Question; if this's your future leo after war what about the rest of his brothers? Are they dead? Alive? And what are they doing?
Ooo, you're asking the big plot related questions 👀
I haven't gotten into this part of my AU yet due to, well, not being able to properly tell the story. But since you asked so nicely :]
LORE INFODUMP TIME!
(Seriously this got out of hand so fast-)
Here's a bit copied and pasted from my personal notes
*ninpo, he's more practiced than leo due to his portals vanishing at age 20-30, he doesn't need his nagamaki to portal anymore, and is very skilled with his portals all in all.
-can create countless tiny apple sized portals as long as he has enough focus to plan the trajectory of the apple, he can do tricks like that with little difficulty, and loves using it in battle
-he can phase his body between reality and the portal dimension, letting him pass through physical objects, and people
-he can summon his nagamaki, but he can also summon Leo's swords, depends what mental state he's in, along with which is closer. Same goes for teleporting to his, or Leo's weapon
-
*his inability to portal wasn't due to having lost his ninpo, per se, he had just used it up, kinda like being burnt out, but on a whole nother level
-his ninpo vanished due to his body using it as a life source, keeping him alive, at the very least. It did have severe side effects, his ninpo making up for skipped meals, dehydration, lost sleep and more.
-ninpo side effects consisted of being severely underweight from his habit to skip meal after meal, his scales dry and dull from his lack of water, and a constant wear and tear on his body from the lack of sleep for nights on end. When he'd finally crash due to his energy literally running out, he'd collapse on the spot, passing out and finally getting some well deserved sleep
-after appearing in the past, his body was so used to its survival tactics that he couldn't sleep, despite the undeniable safety. he couldn't eat without a trashcan in arms reach, and after his third time violently upchucking his food he avoided eating entirely, having to get iv fluids and a feeding tube with the lightest nutritional liquid they could manage, instead. He did still drink water, after marveling at how clean it was
-to combat the previous point, they slowly started introducing foods easy on the stomach more and more, eventually deciding to have him snack throughout the day instead of full meals. To help with his sleep issues, they tried giving him a small dose of a drug to knock him out, he didn't like it but it worked for the most part, casey would often spend the night in the medbay with him as a comfort for them both.
*His brothers, after meditating and talking with karai for the first time since his portals vanished, he saw three pairs of eyes staring into his, across from him. his brothers signature colours were swirling around him. He then passed out, and the colours shot out in a multicolored shockwave of sorts, wrecking his surroundings. his recovered ninpo completely drained from his body in mere seconds. In this scenario his ninpo had been drained despite his brothers ninpo having fused with his own, this however means that when he recovers his ninpo, it's as strong as the four of them combined, along with being multicolored from then on.
-he wasn't aware of what happened, afterwards, not remembering the encounter with his brothers
-his ninpo started recovering four times as fast, which wasn't a lot, but it was an improvement
-the stronger his ninpo got, the more his brothers could interract with the world. They were completely invisible, and not really there physically for the first few weeks, but as their ninpo grew, they started doing things around the lair, Akari (donatello) going into his counterparts technology, leaving notes on how to fix coding, improve tech. Michaelangelo helping everyone out with aches, illness, bad moods etc, giving them a mental and physical boost. Raphael protecting them by redirecting projectiles, acting as a shield if necessary, and even helping them find things they misplaced.
-eventually his brothers are visible to mikey, but the transition from invisible to visible was freaky, seeing glimpses of eyes, tall silhouettes around corners, feeling watched, the horror movie experience. Unlike mikey, the others needed to activate their ninpo to be able to see his brothers, but the latter are always capable of physically interracting with the world
-later on donnie and Akari work together to create cloaking brooch esque pendants that let his brothers be visible to the naked eye
-his brothers can still use their ninpo seperately, but they're usually careful, as they could easily drain nardo if it got out of hand
Here's just a bit of clarifying info ig?
Orions brothers are dead, they're tethered to him, in a way, but they're not stuck to him. The further away from him they are the less of their ninpo he has access to, it causes them no harm to wander around and he encourages them to live their lives the way they want to, and not just stick around him because them leaving affects him, it just so happens to be that they want to be around their brother, their family.
