FARMER’S
ALMANAC
EARTHBOUND

Perennial
Collards

Palestine Seed
Library

Beyond Plant
Nativism

Elderflower
Beignets

EarthboundFarmer’s
Almanac2024

Lobelia Commons

Cover illustration by Beau Romeo
Layout and design by sinking city @SinkCityCommsLobelia Commons is a decentralized network for foodautonomy and neighborhood survival based in Bulbancha(so-called New Orleans, LA and its surrounding region).

Note from the Editorial
CollectiveI​​​​​​​ n April of 2023 an ancient lakecalled Tulare reappeared in socalled Southern California. Oncehome to the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River, the basin had in the last hundred and fifty years been drained
to a dusty bowl, its waters captured to irrigate the industrial
agricultural projects stretchingfrom it in every direction.
And then, early spring brought
two inches of rain in twenty-fourhours to this otherwise dry landscape and inundated the farmlands. Levees breached, crops
were washed away, train tracks
were flooded. A lake appeared
overnight in the once bone-dry
basin. Within days, riparian bird

species started to arrive and feedat the lake’s edge. Within weeks,
wildflowers were blooming along
its shores.
The memory of the Earth is longer than individuals or empires.
What once was in that place exploded open overnight—but not
the same as before. The decadesof spoiling the lakebed leechedpoisons into the water. A massive
state-mobilized diversion effort
to protect nearby prisons andcapital has prevented the waters from reaching their historical boundaries. Meanwhile, theland barons extract still deeper
from the aquifers, accelerating
subsidence and the obsolescence of their futile levees. The

lake will have to find a new wayof being, which will probably takeyears.
In these days of continuous
upheaval, we are borne forward
dually by retching hope and awounded fury. It is hard not todelight in the colonial project
being forced to confront its absurdity, though these days arealso stained by the fear-driven
violence unleashed by those hegemonic forces when challenged.
We can hope for a cataclysm towash them away and resurrect
the worlds we’ve lost. We can also
become the floodwaters and hasten this renewal, and yet we can’t
ever get back what was takenfrom us. This has been and willcontinue to be a period of great
suffering. It is important to not
dilute this truth, to not anaesthetize ourselves against feeling it.
We continously conjure dignity
for ourselves and others and theworld by staying in it. We honor
the pain by not just surviving it,

6

but being transformed by it.
Grief brings us back to theearth. It reminds us where we are
and what we have always beenpart of. Grief reminds us that wewill not ever be fully complete orpristine as individuals. Instead,
we are like the strands of a web,shining most brightly in the sun
after they’ve been torn apart. Lossshows us how much strength isimbued in the relationships, systems, and belongings we discoverourselves inside of over and overagain.
In that spirit, on this particularly dim turning over of the year,
we offer this missive to share—
hopefully as far and wide as fromwhence it came, if not further.
We offer these doses of joy, care,inspiration and connection as anantidote to the persistent forcesof alienation and disintegration.
Thanks to all who helped bringit into existence for another triparound the sun.

7

2024
Heirloom Seed
12 Palestine
Library
Vivien Sansour
Seed saving beyond thecheckpoints to defy the violenceagainst Palestinian land and life

Perennial
16 Developing
Collards for the Gulf
Coast

Craig Hepworth
A decentralized breeding projectto adapt perennial brassicas toGulf Coast summers

Grief Brownies
24 Recipe:
Cate Alber
Medicine doesn’t have to taste
bad

Plant
30 BeyondNativism
Sweet Potato
Toward an earthboundethics of plant migrationn’ Dirty Comic
40 Quick
How to build a bee hive withpower tools

Elderflower
42 Recipe:
BeignetPhoto (top) by Laura Borealis

Alder
A flowery twist on the classic
New Orleans donut

Earthbound2024
Farmer’s Almanac
Great-Great46 My
Great-Grand-

mother’s Hazel Tree
Connor Burbridge
Tracing the hazel’s roots
deep into Irish culture andmythology& jaded52 landlessArchetypes from the seedier sideof farming

Nocino58 Recipe:
I.P.

