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Hey there, I'm H (they/them) and this is my side blog focusing on (practical) herbalism and herbal medicine.

Currently trying to grow basil in my room. Will see how it turns out. Mainly doing it for food.

Another invasive (but delicious edible) plant that plagues many a garden, especially on the western and eastern coasts of the US: cardamine hirsuta, or hairy bittercress.

This is a winter annual, and can be found absolutely Thriving long after other plants have died back from cold. This is the time they should be picked, whether for eating or for general removal. They come out of the ground easily, roots and all. If you plan on eating them, choose ones that haven’t gone to flower yet, as the leaves become bitter and tough.

Around mid-spring the plant goes to seed, and at that point you’re fucked – the seedpods will literally EXPLODE at the slightest touch. (I’ve walked through places where they were unavoidable, and it sounds like tiny popcorn!) That’s why they spread so prolifically.

Okay, but what does it taste like? Even though it’s called bittercress, it’s not bitter at all. It’s very similar to other plants in the brassica family… if you like mustard, cress, or arugula, you will like hairy bittercress! It’s slightly peppery, a little mustardy, and more mild than the name suggests. It’s best used raw in salads or sandwiches.

Now go munch on/population control some of those cressy bastards.

#foraging

z0mb13b4by

#goals

jonesybonesyowo-deactivated2020

DANDELION HATERS DO NOT INTERACT!!!!

#dandelions

systlin

But seriously, when we got our property, it was all just…grass. A sterile grass moonscape, like a billion other yards. With two big old maple trees. Just grass and maples, that was it.

But then I got my grubby little paws on it, and I immediately stopped fertilizing, spraying, and bagging up grass clippings and leaves. I ripped up sod and put in flowers and vegetables. I put down nice thick blankets of mulch around the flowers and vegetables.

When I first was sweating my way through stripping sod, I saw a grand total of 1 worm and 0 ladybugs. The ground was compacted into something that would bend shovel blades.

Now, six years later, I can’t dig a planting hole without turning up fourteen earthworms, and there are so many ladybugs here. Not the invasive asian lady beetles; native ladybugs. They winter over in the mulch and in the brush pile. I see thousands of them.

The soil is soft and rich. There are birds that come to eat, and bees of many sorts.

Like this is something that you, yourself, can absolutely change. This is something that you, personally, can make a difference in.

systlin

Like, last year I watched no fewer than twenty-nine monarch caterpillars grow up on my milkweed and fly away as butterflies. I watched swallowtails and moths grow. There are hummingbirds fighting over flowers now.

I did that. Me. You can do the same.

flamingbluepanda

Is this post about making a garden or beating depression

systlin

As someone with clinically diagnosed anxiety and depression;

Yes.

heskynn

God I’m still reeling over the changes that seemed to finally come home last year–i had to rip out the garden and start from scratch and I’ve still not managed to eradicate all the invasives I want. The fight against the Spanish bluebells confuses as does the Lucifer… But. But. The pond has now officially been in for a year. I had way more native flowers getting a foothold in the over fertile soil, it’s slowly Getting There.

Last year I saw so many ladybirds of so many kinds, including a species I’d never seen before. I saw loads of caterpillars and more butterflies and moths after years of just hardly seeing any. We had a frog check out the pond, I saw my first ever greater diving beetle, a butterfly I’d only Ever seen in nature reserves before. A greater variety of birds. Damselflies, dragonflies and more varieties of hoverfly and bee than I knew what to do with.

It still has a long way to go. Not least the war with the bluebells rages on and the wildflowers will continue to struggle for some time until the nutrient levels drops, but every year it gets better.

Oh and btw I highly recommend keeping a garden journal to see your progress.

#cw long post #gardening

mushroomidentifierbot

Just so everyone is aware:

An international group of qualified mushroom identifiers who do worldwide identification in emergency cases have identified the Shroomers App as a potentially very dangerous system that could kill you if you try to use it to identify edible mushrooms. They use AI to generate almost all of their content, including their identification profiles on their app as well as their books and other materials. Not only is this unethical from a content creation standpoint, it is also extremely dangerous.

DO NOT USE APPS FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES BEYOND SIMPLE CURIOSITY. A MISTAKE WHEN IDENTIFYING AN EDIBLE COULD COST YOU YOUR LIFE. DO NOT EAT ANY FORAGED MUSHROOM YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY YOURSELF BY SIGHT OR HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED IN PERSON BY SOMEONE WHO CAN.

ONLY BUY BOOKS FROM REPUTABLE SOURCES AND AT THIS POINT THAT MEANS ASKING EXPERIENCED PEOPLE WHAT BOOKS THEY USE.