Like i said, it causes them no harm to wander, including Orion. Physically, at least (more on that later). Ori is just fine with just his own ninpo, he's still as powerful as he needs to be to protect himself and those he loves,
Their fused ninpo works kinda like a tracker, if Ori were to lose his brothers he could search until he felt more of their ninpo, and then follow that until he finds them, so on and so forth.
when they're all together, everyone can feel the others ninpo, Ori is just the vessel when they're together. This does however mean that one of, or all of Orions brothers could accidentally drain all of their ninpo, so they usually stay out of petty fights and let Ori handle them, but if there's something that needs a bit more teamwork? You'll get to see what they can *really* do when they fight as a unit
If their ninpo were to be completely drained, Orion would pass out and his brothers would fade and be put into a foggy dreamlike state, they won't be solid or visible anymore until their ninpo recovers. By the time he wakes up again he'll be exhausted, dizzy, and suffering from a horrible migraine.
This dreamlike state is how they first came to be in the present, after he spoke with karai and triggered the explosive reaction in the training room, The little bit of ninpo he'd recovered was completely drained. Which led to him collapsing on the spot and waking up a few minutes later, dizzy and with the worst migraine he'd ever experienced. After this, his ninpo recovered four times faster than before, but he wasn't aware that his brothers were with him again
As his ninpo recovered, his brothers became more tangible and aware, their perception growing clearer by the day. Eventually they started kinda haunting their family, in their own unique ways
Aaaand here's a whole set of notes on Orion and facts under the cut :p
(All words btw, it is split up a bit and i think i made it okay to read?)
*specifics
-weight, 230 kg
-height, 7'4, 223cm
-age, 40
-calorie intake, 6377, eats 1600cal meals, usually getting the last 1500 through snacking
*Will throw out food (especially meat) the day after it expires, the smell of rotted meat is too reminiscent of krang/sickness. Any and all leftovers are eaten within days most times, often not more than two as he has nothing against eating the same food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
*often very resourceful, knows survival tactics and avoids wasting food (the previous point being an exception), is usually a very efficient meal planner, he's an omnivore, but he likes to lean more towards a carnivorous, protein rich and high fat diet. occasional keto meals
-any type of meat, often favoring red meats
-most fruits, berries, favorite is peach (sliced)
-any and all nuts, common snack, but he does also like incorporating them in meals
-vegetable enthusiast, loves trying different combinations and adding them in smoothies and the like
-has a sweet tooth, usually satisfies it with fruits, rather than candy and the such, although he does eat the occasional pastry, in moderation
-He avoids overly sugary foods, as they affect his more feral state, making him jittery, paranoid, and anxious, similar to being overcaffeinated
*basically immune to spice due to tastebuds being obliterated by the atrocious sensations he had to put them through
-figured this out when he had no issues eating one of mikey's extra spicy meals, leo tried a bite and struggled with the sheer amount of spice mikey had crammed in there
-it's a 'can handle spice' scenario, rather than a 'can't feel spice' scenario, find something outrageously spicy and he'll still have the typical 'ate something too spicy' reaction; reclined, fanning face, sweaty, flushed, panting with a slight grin, the masochist.
-he likes spicy food, since it scratches a masochism itch in his brain, though he rarely goes over his spice tolerance
*coffee enthusiast, his energy levels are on an all time low, so he can rely on the stimulant a bit much. Around five cups on bad days, though he tries to limit himself to max three, most days
*stress stims
-clicking in back of throat, very common one, usually represses it
-scratching at self, pants, furniture
-rubbing prosthetic thigh, often when phantom pains flare up
-compulsive hissing, uncommon, usually if he feels threatened, rather than stressed
-bursts of growling, more common than hissing, usually used as a "back off" sound, also if he feels threatened
-fiddling with clothes, nearby object, bracelet, nearby person
*sometimes, to comfort someone he'll start humming very quietly, not to be heard, but felt. The vibrations of his voice a comforting sensation to his family
-he started doing this in a desperate attempt to quiet casey down as a kid, when they couldn't afford to make noise, then it stuck
*has his occasional 'off day' where his feral tendencies are greatly exaggerated, memories of off days tend to be foggy. Easy to trigger episodes during off days
*despite his over all lack of energy, he loves exercise and is borderline a workaholic at times, the others having stepped in on numerous occasions when he starts getting too close to 'won't be able to walk tomorrow' territory.