Lore of an ancient walnutliqueur

Plants,64 Abortifacient
Reproductive Auton-

omy and the Long War
Against Birth Control
Lala
Plant knowledge has long been
central to reproductive autonomy

Vegan Cheese
69 Recipe:
Tim Holland
Just like it sounds

74 Tarotscopes
Xiamara Chupaflor
Reading
78 Suggested
Editorial Collective

The Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac sources
writing from the region surrounding Bulbancha
and the wider so-called united states of america.
The editorial collective includes but is not
limited to participants in the activities of Lobelia
Commons. Not all of what is printed here strictly
adheres to any one of our individual views of
the world nor do we have a strictly coherent
collective political position.
What is included here represents nudges,
suggestions and offerings, tethered at times,
entangled others, with what we find importantin guiding our involvements in the world.

12

Palestine
Heirloom
Seed LibraryPart of the Fertile Crescent, Palestine has been considered one of theworld’s centers of diversity, particularly for wheat and barley. This biodiversity, which has kept us alive for millennia, is being threatened bypolicies that target farmers and force them to give up their heirloom
seeds and adopt new varieties. Heirlooms, which have been carefully
selected by our ancestors throughout thousands of years of researchand imagination, form one of the last strongholds of resistance to theprivatization of our life source: the seed. These seeds carry the DNA of
our survival against a violent background that is seen across the hills
and valleys through settlement and chemical input expansions.
Heirloom seeds also tell us stories, connect us to our ancestral roots,
remind us of meals our families once made at special times of the year.
The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (PHSL) is an attempt to recoverthese ancient seeds and their stories and put them back into people’s
hands. The PHSL is an interactive art and agriculture project that aims
to provide a conversation for people to exchange seeds and knowledge, and to tell the stories of food and agriculture that may have beenburied away and waiting to sprout like a seed. It is also a place wherevisitors may feel inspired by the seed as a subversive rebel, of and forthe people, traveling across borders and checkpoints to defy the violence of the landscape while reclaiming life and presence.
Like most farmers around the world, Palestinian farmers are facing
the dangers of agribusiness, corporate seed, land dominance alongwith political violence. But many of these farmers are the heroes who
have been safeguarding these precious seeds and the knowledge theseseeds carry. Palestinian heirloom seed varieties are under threat; many13

have gone extinct. These seeds
that have been passed down
to us over the centuries carryin their genes the stories andthe spirits of the Palestinian
indigenous ancestors. Asidefrom their cultural significance,these seeds carry options for
our future survival as we faceclimate change and the erosionof agrobiodiversity worldwide.
As such, it is urgent that wesave and propagate them.
Founded by Vivien Sansour,
the PHSL and its Traveling
Kitchen project seek to preserve and promote heritage
and threatened seed varieties,
traditional Palestinian farming
practices, and the cultural stories and identities associated with them. Based in the village of Battir, a
UNESCO World Heritage site outside Bethlehem, the PHSL also serves
as a space for collaborations with artists, poets, writers, journalists,and other members to showcase and promote their talents and work.
Working closely with farmers, Sansour has identified key seed varieties
and food crops that are threatened with extinction and would provide
the best opportunities to inspire local farmers and community members to actively preserve their bioculture and recuperate their local
landscape. The PHSL is part of the global conversation about biocultural heritage. Its Traveling Kitchen is a mobile venue for social engagement in different communities, promoting cultural preservation
through food choices.
Heirloom seeds are available for purchase at disarmingdesign.com/product/heirloom-seeds/
Writing and photos republished from viviensansour.com with the permission of thePalestine Heirloom Seed Library14

Climate Weirding

This summer the clay cracked like itsometimes does, but then the rain just kept
missing us, week after week, and the cracks
just kept widening and widening until they
were 4 ft deep in places. Black widow spiders
filled the cracks with their webs and hungtheir egg sacks in the lower reaches. Spenta bunch on watering and lost a few fruit
trees at the margins. Along with watering,
this seems to have made for a good fig year,
which develop rust and other issues if it’sreally wet here. The ponds are all oases ofwildlife and green plants despite the waterlevel dropping two feet or more. We intend
to dig our largest one yet next year, as well
as planting over an acre of willows & othernative swamp trees this winter.
(Gulf Coast)

