#spaw21

[practicalsolarpunk]

Solarpunk Action Week is here!! This week I will be:

Putting up a clothesline, so I can stop using my dryer at least most of the time.

Continuing to work on my garden - I’ve got seedlings sprouting, garlic and onions that need weeding, potatoes to plant, and a fence to put up.  Lots to do!

Mending, hopefully getting a few pairs of pants patched up and usable again, perhaps working on darning some socks if I get really ambitious.

Making paper out of yucca, if I have time - the garden is more of a priority at the moment.

What are all of you doing??

- Mod S

[solarpunkani]

Its the day after SPAW but I did do some SPAW-esque things so allow me to share.

I was busy with finals and packing for most of SPAW, unfortunately, but I did manage to do something Friday: I tossed some wildflower seeds around my dorm building’s walkways, and in a big mostly-empty flower bed nearby.

In hindsight, the seeds in the bed might not grow—the soil seems kinda dry and hard, so the chances of them catching on are slim. I didn’t have the time to rough up the soil, as I was supposed to be packing and moving out when I went to do this. I also tossed seeds in the areas with tall grass along the walkways and near this bulletin board-thing, so I hope those’ll grow better. I’ve seen wild peanuts grow here, and it clearly doesn’t get mowed much, so here goes nothing? I won’t be able to keep an eye on it or anything, but I figured it was worth a shot. My first foray into Guerrilla Gardening!

Yesterday (Saturday) I did another SPAW thing—sorta. I’d pulled up some extra zucchini plants I’d started in the garden and put them into their own pots and let them sit for a few weeks to make sure they Survived, and just yesterday I gave them to my Neighbor (who I will call E on this blog)! She’s been venturing into gardening recently, I’d given her some bell pepper plants in January and she’s already gotten 5 peppers from it! She’d mentioned liking Zucchini, and hey, I had extra zucchini, so I gave her my extras!

In case those don’t do well, I did start extra zucchini seeds just in case for her. But I have faith in her!

Thats all I managed to do for SPAW this season, but hopefully I’ll be able to do more guerrilla gardening in the future, and sharing seedlings too!

[fennopunk]

My second SPAW day was mostly uneventful, but there was some little things:

I crocheted bit of one of my solarpunk adjacent projects

I promised to be a "gardening tutor" for a close friend of mine, which will bound to become interesting, because I come from a gardening family (I'm not even exaggerating, my grandpa was a professional gardener as was his father, and his father and so on) and we tend to have, uh... "Fuck around and find out" Relaxed philosophy on gardening, which is part of the reason I'm not talking about it much online.

I educated some of my bit younger friends on Finnish LGBTQ+ history, a tiny part, but one that kinda showed there's a slight generational gab between us (many of my friends are in their early to mid twenties, while I just turned 30). They had no idea a home insemination is sometimes dubbed "Moomin mug method" while when I was a teen it was a common knowledge that a female couple may have had a male friend make a donation on a Moomin mug :D

I'm not sure if it was today or yesterday, but I mixed my compost too, which have now permanently moved to my balcony and have a population of flies living in it, which, yeah bit gross and annoying, but they're basically doing the exact same thing as earthworms, so I'm not really bothered :P I should make a set up better suited to balcony tho

I've also been collecting my used coffee grounds to be given to my balcony plants when the ones I already have are bigger and when I get more.

[practicalsolarpunk]

@calsyee said:

my solarpunk action week thing is going to involve getting heritage seeds from that group that will just mail you seeds if you ask for them, and trying to mend some jeans I wore through the crotch of!

Fantastic!!

- Mod S

[fennopunk]

Figures I get stuff done AFTER Solarpunk Action Week, but apparently that's just how I roll.

I checked my balcony while I took geraniums for outdoor time (last night was freezing, so it's good they're not full time there yet), and strawberry has several new shoots, so it most definitely survived winter and it did that well!

So did dogwood and I finally pruned it and instead of tossing the cuttings, I decided to see if they would take root (and I have that dogwood because they root as easily as willows).

Aaand I planted mint back outside.

Technically this happened yesterday, but I crocheted a good chunk of a red beanie I plan to embroider to resemble a folk costume cap from the town I was born in. It will have some lace too, but I haven't yet decided if I crochet that too, or if I use a lace I already have. It will be the last part of the beanie tho, so I will have time to see which will fit better.

[fennopunk]

And so it begins.

I started unraveling some old UFOs (UnFinished Object), some of which have been unfinished for over a decade! I plan on making some felted slippers that hopefully are good enough to outdoor use. But if not, at least for home, because while I generally run hot enough to go bare armed in 5°C without getting cold, my toes are entirely different matter. I use wool socks almost all year round for a reason.

Mmm~ Wool ramen 😃

[moonlightonmarigolds]

Solarpunk Action Week day 4!

Today I started more seeds! 4 different cucumbers, zucchini, winter squash, and pumpkins. Hopefully they’ll pop up quickly, I’ve only got a couple more weeks until it’s time for all that stuff to be planted out!

I also started some dill and a couple different types of basil in with my lettuce, and started soaking some parsley seeds, because apparently they germinate better that way? I’ll get those planted tomorrow.

I got the old clothesline down, but I still need to acquire a new one, hopefully I’ll be able to get that and get it set up tomorrow!

[moonlightonmarigolds]

Solarpunk Action Week day 3:

So far this week I have planted thyme, rosemary, arugula, and lettuce! With assistance from my niblings, who are having a great time learning about plants!

[photo id: an herb spiral made of different size and types of stone. Planted in it, from the base on the left to the top, are chives, thyme, rosemary, sage, another rosemary, and oregano.]

I have also worked on repairing my chickens’ run, which was not on the plan for this week, but needed to be done anyway. A hawk managed to get in, and that was scary for all involved!