i noticed somewhat of a trend of radio collar ids for wild canines so i looked into it. But since they are not as popular for wild horses i propose something else: Freeze Brands
They are used by the american BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and are actually an 8-digit ID;
The last three digits narrow the location even more down. A pdf with a lot of those "herd codes" can be found here:
Obviously this isn't a perfect solution, but i really liked the idea and wanted to share my take on it.
Since i am not american but my country doesn't really have any actually wild horses (just some in nature reserves so there is no real need for monitoring) i adapted it a bit:
I am from Germany(Deutschland-> D), so i will use a box instead of the first symbol, because it resembles a D.
I'm born in 2006 so the next two are 06.
And because i wanted something similar to the american system i just took the digits corresponding to the abbreviation of my state.
So i ended at: D06 181216
I was ready to tweak it a bit but i absolutely love it. I don't even know why it just has a great sound.
To anyone who thinks they might be losing a therio/kintype because its not fun anymore, think about your average human person. They aren't overjoyed to be human. That isn't something they even think about. You might have just gotten over the initial novelty of the experience, but that doesn't mean the experience isn't still with you. Try connecting more to the things you CAN feel, good or bad.
This is directed towards younger therians/otherkin mostly, but could be for everyone
Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won’t radicalize you into a hate group
It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that’s generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.
Unfortunately, these “self-sufficiency” skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the “good old days,” a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.
In the spirit of building safe communities, here’s a complete list of the safe resources I’ve found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.
Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:
Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)
Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)
How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)
Gardening
Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)
Country/Rural Living:
Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it’s like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)
“Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy” by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)
Sewing/Mending:
Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)
Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)
Sustainability/Land Stewardship
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs – in this case, indigenous American beliefs – can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)
Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)
Avoiding the “Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline”
Note: the “crunchy to alt-right pipeline” is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use “crunchy” spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.
“The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline” by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)
Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it’s a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)
These are just the resources I’ve personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!
My partner has been getting really into Sandor Ellix Katz’s work on fermentation, and ended up checking out The Art of Fermentation from the library so many times that I just got him a copy.
It’s really good! He’s read snippets of this and Katz’s other books to me, and the guy is really committed to sharing knowledge, uplifting indigenous knowledge and voices, and educating the world in how much nutrition, health, and culture we’ve lost as big corporations have chipped away at traditional at-home fermentation practices in favor of dead, sterile food and a fear of beneficial bacteria.
Fermentation is so much easier than you think it is, so much cheaper, and so so tasty. Seriously recommend giving it a look.
whether the internet becomes an intolerable surveillance state, ubiquitous subscription model, or unusably ad- or AI-ridden shithole, I think we need to remember
how to do things offline
either on your personal hard drive (just because it’s an app doesn’t mean the information is stored in your device) or on paper. I’m not saying the collapse of the internet is imminent, and I’m not suggesting we do everything completely without technology, or even stop using it until we have to. (to be clear, I also don’t think the internet will just blink out of existence, suddenly stop being a thing at all; rather I think it might continue to lose its usefulness to the point where it’s impossible to get anything done. anyway) but some people may have forgotten how we got by before the internet (I almost have!), and the younger generation might not have experienced it at all.