-his favorite thing is running, will often go on early morning, late night, midnight, mid day runs, sometimes multiple a day, but usually just his daily ones
-enjoys the peacefulness of yoga, flexibility training, compared to his other interests
-weight lifting multiple times a week
*ninpo, he's more practiced than leo due to his portals vanishing at age 20-30, he doesn't need his nagamaki to portal anymore, and is very skilled with his portals all in all.
-can create countless tiny apple sized portals as long as he has enough focus to plan the trajectory of the apple, he can do tricks like that with little difficulty, and loves using it in battle
-he can phase his body between reality and the portal dimension, letting him pass through physical objects, and people
-he can summon his nagamaki, but he can also summon Leo's swords, depends what mental state he's in, along with which is closer. Same goes for teleporting to his, or Leo's weapon
-
*his inability to portal wasn't due to having lost his ninpo, per se, he had just used it up, kinda like being burnt out, but on a whole nother level
-his ninpo vanished due to his body using it as a life source, keeping him alive, at the very least. It did have severe side effects, his ninpo making up for skipped meals, dehydration, lost sleep and more.
-ninpo side effects consisted of being severely underweight from his habit to skip meal after meal, his scales dry and dull from his lack of water, and a constant wear and tear on his body from the lack of sleep for nights on end. When he'd finally crash due to his energy literally running out, he'd collapse on the spot, passing out and finally getting some well deserved sleep
-after appearing in the past, his body was so used to its survival tactics that he couldn't sleep, despite the undeniable safety. he couldn't eat without a trashcan in arms reach, and after his third time violently upchucking his food he avoided eating entirely, having to get iv fluids and a feeding tube with the lightest nutritional liquid they could manage, instead. He did still drink water, after marveling at how clean it was
-to combat the previous point, they slowly started introducing foods easy on the stomach more and more, eventually deciding to have him snack throughout the day instead of full meals. To help with his sleep issues, they tried giving him a small dose of a drug to knock him out, he didn't like it but it worked for the most part, casey would often spend the night in the medbay with him as a comfort for them both.
*His brothers, after meditating and talking with karai for the first time since his portals vanished, he saw three pairs of eyes staring into his, across from him. his brothers signature colours were swirling around him. He then passed out, and the colours shot out in a multicolored shockwave of sorts, wrecking his surroundings. his recovered ninpo completely drained from his body in mere seconds. In this scenario his ninpo had been drained despite his brothers ninpo having fused with his own, this however means that when he recovers his ninpo, it's as strong as the four of them combined, along with being multicolored from then on.
-he wasn't aware of what happened, afterwards, not remembering the encounter with his brothers
-his ninpo started recovering four times as fast, which wasn't a lot, but it was an improvement
-the stronger his ninpo got, the more his brothers could interract with the world. They were completely invisible, and not really there physically for the first few weeks, but as their ninpo grew, they started doing things around the lair, Akari (donatello) going into his counterparts technology, leaving notes on how to fix coding, improve tech. Michaelangelo helping everyone out with aches, illness, bad moods etc, giving them a mental and physical boost. Raphael protecting them by redirecting projectiles, acting as a shield if necessary, and even helping them find things they misplaced.