Mushrooms are fun, amazing organisms. Enjoy safely.

#psa #foraging #mushrooms

were--ralph

Pee in a cup and leave it outside near ants - if they avoid it's probably not diabetes, if they seem interested, you might have sugar in your pee and should get checked out

what the fuck is this 1200's medical science 101

spacecaptainglow

As a specimen processor who checks body fluids for a living I can confirm this is a real, vaguely accurate ancient way of checking for diabetes that dates back at least to Pliny the Elder

were--ralph

no i know it's real but this isn't the middle ages I can literally go to the UC or ER if i need to?? why would i resort back to this

were--ralph

actually nvm the American healthcare system is absolutely too expensive you're right

#diabetes #medicine

roycohn

listen i am more than aware that hormonal birth control can do fucky things to your brain and body. i have been there and i have dealt with it and i don't take that lightly. but i do want to say that if you're sexually active and can get pregnant, the last people online you should be listening to are the "divine femininity" cryptofash tradgirl influencers who are spouting leftist-sounding rhetoric while telling you to throw out your birth control and "just track your cycles naturally" at a time when it's functionally impossible to get an abortion in many states. i cannot stress this enough. these people are white supremacists who have learned to cloak their right-wing, reject-modernity beliefs in language that sounds appealing to the left, and they are winning, and you need to be really vigilant about the influencers and messaging you are following and consuming and helping give more of a platform. because this shit is everywhere and women are going to die because of it.

cyanwrites

Thing that affects your body: Hormonal birth control.

Things that affect your body worse: Plan B, abortion.

Things that affect your body WORST: Pregnancy, birth.

Health-wise, carrying a pregnancy to term is one of the most dangerous and harmful thing you can ever do to your body.

If someone tells you it's "better" or "healthier" to risk pregnancy (statistically, the rhythm method/cycle counting/"natural family planning" has a 40% risk of resulting in pregnancy within a year even if done perfectly) than using hormonal birth control, they're lying.

Ask your doctor about birth control, not people on Tiktok.

#cw pregnancy #cw menstruation #birth control #abortion

macla539ac

remembering the time a tiktoker went to a tribe to ask a faith healer to cure an inflammation in his eye and the healer said "u need antibiotics"

the old spirits of the jungle boosting laboratory medicine in shamanic sessions (great pajelança)

ms-newvegas

Indigenous jungle shaman tells us we need antibiotics…?!

#medicine #SDGLKHSDLGKHFDKLGHSLKDGHLKSDHG #hell yeah

howdidthisevenhappenanyway

happy wash your fucking water bottle wednesday

notthestarwar

THE MOUTHPIECE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT

Please guys I'm begging you

#wash your water bottle wednesday #safety #cleaning

everlastingrandom

U.S. people, if you bought cinnamon from Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or other discount stores, throw it out. It's got lead

Ground cinnamon sold in U.S. discount stores is contaminated with high levels of lead and should be discarded. The U.S.

grotesque-grimoire

Here's the offical FDA Alert:

The FDA is advising consumers to throw away and not to buy the ground cinnamon products listed above because samples of these products were

#recalls #contaminations #psa #fda #cinnamon #spices #ingredients

triskeleaficionado

UC or ER?

drpathetique

HONESTLY THOUGH

THIS IS BOTH ACCURATE AND EFFECTIVE

whos-this-lisa-person

Urgent Care is for your "Oh no!" accidents.

Emergency Care is for your "Oh fuck!" accidents.

#healthcare

ruinedchildhood

chaogongoozles

Sharing this for everyone who stumbles on this post!! Please be safe y'all, def use gloves, mask, and make sure to have good ventilation! Always check the ingredients of your cleaning products before using them together! Please share this so more folks are aware, they literally don't be teaching us important stuff like this to prepare for the Adult World™

#cleaning #chemicals #safety

creature-wizard

Always remember that a major reason reason health scams and sketchy alternative medicines are flourishing the way they are right now is because the actual, real health care system is currently a raging Dumpster fire due to capitalism and conservative policies.

#healthcare #medicine #alternative medicine #us politics #scams

killanyone4you

#gardening

identifying-cleaning-products

If you don't mind the question, what makes vinegar good for washing floors? I've also seen it in window cleaners and stuff, and I always wondered why that was?

Vinegar is all natural and has no added chemicals. It tends to be the most environmentally-friendly product you can use and because of that, it's really easy to find out how it'll react to other chemicals used in cleaning solutions

#vinegar #cleaning

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