I figure most people probably use the internet mainly for communication with friends and family, entertainment and creation (eg. writing), and looking up how to do things, so here’s how to do those things offline:
First and most importantly, download everything important to you onto at least one hard drive and at least one flashdrive! files can get corrupted and hardware can get damaged or lost, but as long as you keep backup copies, you have much-closer-to-guaranteed access versus hoping a business doesn’t decide to paywall, purge, or otherwise revoke your access. I would recommend getting irreplaceable photos printed as well
download and/or print/write down:
anything important to you - photos/videos, journals, certificates, college transcripts
contact info - phone numbers and/or addresses of friends/family (know how to contact them if you can’t use your favourite messaging app), doctors (open hours would be good too), veterinarians if you have pets, and work
how-to’s - recipes (one, two), emergency preparedness (what do I do if… eg. I smell gas)
other things you might google: cleaning chemicals to NOT mix, what laundry tag symbols mean, people food dogs and cats can and can’t eat, plant toxicity to pets
and know offline ways to find things out - local radio station, newspaper, a nearby highway rest area might have a region map, public libraries usually have a bunch of resources
also, those of you who get periods should strongly consider not using period tracking apps! here’s how to track your period manually
free printable period tracker templates (no printer? public libraries usually charge a few cents per page, or you can recreate it by hand)
moving on to entertainment, you can still get most media for free! it’s completely legal to download your favourite movies to your own personal hard drive, you just can’t sell or distribute copies (not legal advice)
movies: wcostream.tv (right click the player) - the url changes every once in a while but usually redirects; I recently noticed that it’s hiding a lot of movies behind “premium,” so it may or may not work anymore | download youtube videos
music: how to get music without streaming it | legal free downloads
games: steamunlocked.net - doesn’t have every game and can be slow to update, but very reliable
Remember that links won't work without the internet, so also write down anything you find useful in this post! You have to download stuff ahead of time while you can still access the internet
keep physical user manuals for things like car, tv, appliances
how to prepare for computer work offline (may need to use reader mode to bypass a popup)
check interactions with any medications you're taking
how to search a library (databases are often accessible via library computers so might still be a thing without internet; also some info on manually searching the actual stacks) (backup rb)
make note of your local/state/federal laws regarding tenants’ rights & housing resources, workers’ rights, gun laws, abortion laws (though this is changing frequently)
How to Download Videos
URL downloaders for specific sites & in general
4k Video Downloader Plus, VLC Media Player, Freemake, YouTube-to-mp4
screencap with OBS (may only work on firefox and may violate ToS) or xbox game bar on windows (win+g)
especially download meme songs that you probably won’t find on a CD (example) with https://ytmp3.nexus/
Print photos with VistaPrint, WalMart, or CVS
Old Farmer's Almanac
Household chores list
Simple household repairs
Loads of old recipes (backup rb)
how to wean yourself off the internet
how to spend time with family
how to get involved with your community
ways to spend more time outside (set a goal/reason to be outside)
how to get outside more in different seasons
how to build nature into your lifestyle
how to start a self care habit | how to make a self care checklist
self care assessment | axes of self care | reparenting resources
Since I've already kind of been doing this due to living on a farm where we easily lose power during storms and lose internet because our only service provider is too fucking cheap to update infrastructure (we have copper wires still, not fiberoptic cable), I feel like I should add on some stuff, too. (Also, we haven't been able to afford any up to date shit since the early 2010s.)
- GET YOURSELF A WEATHER RADIO. Phones can be stolen, malfunction, die, etc. While these things can be a pain in the ass because it goes off for the region your local National Weather Service covers, this could very well save your life, especially if you are in a situation that I'm in that I described above. I recommend Midland, and this one is the most affordable if you're worried about price (Jesus, this thing was 30 bucks a year or two ago... stupid cheetoh). One of my local library branches even has it. (I also heavily recommend getting an emergency radio from them, too! Just be sure you get familiar with it soon and use it every once in a while so you're not struggling in a panic. This is the one I have.) Radio isn't a service you have to pay for like cellphone service or internet. Just be sure you have your battery situation all figured out. That being said, while the weather radio only uses the WX bands, the emergency radio allows AM and FM stations, too.
- Get an antenna of some sort for your television so you can receive local TV stations. This could be important regarding local news. I haven't gotten one for us yet, and I'm not even certain if we can get signal anymore because of how defunct many relay stations for airwaves are. If you live in or near a city and you're not deep in a valley, you're gonna have better luck with this. Yes, there are antennas made for modern flatscreens. Look them up while you can right now, and learn how to hook them up. I wish I could share more on this, but like I said, I haven't gotten one for us yet. I don't even know if we'd get anything to come in, lol. But like radio, airwaves are free. This includes what you could get on television!
- Look into meshtastic. Wanna get in touch with a friend or family member and get a response back quickly? Want to send out a message to the local community also using it? Imagine texting on radio waves. That's... kinda basically what this is. And there's no service to pay for! AND IT'S DECENTRALIZED! I haven't had the chance to try it out, but I'm definitely interested. Here's a video if you wanna learn more about what this is.
- Field Guides in book format. Get them. Mainly those involving local plants and insects/arachnids. Get familiar with where sections are in them in case you need to quickly look something up. You don't wanna assume whether or not something that bit you isn't going to be a problem for your health. I'd also recommend snake guides as well. It's VERY IMPORTANT to know what species bit you if they're venomous so you can be given the correct antivenom.
- Physical media is a thing gaining popularity for obvious reasons. Don't assume it's a fad. Unless you taped it, there aren't gonna be any ads or commercials interrupting what you're trying to watch. Learn how to operate VCRs and DVD players if you're too young to be that familiar with them. (I have the coveted combo machine that I've had since the 2000s. Still works like a charm.)