-eventually his brothers are visible to mikey, but the transition from invisible to visible was freaky, seeing glimpses of eyes, tall silhouettes around corners, feeling watched, the horror movie experience. Unlike mikey, the others needed to activate their ninpo to be able to see his brothers, but the latter are always capable of physically interracting with the world
-later on donnie and Akari work together to create cloaking brooch esque pendants that let his brothers be visible to the naked eye
-his brothers can still use their ninpo seperately, but they're usually careful, as they could easily drain nardo if it got out of hand
*protective over his leg port, when his prosthetics are detached
-often growls if someone comes to close, bites if you're unlucky
-only lets leo touch it without arguement, even his donnie always got growling during check-ups
-rarely goes without a prosthetic, if his leg is gone he'll use the built in spare, reminiscent of an endo skeleton
*The colour pink is traumatic, for obvious reasons, will trigger episodes, but he comes back quick when the colour is out of sight again. Not without agressive hissing, growling, and possibly pouncing if you're unlucky. If you're very unlucky he might go straight for the 5'7 nagamaki blade that he can summon on demand
-donnie designs contact lenses that cancel out the colour pink, until the exposure therapy pays off
*Recurring flashback dream, vividly relives sister krang torturing him as slowly as she can, slowly snapping his arm off before tossing it to some krang hounds as a treat, but mainly carving off most of his thigh, cutting into his femur from hip to a bit below the knee, before reaching into his leg and excruciatingly, slowly twisting the bone out of its socket, doing the same to his knee joint. Then ripping the last bits of flesh keeping his leg even remotely attached before holding up the femur as if in amusement (cue his screaming)
*dissociates quite often, can be completely gone, or barely there at times, other times he's just a bit out of it
*michaelangelo helped him teach his brain to wake up to certain triggers due to their special circumstances, words, patterns, etc
-krang
*when a panic attack is triggered he will flee, running as far away as possible (kilometers) before hiding somewhere quiet, dark, and secluded. Tends to scratch at neck, thigh, nape etc as a form of unintended self harm, the pain helping him stay somewhat grounded
-this can result in deep gashes from his nails, but due to his healing factor, they heal within days, and rarely ever leave a scar. If there is a scar it's usually barely noticable
-
-
*when an anxiety attack is triggered he'll likely dissociate, along with a lot of stress stimming
*neat freak due to being forced to live in filth for two decades, keeps the lair spotless, always does chores in time, daily showers at least, just feels most at home when everything is tidy and genuinely enjoys the process of cleaning
So, I've already delved a bit into this on the toa discord, but Oliver is completely human. He was adopted by Carter and Douxie after being anonymously left at an orphanage in a small town really close to where the flying Arcadian city was hovering.
When he was two, they discovered that he was half blind in one eye. That explained all the running into walls and in general poor depth perception their toddler had. Upon further investigation by some concerned doctors (ahem read as: concerned grandmother), they found out that Oliver's blindness was actually a genetic condition that might eventually spread to both eyes. One of his biological parents probably had the same condition.
And spoilers but not really, he does end up completely blind by age 12.
Because they found out about it so early on, thank the gods, they were able to adjust his combat training to make sure he'd be able to keep himself safe.
He does have a service animal, (who may or may not be a dragon 👀).
Oliver is very independent, and hates being babied. So... beware any motherfucker who decides he can't handle himself and tries to do everything for him.
Rule is: If he doesn't ask for your help, don't help. He's capable of doing everyday menial tasks by himself.
His parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and sister have all, at one point or another, broken this rule on accident. But it's all been done in some sort of mundane way that ends up funny later. No one's perfect, and they're all idiots but in the best way.
I love them
Now Tori!!
Tori my love. There's nothing new about her that I haven't shared here, but in case some of you didn't know!
Tori is a very special kid... because she wasn't naturally spawned into the world. She was made from the Universe or I guess ✨️Magic✨️ intervention. She's made from the magical essence of her parents. It was kind of like... their bond as soulmates and their love for eachother was so strong, that it accidentally spawned in a kid literally made of magic.
Carter found her while he was on a covert mission with some of his siblings. He just knew she was his daughter, and took her home.
Great timing too, because literally three days before this, him and Douxie had been talking about adopting a kid.
So yeah!!! They're both wonderful and weird and I love them.
Fun facts that accidentally happened, I didn't plan this:
But Tori looks like Douxie! She has a very similar facial structure to his, and skin tone! Her hair is a little more similar to Carter's, in that it's curly but way more than his actually is. But overall, she physically takes after Douxie, which I think is pretty cool!
Oliver does look more like Carter, but this actually is just a coincidence and holds no real significance.
Tori has been bugging Oliver about letting her dye his hair, but his answer is always, "I can't see it, so what's the point?" And she pouts afterwards
How do you come up with concepts/find Inspiration for projects like your ch3?
Warning - I got overexcited and started info-dumping and ended writing a LOT and I don't ever know if it's helpful so uhhhh sorry about that! This is long...
Thank you for the question :)
Creating original characters has been my passion for way over a decade so tbh I don't really think about it too much, it kind of just happens
Characters end up living in my head and doing their own thing and I have no choice but to watch and document it LOL jkjk
But yeah, for chapter 3 I've literally only made Mike and Host and have hardly developed anything around the TV World aside from the stuff that I have shared and the backstory of those two
I guess I could share my thought process when I was first making them? I don't know if that would help, but I do enjoy sharing stuff like that ^^
I'll start by saying that I never wanted to make a Mike design because I knew from the start that I'd become extremely attached, and lo and behold, that's exactly what happened hahaha
Host was never a character in the earlier concepts, I'm writing my fic "To Give You Heaven", and while "Mike" has been mentioned in my other fics as kind of like a vague evil entity that torments Spamton's memories, for the Heaven fic, I wanted to focus more on the relationship between the two.