Pretty dry here! And El Niño means lessrainfall for us than usual, so that could put
us in a major deficit by next summer’s dry
season. Seattle’s reservoirs are still not at“low” levels, but well below normal.
(PNW)

Climate Weirding

15

lop
e
v
De

ing Peren

nia
lC

d
lar
ol
the Gu
l
f
s for
Co
a
st

A decentralized breeding project to adapt
perennial brassicas to Gulf Coastsummers

Craig Hepworth

Collards are extremely nutritious food plants, deeply embedded in
the culture and cuisine of the Gulf Coast region. Like other cruciferous
vegetables (that is, vegetables in the cabbage family), they contain compounds linked to reduced incidence of a number of chronic diseases,
including some types of cancer.1 They grow well in home gardens, but
a major limitation is that most varieties are annual or biennial (dying
after 1-2 years), so they need to be replanted regularly. To maintain asupply from a garden, you need to keep up a regular schedule of starting seeds or buying starts, which requires time and/or money.
16

Excitingly, there are perennial forms of these plants, known as “treecollards” and “tree kales.” They can live for many years in climates like
California or Britain and grow into multi-branched shrubs that arepropagated by cuttings. A few plantings in the Southeast indicate thatthey grow well here during the cooler months, but can struggle andoften succumb to the heat, humidity, insects and diseases of Gulf Coastsummers. But when they do survive summer, they burst out lots of delicious leafy greens once the weather cools in fall. With some breeding and selection work, we should be able to develop varieties better
adapted to the Southeastern climate.
In developing these collard/kale varieties, we’d be selecting plantsthat would:•Handle the heat/humidity and diseases of Gulf Coastsummers•Be perennial, continuing to live after blooming andmaking seed (or not blooming at all)•Have a branching habit and root from cuttings,
so people can easily share starts with friends andneighbors.
That’s what I’m working on, and I encourage others to work on it also.
This plant breeding project is well suited for a collaborative, decentralized network of backyard gardeners. To understand how it might work,here’s a quick overview of the species and its reproductive biology, as I
understand it.

What is a collard: history & biology
Brassica oleracea is a plant species native to the Mediterranean area
and in its wild form looked something like a collard plant. Humans
have selected the species into lots of different varieties, including collards, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts and kohlrabi. These vegetable varieties look very different, but they’re all the same
species and can easily interbreed.
In the Gulf South, collards grow from autumn through the coolmonths, surviving mild winter freezes. Exposure to those winter low
17temperatures provides the physiological trigger for the plant to flower
and produce seed the following spring. In most collard varieties, theflowering plant devotes all its energy and resources to seed production, dying in the process of making a big batch of seeds for the next
generation. However, some forms have a different genetic strategy—
they split their resources, producing a few flowers, while at the sametime maintaining vegetative growth, so the plant can make some seed
and also continue to grow as a perennial. These are the tree kales andtree collards.

18

Even varieties of collards and kale that are annual or biennial in mostparts of North America will, if planted in a region with much milder
winters, never get a the seasonal trigger to flower and set seed and so
will keep growing vegetatively as perennials. In my area of North Florida, I’ve heard reports of collard plants that have survived as long as five
years, producing food all that time, never flowering. These weren’t varieties selected to be perennial—they were just regular collards, planted
in an area south of where that variety normally would grow as an annual seed producing plant. Usually they were growing in semi shade,
which probably helped them to survive the Florida summers.

Getting started: resources & growers
There are a few ways a gardener can begin working on breeding perennial collards for the Gulf Coast. You can plant seeds from somepromising breeding programs, you can root cuttings from existing
plants, or you can purchase plants from nurseries of existing perennial
varieties (many of which have not been tried yet in the humid Southeast). Or you can look for existing perennial plants already growing in
the area. Here are suggested sources:• Chris Homanics has been selecting perennial collard/
kale plants in Oregon for over a decade and has developed a genetically diverse population. I and others
have planted out seed from this mix in North Florida.
In partial shade location some promising individual
plants have survived summer. A number of sources
offer the seed, including the Experimental Farm Network. Search for “Homesteader’s Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale.”• Project Tree Collard in California offers seed, cuttingsand plants from a number of tree collard varieties. I’ve
grown plants from their “Mixed Tree Collard” seeds ina partial shade location here in North Florida and got
19