- Learn to make a go-bag (or several) *NOW.* Climate change is making shit get worse. I've got 2 hiking backpacks ready just in case we gotta split, so all I have to worry about is getting the cats into their carriers. Another thing that weather radio can sometimes be used for is if you need to evacuate due to things like volcanoes, chemical accidents, and wildfires. I am not kidding. A NOAA Weather Radio is fucking awesome and essential. I'm hoping to get a duffle bag to fill with more supplies for long hauls if needed, but I wanted to get the backpacks ready. (And if you're gonna have food with you, BE SURE TO ROTATE THE FOOD SO YOU DON'T HUNKER DOWN OR DIP OUT WITH EXPIRED FOOD. THIS INCLUDES ANY PET FOOD YOU HAVE PACKED.) You need to be able to get your shit and get at a moment's notice. Seconds could matter in an unexpected situation. Make sure you thoroughly plan every possible thing with the rest of your household and loved ones, such as where to go in certain circumstances, where to meet up, etc. INCLUDE ANY AND ALL PETS IN YOUR PLANS, TOO! (If you takes meds, make sure you plan for those, too, and make sure they don't expire. You will also want supplies for typical dental care. Trust me on this one.)
- Learn how to write and mail letters. If shit gets so bad for privacy online, the only way to keep in touch with friends and loved ones with privacy is gonna be through mailing letters. This means you gotta hand-write them. Yes, responses will be slow and you'll have to get the hang of using a writing utensil, but if we did it back in the day and survived, so can you. It is against federal law to open or tamper with someone else's mail. (For now. That cheetoh sure is doing whatever the fuck he wants without consequences.)
I just woke up about an hour ago and still drinking my coffee, so that's all I have for now. I don't know if I have any other things to add and just not remembering any of them. I'm also old and doing this on mobile, so trying to go back and edit and shit made the screen boop around and made me fuck a couple things up. I hope i fixed it all and the wording is fine and the links are helpful.
A collection of ways to make your life smell more horselike.
Horse-related scents:
Apples
Leaves
Wildflowers
Honey
Woodsy scents/"foresty" scents
Grassy scents
Types of scented bodycare items:
Lotion
Perfume
Bodywash
Bubblebath
Hand sanitizer
Shampoo
Hand soap
Ways to scent a room:
Candles
Incense
Warming oil
Oil diffuser
Diffusing sticks
Wax warmer
Room spray
Plug-in wall diffusers
Important Note!! Bath&Bodywork plug-in Wallflower refills do contain toxic chemicals. Smoke created by products like Incense and candles can harm small animals, even if it's just a tiny bit. And most essential oils and products will harm a plethora of animals if exposed, so do your own research and don't expose any pets to something that may harm them. If in doubt, I recommend sticking to bodycare items.
Some product examples:
Sweet Apple scented candles by MainStays
Champagne Apple and Honey bodycare items by BABW
Wildflower & Honey roll-on perfume by BABW
Crisp Fall Night scented candles by Yankee Candle
Juicy Green Apple shampoo by Suave
Country Apple bodycare by BABW
Autumn Apple Picking bubble bath and shower gel by Find Your Happy Place
Sunflower Incense by Oakland Gardens
Simply Macintosh warming oil by Yellow House Scented Simmering Oil
watched spirit today, since i have been feeling pretty horse lately. i was really scared of not liking it, because its such a big thing in the horsekin tag.
but i absolutely loved it and it ended way to quickly
To my fellow equines- I found this lovely video tonight and thought some of you might enjoy- it gives you that “grazing with a herd” feeling that not many things can :)
Run! go for runs, or even just walks. moving and stretching your legs/body will make you feel so much better.
Eat more fruits + veggies! don’t limit yourself to just carrots or apples, i get fancy and make whole salads. i add tofu for extra protein.
Eat oats for breakfast! start your day off right with a nice bowl of oatmeal- doesn’t have to be plain, i like to add brown sugar and apple slices to mine.
Lay in the grass! just lay there. feel how nice it is to simply just exist, with nothing being expected of you in that moment. watch the clouds our birds, and just enjoy the fresh air.
Braid your hair! if it’s long enough. you could get fancy and braid yarn or charms in! i’ve used a strand of fake ivy before.
Wear boots! The chunkier soles make your feet more hoof-like. i wear doc marten knock-offs i got at walmart for $20 lol.
Lay a blanket on top of your bed! it acts like hay/bedding in a stall- something to fluff up and snuggle in.