And in order to have that, "Mike" needed to actually be a character rather than just an evil voice just so their relationship actually had anything to it.
I've never been good at writing villains, every time I write a mean villain-esce thing, it never feels natural to me, and I do admit that that is the reason why Mike (And Host) turned out to be a lot more morally grey than most other interpretations I've seen ;;
aNYWAY, THE DESIGN UHHH
Host was never meant to be a character
I actually started writing Mike in the fic before I tried to draw him, and initially him and Host were the same entity.
I was mixed about it because everything in the game points to Mike being the TV character but I kept thinking about how "Mike" is most likely a pun for "Mic/Microphone" and I had seen some fan designs already that interpreted him as a microphone so I was really into that idea, but I also liked the TV Head idea so I started with them being the same character, so it was just Mike commanding this empty husk of a TV Head, who was also him???
Or he was a microphone built into the TV Head's body?? They both had the pink and yellow eyes at some point, and they'd move in sync, but that kind of went nowhere.
Then that whole thing kind of started developing into the whole parasite/host idea, and the TV Head got the placeholder name of "TV Host" (Because haha pun) and then just "Host" and then slowly became their own entity so that's how they came into the picture.
But having not one but two characters talking to Spamton at the same time would kind of felt weird and the relationship Host originally had with Mike was also a lot more hostile, so I ended up making them mute.
Host's connection with Gaster also came from their whole sign language thing and how it hints at that "Beware of the man who speaks in hands" phrase. Host's initial concept also had holes on the hands, but that got scrapped because it felt a bit too on the nose LOL
Side-note, but Host's concept of the floating sign language hands is actually a recycled idea from an AU version of another unrelated OC of mine, I wasn't doing anything with said AU OC, but I liked that part of the design so I wanted to reuse that.
My thought process is all over the place rn, but yeah the main idea for them was just me being stubborn and not wanting to make a TV Head Mike, but still wanting to have fun with that expectation.
Basically I just wanted people to go "Wait, Mike's the microphone???" Which I think is really funny
I kind of expected people to not really care much about Host because of this, but the reception to them has been so positive, I'm really surprised ^^
I'm a sucker for characters who are "opposites attract", so you'll probably find a lot of that in them
Talks a lot vs Can't talk at all, Extrovert vs Introvert, Short vs Tall, Aggressive vs Calm
But I also wanted to have parallels with Spamton! And I really liked the idea of Spamton being "manipulated" by Mike, who ironically is not only smaller than he is, but physically powerless to do anything on his own.
I think I mentioned it on Twitter but I'm not sure if I did here, Mike and Host are also inspired on the Swatch/Spamton and Seam/Jevil dynamics, where it's just "weird little guy" and "emotional support non-binary shopkeeper" LOL whichhhhh built the expectation of Mike being a secret boss, but I wanted to be stubborn so I said "Uhm actually it's Host" because they're the one with the Gaster connection and between them and Mike, they're the one who's more prone to getting manipulated by someone with bad intentions, Mike kind of ends up protecting them in that aspect
Hosts' Design hmm
Their design was based on the TV Sprite from the end of Chapter 2, and their blue tone was originally colour picked from the sprite itself, I couldn't decide what their eyes would look like so I didn't give them any, and even though it's not present on the sprite, I gave them the colour bar mouth anyway (Omega Host has the normal non-coloured teeth similar to the sprite, because that inconsistency bothers me a lot haha)
As I mentioned above, the floaty hand idea is recycled from an older OC, and also because I couldn't figure out what their arms looked like so I didn't give them any.
Their shoulders are inspired on those bulky square camera heads, with the green part being the camera len, but they're so stylized so I'm not sure that part of the design actually translates too well. I based their body on a TV remote, couldn't decide on a leg design so I just made them solid blue as well.
