of homesteading books filled with outdated information like ‘till the earth every year’ hell I still have older coworkers who do it and I’m trying to figure out how to gently tell them that they’re destroying their soil that way, and that there’s better methods now, methods grounded in science.

Knitting - try this youtube series

DIY Crown - here’s a youtube video on how to make a mermaid crown

Hope this is helpful to someone out there.

[systlin]

HOLY FUCKIN SHIT BLESS

[apoemaday]

Antidotes to the Fear of Death

by Rebecca Elson

Sometimes as an antidote To fear of death, I eat the stars.

Those nights, lying on my back, I suck them from the quenching dark Til they are all, all inside me, Pepper hot and sharp.

Sometimes, instead, I stir myself Into a universe still young, Still warm as blood:

No outer space, just space, The light of all the not yet stars Drifting like a bright mist, And all of us, and everything Already there But unconstrained by form.

And sometime it’s enough To lie down here on earth Beside our long ancestral bones:

To walk across the cobble fields Of our discarded skulls, Each like a treasure, like a chrysalis, Thinking: whatever left these husks Flew off on bright wings.

[shadow27]

[verirosvous]

Here's a picture of him. That's the face of a man who doesn't care what the government says, he's gonna keep flying

[andletforsakendidodie]

healthiest finnish hobby

[dogposts]

An archivist found a long forgotten 8mm film reel in an old metal box, marked "Philippines 1942". Thinking it was lost WWII footage, he sent it in to be restored/digitized. When he got the footage back, he found puppies instead (via)

[papilliondepapier]

at a friend’s at 3:27 am

let me kiss the dip between your shoulder blades,

naked skin pressed to my cheek,

curvature of our bodies—

spines, knees, my arm heavy around your waist—

mirrored and curled around each other.

I rolled over to write this.

your hands reach out, greedy

curving for mine, catching my waist, cupping my breasts

pulling me close as you sigh in your sleep.

nuzzling your face into my neck.

we always sleep like this,

intertwined so close

you can’t tell where he began and I ever stopped.

you caress my stomach, now

a subtle bid to come back to bed

and pull closer to you.

any distance between us is too far.

[papilliondepapier]

“I’m really anxious about it,” he said.

“I wish you’d talk about it more.”

I know, my love.

Me, too.

[papilliondepapier]

[papilliondepapier]

a country song kinda love—

making breakfast as I sleep in,

dancing in the kitchen,

kissing me all over my neck and face until I giggle uncontrollably,

stepping into my space to touch noses,

smacking my ass,

dorky dances as we wash dishes

kinda love.

[iamnotlanuk]

[papilliondepapier]

the rain cuts through the thin cotton pyjamas,

bleeding into my hair, my skin, my bones

maybe if i’m out here long enough the pain will stop

maybe the rain will wash away all the sins,

the hurt,

the ache that beat-beat-beats in time with my heart.

he squatted in the doorway.

touched me.

pulled me across the threshold,

held me as i shook and shivered and bled water across us both

and prayed

prayed

prayed

for some kind of release.

pulled off my wet clothes,

pulled me into bed,

wrapped me up in faded blues and sheets that didn’t smell like him.

waited.

waited.

waited.

i did speak, eventually.

and he listened.

and held me.

and asked me to make him promises i’m still not sure i can keep.

[metamorphesque]

— Worm Moon, Mary Oliver 

[ text ID: In March the earth remembers its own name. ]

[slutdge]

ppl who have never lived outside of a city writing these rural american gothic posts like "the goats know secrets" girl the goats dont even know how to get their horns unstuck from the fence without my help

[77lllll]

[theyarenotaboy]

Put this in the MOMA

[witchdaggers]

a year later this is still the funniest video on the internet and i can’t even adequately explain why

[lewisaur-deactivated20210222]

wow

[onion-souls]

It’s a perfect blend of several major kinds of comedy: confessional, relatable observation comedy (who hasn’t had someone make an incorrect presumption based on your appearance?), absurdist prop comedy, and character comedy revolving around her looks, voice, and mannerisms. And reclining (almost) out of frame is the perfect button on the skit. It’s comedy genius.

[papilliondepapier]

and just like that,

i cannot decide which is more painful:

a life without you in it anymore,

or the marrow-deep grief you’d feel at my own death.

(is this how i know I’m in love?)

[papilliondepapier]

burn it all down

it’ll be good for the soil.

[papilliondepapier]

tonight he texted me

(we‘d been apart for almost four months, together for a week, now apart for two weeks)

((nothing tastes sweeter than that first kiss hello after months of wishing his body was asleep next to mine— you know how they talk about phantom limbs? it was like that, except the pain went straight into my lungs, into the echoing space inside my atrium, where every heartbeat resounded without his reciprocal half-beat next to mine))

anyway, tonight he texted me.

tonight he texted me that his sister was asking about me. and that one of the questions she asked was

“Are you a good boyfriend for her?”

not to her. I asked. (because of course I did)

for her. for me.

“Bear in mind,” he says, shifting his weight to look at me and curl his hand around my face. (we’d do this if we were face to face. I know this like I know the lay of the land here in this valley pressed into my very bones.) “This hits harder knowing that she’s divorced and hasn’t found someone since and doesn’t have many good men in her life “

I can imagine his response well, because I’m in love with the sort of man that imbues honesty into every action.

(god I think I’m in love with him.)

his brow would furrow, he’d be quiet for a couple beats. But he responded. and it made me ache.

“She makes me feel like I’m a good partner.”

i make him feel like that. he loves me so much that i make him feel like that oh my god what a privilege but also how terrifying what a delicate gift this love is

”she found it adorable, so I guess we’re that couple now,” he says.

(if we were together, he’d roll over again and probably boop me on the nose. pull the blankets over himself. trace lace against the dip in my waist, but in the soft sort of way that comes with a subconcious sort of comfort, not the horny kind of wolfish drive that ensnares your senses and takes over your brain.)

because this is the man I chose to love, so long ago now that it never felt like a choice.