Identity is so funny. It is labeling an experience. But my experience is more like running water. I can try to catch some with my hands, but it just runs through my fingers. Maybe other people have a bucket, maybe their experience of life isnt as watery. Idk
But either way i feel like i should stop labeling myself because life disproved me time and time again.
Maybe i should just enjoy showering in my experiences.
The thing is, I did grow up around real animals. We had cats, dogs, guinea pigs, chickens... we raised rabbits for meat and I helped with the butchering since I was 6. At school, I helped pick out which mice to feed our corn snake. Every weekend from age 5 to 14 was spent at the riding school.
But I still recognize that, while working with real horses, I was watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and reading pony comics and playing Barbie Horse Adventures. My horse otherlink is very much informed by fictionalized horses. Likewise, while I like to believe my bisonhood is close in nature to that of theriform bison, I've only ever been able to observe my brothers in captivity.
What I know about bison is from books and documentaries, and all of that is filtered through the minds of the humans who wrote and directed it. And how many of those humans grew up around real animals? Do you think there's no human imagination in the ways zoo enclosures are set up, the way documentaries are presented, and the way field guides categorize animals for ease of observation?
We are raised by humans, and our therianthropy is thus affected by the humans around us. And being raised around something is not a prerequisite for understanding it. After all, the people most likely to abuse a horse are lifelong equestrians who "just know" how horses think and feel - never realizing that all they really know is how horses behave, as perceived by humans.
I think my reaction was commenting on a different part of it than that. I absolutely recognize all that and how it informs peoples kintypes, I actually just made a post about how its okay to have your kintype be informed by fictional depictions lol.
I was much more reacting with horror at the idea of a child who has no sense that animals are real and have tangible impact on their world. Of the idea of someone growing up and not knowing the difference between the mechanical robot animals, and the living ones at the zoo. Who learned primarily about animals from fiction, rather than learning about real animals but also having fictionalized stories about them.
Humans have had animal myths as part of their society since forever. It is a normal part of human development to encounter fictional and fantastical ideas of animals.
I was much less reacting to and impacted by the presence of fictional animals in this persons life, *but the lack of real ones*, and the utter disconnect from real nature they felt growing up. That to me is a horror story, it is a recipie of disaster for getting children to care about the enviornment and to protect it. *That* impacted me a lot more than honestly any alterhuman perspective specifically.
Ahh, I see. Yeah. The section about the animatronics made me tear up, because it had genuinely never occured to me that the human/animal divide could be so extreme. That was where I decided that I had to share this with the community.
Burritos! I've recently found that they're really good for tearing into with my teeth like ripping into prey. 10/10 would recommend going absolutely feral on your burrito. Pizza is pretty good for this too
In a similar vein, soft fruit that you can tear off chunks of with your teeth is also great for this, especially if they're really juicy. I like to do this with cooked pineapple (specifically cooked because it's softer and easier to tear pieces off of). I've also heard of "shower oranges", where you take an orange into a shower to eat it so you can be as messy with it as you want, and in a place where it's relatively easy to clean it up (and apparently it smells amazing too, if you like the smell of citrus).
Tear up some lunch meat and mix it in with rice-- I don't know why, but this works, at least for me. It's very good. I like to do it with turkey.
If you have a kintype that crunches on bones like a Tasmanian devil, try pretzel sticks! You can also stick marshmallows on either end of them and cover them in white chocolate for a treat that looks like a bone too.
Speaking of bones, whenever I eat bone-in chicken I like to crack open the bones, then dig out and eat the marrow. Be extra careful if you try this though because the broken edges can be very jagged and sharp.
I've never tried this before, but I think it might be fun or affirming to do some exercise like running, and then "reward" yourself with food afterwards, to simulate hunting. Even though you don't actually catch the food, I think that running specifically to eat food afterwards might still recreate that feeling a little bit. If anyone tries this do let me know if it works!
Try to find candy / snack versions of your prey, like marshmallow mice, peeps, sugar or gummy insects (Annie's makes bug-shaped fruit snacks that I like!), Swedish fish, animal crackers, etc. Some of them, like the ones made of marshmallow or gummy, are also great for tearing into like I mentioned about burritos and fruit.
If your kintype eats insects, there are plenty of places to find actual insects sold as food like fried crickets. There are shops that sell these online, and I believe you can also find them in Asian markets or the like. (And if you don't like to eat real insects, there are candy versions like I mentioned above!)
Jerky is also really great for satisfying prey drive, but if you don't like jerky or are vegetarian, fruit leathers have a similar texture.
Let me know if you've tried any of these and if they work for you, and if you have any other ideas do tell me so I can add them!!
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