#I know I mostly post dc stuff#but vote Kate & Billy#for me#recently we got a flashback to Kate insisting he needed to know Real Life Wilderness Survival Skills#and dragging him off into the woods so that he didn’t just rely on magic#the issue here being that Kate is from New York City also and doesn’t know shit about it#they’re besties and disasters together and I love them (via @hmslusitania)
With all the talk about telling people to start planting and growing crops to feed themselves and their communities during this time of crisis, I’m surprised I haven’t seen much about HOW MUCH to plant to feed people. Here’s a good article to serve as a jumping-off point, to give people an idea of when to plant and how much to plant to keep people fed. Keep in mind that unless you live on a fairly sizeable plot of land that has ideal growing conditions, you probably won’t be able to completely feed a family of four, at least with traditional gardening methods. However, you can still heavily supplement your diet with homegrown food if you plot your garden carefully.
It's time to plan the vegetable garden, but how much should you plant per person to feed your family?
Some things you can do to save space include growing plants in stackable towers rather than flat rows. Not everything can grow this way, but growing herbs or even strawberries or some kinds of tomatoes in them can save a lot of space. Bonus points if you can get some vertical vining plants like beans or tomatoes to grow up the sides of them to maximize the space used.
Hanging planters can also be used for things like tomatoes, herbs, some berries, etc. The people who grew up watching TV in the 2000s may remember ads for the topsy-turvy tomato planter. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of them, but it may be good inspiration for creative DIY hanging planters.
Many people don’t seem to know this (to be fair, it’s not very intuitive), but small melons and gourds can be grown vertically on a trellis. You will need pantyhose or something else that can act like a sling for when the fruit gets large enough, and you’ll also want to make sure the trellis is very sturdy. Here is an example of a watermelon growing on a trellis, with squash growing in the background:
Other good options that require a bit more DIY are hydroponics towers and walls. It’s basically just a series of pipes with holes for plants to grow out of. The only downside is they will require very regular fertilization and supplementation with other micronutrients that are essential for plant growth, because the plants are typically grown in either a non-nutritious medium like coconut coir or nothing at all.
Planter walls are the next step down, basically just building shelves with pots in them to fill with soil. Put these on a wall that gets good morning sun and some afternoon sunlight for best results. These and hydroponics both also have the advantage of being able to hook up to your gutters so that rainwater will go towards watering your plants rather than just being wasted.
If you want to get really fancy, aquaponics is the next step up. With aquaponics, you create a system that circulates water between plants and a tank full of fish. The fish waste provides fertilizer for the plants, and the plants help filter out the waste so the water stays cleaner. I’ve heard they’re a bit tricky to establish, but once you find the right balance, all you’ll need to do is feed the fish. This has the added bonus of providing a source of fish for people who can’t eat things like nuts and legumes but need protein. Here is a link to an article explaining what aquaponics is, how it works, and how it differs from hydroponics.
WHAT IS AQUAPONICS? What is Aquaponics? Many definitions of aquaponics recognize the ‘ponics’ part of this word for hydroponics which is gro
I also want to add that if you don’t have the space or ability to maintain a large garden, there are other options. Find or create a group with access to enough food to supplement or completely fulfill your diet, and offer another service. If you have space for a vermicompost bin or tower, that can still help contribute to the garden. Learning other skills like soap making, cooking, sewing/knitting/crocheting, electrical skills like wiring and soldering, welding, woodworking/carpentry, etc. means you will still have valuable skills to contribute towards the group, and this will set up the basis for a larger mutual aid network within your community.
Unless you have a huge amount of land, resources, a shitload of free time and a lot of gardening skills, trying to live completely off your own garden within a year is a ridiculous idea.
Most of us can’t do it ever even if we use all our space perfectly. Some of us can do it after years of building those skills, and we might still have bad years. And in the end, what does it get us? Self-reliance is a right-wing preppers dream but it isn’t what we should be aiming for.
If we’re thinking about collective survival and we’re looking at food as part of that survival, there’s two things that work:
Start a community garden. Bring together the resources, time and skills by getting together in a big group.
Or learn to grow a few crops really well and share them with all your friends.
The last one is what I’m going for and it works great. You can chose a few crops that are perfect for your soil, shade/sun conditions, skill level, amount of time, etc. Perfect those crops so you’ll have a huge harvest, and share share share. With a couple of friends doing the same, it’s much easier to get to a point where you’re no longer relying on stores for your fruit and veg.