a high percentage of plants that survived summer. projecttreecollard.org• Planting Justice, also in California, is a nonprofit withan online store, offering plants and seeds of many typesof perennial collards and kale. plantingjustice.org• Ultracross Collards Project has gathered numerous
heirloom collard varieties and let them all interbreed,creating a genetically diverse population. They weren’t
selecting for perennialism, but in mild winter regions
the plants might not get enough seasonal trigger toflower and set seed, allowing them to grow perennially. I’ve heard a report of seed-grown plants from thisproject have lasted multiple years in northern Georgia.
A number of sources offer the seeds, search for “Ultracross collards.”• Other vendors online, especially on Ebay and Etsy,
sometimes offer seeds and cuttings of perennial kale/collards. One variety to keep an eye out for is the extremely rare “Gullah tree collard,” developed by people in the Gullah community in South Carolina, which
would be an exciting variety to track down and include
in this effort. There’s also a perennial form of collard
selected in Zimbabwe and Zambia called chomolia.
Experimentation in Florida indicates it often survives
summer, especially if growing in partial shade. At thetime of this writing, Cody Cove Farm sometimes offers cuttings of chomolia, but only to addresses within
Florida.
Another approach is to look for collard and kale plants already growing in the region which are functionally perennial, due to the lack ofsufficient winter cold to trigger flowering. The end of summer is a goodtime to look for plants that survived the heat—ask around among gardeners. If a plant has a few branches, it might be possible to propagate it by cuttings. (Of course, get permission from the gardener beforesnipping pieces off.)
20

How to propagate perennial collards/kales
To root a cutting, cut off a pencil diameter or larger branch, snip off
all the leaves except a few small ones at the tip, and cut those leaves inhalf. Stick the cutting in a pot of well-draining potting soil placed in alocation that gets early morning sun, but shade or lightly dappled sun
in midday. Keep the soil moist. If it wilts excessively, tie a clear plastic
bag around the whole pot and cutting. If all goes well, in a few weeks it
will be putting out new leaves, and roots will be coming out the holes
in the bottom of the pot.

Propagating perennial brassicas. On the left, fresh tree collard cuttings
on Oct 21, 2023. On the right, the same cuttings 22 days later, on Nov 11.

Collards and kale grow best during the cool months. Fall throughwinter is a good time to start them in the Gulf Coast region, so they’ll
be big and husky when summer arrives. In my location in North Florida I’ve found a much better summer survival rate among plants grownin a morning-sun, afternoon-shade location rather than in full sun. But
they do need some sun to grow, so don’t plant in deep shade. Planting
underneath a deciduous tree naturally gives plants part shade in summer, and nearly full sun in winter.
The strategies for working with clonal material (rooted cuttings) vs.
seedlings are a bit different. If you’re able to get a rooted cutting of an
21

existing perennial collard plant, the strategy first is to grow it and multiply it by taking lots more cuttings. Once you’ve got a bunch of rooted
cuttings of that individual, try planting them out in a variety of conditions, with varying soil quality, irrigation, and sun exposure, to determine the limits of what that clone can handle. And share cuttings withother experimenters!
On the other hand, when you grow plants from seed you’re trying toobserve the genetic differences among them, especially in terms of how
well they survive summer. So you should try to give a batch of seedlingplants identical conditions. Because this is a selection project for summer survival, you actually want some of the seedlings to die out oversummer. Among the survivors, look for plants that show a branching
habit so you can take cuttings. Then, follow the strategy outlined in theprevious paragraph for working with clonal material.
If we want to do further rounds of breeding using clones which don’t
usually flower in our area due to lack of sufficient winter, we could
team up with gardeners further north. We would send them cuttings,
those experimenters would grow out the plants, letting them flower
and cross pollinate, and then send us the resulting seed for more selection under our growing conditions. Alternately, if anyone has accessto a walk-in cooler, you could store potted plants in there for a while,providing a chill period to trigger flowering.
Collaboration is key here, so be sure to post about your results online.
Let’s all keep in touch about how our plants are doing, so we can shareresults and hopefully start sharing seeds and cuttings of promising varieties. On social media, here are some suggested hashtags: #treecollard, #treekale, #gulfcoasttreecollard, #subtropicaltreecollard (You canreach me at floridafruitgeek.com/contact).
Together, we can work to develop regionally adapted perennial collard varieties that will provide abundant, high-quality food to households in our area for many years with minimal effort, outside of the
cash economy.
1
Source: “Bioactive Compounds in Brassicaceae Vegetables with aRole in the Prevention of Chronic Diseases” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
22