Tailcoats are kind of a weird staple of my designs so the addition of it is just a design clutch, but also an excuse for me to repeat the colour bar pattern haha
I should have mention that the green on their design is the same green from the Spamton NEO's strings, I kind of wanted the green to kind of symbolize "connection" of some sort, which is why I added it to the shoulders and wrists, but also Mike's cord.
Mike's Design
He's literally a microphone with eyes and funny face, what do you want me to say LOL
He was inspired on the smiling face that you see when you go to the basement, but at some point I inverted the order of his eye colour and I forgot to fix it so his eyes are the same as Spamton's glasses
Back on the opposites talk, while Host has no eyes, Mike is literally a goofy face slapped on a mic, he's so tiny that I had to make his eyes and mouth huge to make up for it
He's inspired on one of those metal retro microphones because I wanted to imply that he was older with a vintage ish look (He's like on his 50s), and I think his silver colour ended up adding to that because I personally associate the silver with older people, but also him being shiny kind of helped give him an important look I guess?? I'm not sure if that comparison makes any sense.
Him and Host also have the cute matching bowties because of the TV presenter vibes, Mike's green cord is because of the Spamton/Sneo connection and hhhhh Yeah that's all there is to it really
On his own, he's literally just a microphone so he looks best when together with Host,,
I don't know what I say about Mike's design with the body, he's very simple. Asymmetric suit to match his eyes, pink and white because I felt like the yellow would be too much, and the cord actually being his tail is kind of a funny gag,,, Because I imagine he tries to act very intimidating when he's just a mic, but then when he gets his body fixed, others find out that the cord was a tail and paired with how tiny he is, it just makes him weirdly cute and I don't know, it's just a cute interaction hahaha
But yeah, I'm not sure if this helped in anyway or if I completely missed the point of the question ;v; My process is just throwing stuff at the wall until it sticks and just work from there, and also not worry too much about getting characters perfect in one go because the development is gradual??? Most of my inspiration comes from Deltarune/Undertale itself, as well as reading people's theories on the game
I've been making characters for a while, it kind of just happens so I don't know what advice to give other than "This is how I did things, so if any of what I said helps, uhh go for it??" qwq
actually you know what im gonna infodump about permaculture and sustainable farming for a minute bc it’s been my main hyperfixation for a while and y’all really Ought to Know This because it can, in fact, give you a green thumb as well as extra food to eat, is very cheap, and it’s extremely time management friendly. i only need to work on my garden twice a month, maybe more during drier seasons/if i get more plants.
(also correct grammar and spelling below bc i don’t know about you but i can’t read otherwise.)
The first thing you’re gonna want to do is figure out how much space you have available, your climate, and the condition of the soil (if available.)
If you live in a place where there is limited gardening space and can’t garden because it’s too expensive, don’t worry! You can still grow lots of plants cheaply. If you have access to the outside (like an outdoor balcony, or a small yard, but no soil) then do yourself a favor and grab some cheap plastic storage bins. Drills some holes in the bottom and you should be good to go. If you don’t have space outside, but you do have windowsills, you can grow plants in empty plastic containers. I have a ton of plants growing in old Costco sour cream containers.
Now, if you do have a yard, let’s say you’re starting from complete scratch here. You haven’t touched it in a while. You had grass once, you think, but it’s yellowed and dying. Or maybe you’re like me, and you just have dirt. Hard-packed dirt.
Does this look familiar?
Dry-ass, nasty dirt. You’re more likely to break your leg than to dig a decent hole in this, and the only thing that’ll grow is weeds.
Yeah. That’s because there’s no cover. Nothing’s gonna grow because there’s no nutrients in there, and all water evaporates almost instantly. Your yard is well on it’s way to becoming a desert.
First, make sure there’s no lead in the ground. You can get tests pretty cheaply on amazon. Lead poisoning is no joke, and if we’re gonna be growing edible food you don’t want to take any chances. If you live in a city you especially want to get your soil checked out.
If you don’t have lead in your dirt; What you’re gonna want to do is get your hands on some sort of cover, and some fertilizer. You don’t need anything fancy. Look for fertilizer with worm castings in it, and a minimum amount of pesticides/chemicals. For cover, anything decomposable will work. I’ve personally used newspaper, coffee liners, leaves, and sawdust/wood shavings.
Cover the area you’re planting with the fertilizer, then the covering, then a lil more fertilizer (or mulch if you can get some.) Spray it down every once in a while. You can plant stuff at the same time you set up the soil, or wait a bit. Doesn’t matter too much. As the cover starts to rot, add a little more fresh material.