If you have permanent long term space but limited time? Fruit trees and berry bushes.
If you have a lot of nice soil and can do physically exhausting work? Potatoes, pumpkins, zucchini.
If you have a green house? SOOOO many tomatoes. Fruits that require warmth. etc.
Are you a gardening nerd with time and an interest in learning complicated plants? Take on the challenges like broccoli, cauliflower and depending on your needs, location and options, maybe cannabis? Or build a permaculture garden if that’s your thing.
If you have a balcony or window sill or prefer to do light work in high mobile planters due to limited space or mobility? Leafy greens, herbs, radishes, carrots, maybe a small tomato plant.
Together, we have complementary needs and abilities.
I was talking to a friend last night about how he’s closing down his garden for the winter, what worked this year and what he wants to repeat and try new next. He said squash, cucumber and beans have always worked from seed, they’re easy and good producers if you’re in a 5-8 climate.
Peppers are perennials and we talked about bucket planting for those so you can bring them inside if your winters get cold to overwinter and bring them back out in the spring.
In learning how to garden and grow produce it helps to start small and scale up year to year. Try new varieties and planters and spots in the garden, find ways to allow things to volunteer in the spring (leaving peppers, basil and other plants to cast seeds directly). You’ll learn and grow so much, even if much of it isn’t edible.
Remember to grow flowers too - not just because they are pretty but they will attract pollinators who will help your produce grow too! Sunflowers grow great in the US so don’t sleep on those babes.
I live in a city where we can’t grow produce in the ground due to industrial contamination but we’re experimenting with raised beds. This year’s attempt was a 3 sister mound and we only got a couple handfuls of green beans out of the effort but we learned SO MUCH and those green beans tasted all the sweeter because we watched them grow.
man y’all remember when the avengers movie came out and everyone headcanoned that all the avengers would live together in the tower and had all these cute posts about various fun ways they could interact and then the movies literally never had any of them even be friends
I want to state, for the record, that “all the avengers would live together in the tower” wasn’t collective headcanon, it was canon. The very last scene of Avengers (2012), the one they left us on, is Tony redesigning the tower, designing a living area for each Avenger. That was, canonically, what was supposed to happen, in canon, and they just changed their minds and decided to… not. For whatever goldarn reason.
“Measurements were taken at 45 kV instead of 50 kV because at 47 kV the hipot started making a scary crackling noise and started smelling like burnt cheetos”
Have you heard of the YouTuber Zay Dupree, he does linguistics and sociology mainly https://m.youtube.com/@zay_dupree/shorts?ra=m
linguistics and such
@zaydupree everywhere else
Okay that is who I thought it was! Yes I've heard of him! Tbh, this is who everyone should look up every time they have an "is this AAVE" question for me, because he's actually got the background depth to discuss it!
I love the headcanons that are like ‘the eridians already figured out how to replicate earth’s atmosphere, temperature, food, light, the ocean for the human. ofc they found a way to extend grace’s life expectancy’ bc talk about my exact brand of cope. but I also think another motivating factor could have been no one wanting to deal w 400 years of rocky in a bad mood
As Aromantic Visibility Day (June 5th) approaches this year, friendly reminder from an aroace: it's Aromantic Visibility Day, not "Aroace" Visibility Day! Not all aromantics are also asexual — there are aromantics who are allosexual (aroallos for short), aromantics who don't separately label their sexual orientation at all, and aromantics whose sexual orientation doesn't fit into an ace/allo binary, as well as likely even more aros who don't fit into "aroace" for even more reasons — and all of them are equally included in Aromantic Visibility Day, because they are equally aromantic! In fact, those aros who aren't ace are disproportionately erased and in need of visibility, even more than aroaces are (which is really saying something, because aroace visibility itself is already terrible), so including them in Aromantic Visibility Day is vital, and using the correct name for the occasion instead of calling it an "aroace day" is a start.
Overall: again, speaking as an aroace myself, we aroaces will not be offended if you just call Aromantic Visibility Day the thing it is actually called! I care about sharing this upcoming day with my fellow aros, so stop excluding them, even accidentally! We aroaces celebrate this day but it is not for us exclusively!