Trust me, this stuff works. I had never seen an earthworm in my garden until a couple weeks after I started doing this. It’s become a lot easier to dig now too.
If you don’t have access to soil and have to use containers, it’s pretty much the same. Add fertilizer + store-bought soil to containers, plant stuff, and add cover. The cover keeps the soil nice and moist, and as it rots it adds more nutrients to the soil.
As for plants to get;
I really recommend starting off with onions, garlic, and potatoes. They require almost no work, and you can just plant the ones you buy at the grocery store/left over from cooking. Just let them sit in the sun for a couple of days/a week, and as they sprout, separate individual stalks (leaving some of the onion/garlic/potato) and plant them. When the stalks start to wither and die, they’re ready to pull up. (It should take about a year.)
Some other great plants include; marigolds, lavender, and basil (good for keeping away mosquitoes, and are edible), strawberries, spider plants (not edible but pretty and easy to grow), tomatoes, and peas. You can collect seeds, plant from clippings, or buy them.
But if you want to do this long term...
Permaculture works by mimicking how nature works. Instead of using the methods factory farming uses- which requires massive amounts of fertilizer, chemicals, and work- you start by laying the groundwork, then sit back and do the minimal amount of work to keep your garden producing. This video explains them very well. Actually, that youtube channel in particular is a great one for explaining the process. He does a lot of Q&As and visits other people’s permaculture experiments all over the world.
Unfortunately, I personally cannot explain these very well quite yet, as I’m still experimenting with permaculture techniques myself.
stillout2lunch said: Tell us more about the sets! Please? I don’t know anything about soap opera sets but it sounds really interesting.
so like... assuming someone had no previous knowledge of how sets work in general nm soap operas....
idk where anyones from but the uk has a soap called Emmerdale which is named that because it used to focus on a farm called Emmerdale Farm, and the surrounding village. now the whole village is referred to as emmerdale village (in the soap, not irl)
so originally it was filmed in the actual village, but its a very long running soap and its now filmed on an actual set. there are obviously a lot of advantages to having an actual set instead of relying on filming in the village but my sister works in a farm opposite to the original pub, which is central to the soap.
so the new set is considered to be a life size replica of the original village but there are some very obvious differences between the original village and the new set that you can immediately see if you watch the older episodes and it’s really interesting. probably the two most noticeable things are that the streets are a lot wider and the brick style is different.
the original main road through the village was very narrow which is not uncommon in rural villages but makes it difficult for equipment and filming, especially vehicular stunts (incidentally most of the vehicular stunts nowadays are done on surrounding roads outside of the village set anyway)
additionally, the brick style of the original village was changed to be more similar to a brick style more popular in a different part of the country, which seems to be a more stylistic choice because the new set was still in a similar part of the country to the original, and there was no canon move in the show. it could also have something to do with the work needed to mimic the markings on the buildings, as older stone buildings in the original style often have dark marks from eras of particularly high pollution (e.g. the industrial revolution) even in rural areas, and the original brickwork did have dark markings.
there were some buildings and such that werent included in the original build as well due to budget, and that meant reshuffling parts of the village. the village isnt to scale because some lesser used parts of the village were made smaller, while others were removed, and some side streets weren’t included in the rebuild
most of the buildings are shells and a lot of what looks like separate buildings actually feed into each other. some of the walls are moveable so they can get access to different angles, especially in the pub when people are sat against the walls, so thats cool. the buildings have stairs but the stairs dont lead to a second floor - instead the buildings have high ceilings to allow for lighting and other technical work.
the inside room of the pub actually has a cellar, which in the show is a thing they use a lot for comedy and drama to have people locked in, but the stairs arent actually stairs, its a slope designed to look like stairs because the actors arent ever actually filmed going down there. the reason for that is that the cellar isnt actually through the ‘cellar door’, its in an entirely different area of the building.
most of the rooms for different buildings arent connected the way the original set was at all, and its instead filmed separately with them going through a door and then moving through the set to an entirely different area to film them coming through the other side of the door so they can edit it together.
overall the effect is that the set now is much bigger, cleaner and more accessible for filming than the original village, but also less reflective of the regional rural village despite the characters strong regional roots