Climate Weirding

Denver seems to be repeating a cycle ofabove average precipitation in the springand summer, but bone dry late summer/
fall/winter. Very little moisture here sinceAugust. Far less drought in the state thanprevious years tho. We didn’t get near as
much snow in our Rockies as Utah’s, but
still above average. We’re still reeling from
the Marshall Fire of 2021, which destroyed
over 1,000 structures, mostly homes between
Boulder and Denver. A few colleagues of mine
lost their homes and are still battling withinsurance. Wet spring/summer increases
biomass, dry fall/winter turns it to fuel. Addin super windy winter days, like 100 mph for
the Marshall Fire, and shit’s likely to burnfast. A similar pattern is occurring in thenorthwest as far as I’ve heard from friends
but with opposite seasons.

Climate Weirding

23

Grief Brownies
Recipeby Cate Alber of Homebody Herbs
Yield: 1 tray of brownies
Medicine doesn’t have to taste bad! These brownies
include rose, reishi, oats and chocolate to soothe broken hearts, nourish frazzled nervous systems and lift
the spirit. The original recipe is gluten free, egg freeand dairy free, but for sure sub in glutinous, eggy andbuttery ingredients as you so desire. They’re great bothways.

Ingredients
3 tbsp ground flax + 5 tbsp water (or 2eggs)

Grief Brownies

1/2 cup ground oats/oat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup gluten-free flour (or all purpose
flour)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp reishi powder
2 tbsp rose petals, crumbled
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooledslightly (or butter, melted and cooledslightly or avocado oil)
3/4 cup rose-infused honey (see below) ormaple syrup
1 tbsp rose water
1 cup chocolate chips

24

Grief Brownies

Rose Honey Instructions
Option 1 - using heat:1) Use ~4 tbsp (¼ cup packed) crumbled dry rose petals per cup of honey2) Combine roses and honey in a jar w/ a lid, pokearound w/ a chopstick to stir
3) Place the sealed jar into a crock pot filled withenough water to reach above the roses and honey.
4) Keep the crockpot on the “low” or “keep warm”
setting for 6-12 hours, turning the jar over every few
hours.
5) Strain warm infused honey through cheesecloth ora fine mesh strainer*If you don’t have a crockpot, you could do this in a big
pot of water on the stove, set to its lowest setting.
Option 2 - using time:1) Fill 1/4 jar with rose petals
2) Fill to 3/4 with honey3) Poke around with a chopstick4) Place on a plate, turning it upside down/right side
up once per day5) Let sit for 2-4 weeks6) Heat slightly then strain through cheesecloth25

RecipeBrownie Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 350° F and grease an 8x8 inchbrownie pan
2. Combine ground flax seeds with water in a little
bowl and allow to sit for ~10 minutes until gooey
3. Mix together dry ingredients (oats, cocoa powder,
gluten-free flour, baking soda, salt, reishi powder androse petals)
4. Mix wet ingredients ( flax+water slurry, coconut oil,rose infused honey and rose water)

Grief Brownies

5. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined
6. Stir in chocolate chips
7. Pour into the greased brownie pan
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350° F or until the edges
pull easily away from the sides of the pan and the center
looks set (less gooey, less shiny).
9. Eat ‘em hot, y’all26

Climate Weirding

For the first time in almost 7 years, I drove
back to south Florida where I grew up. I went
back to the beach we used to have bonfires
on in the middle of the night and it wascompletely gone. The road that runs along
the water is called A1A and it’s actually thesecond iteration of A1A. You can swim out tothe first A1A pretty easily from the shoreline,
and at low tide, you can walk out to it andit’s only knee deep. The new shoreline is by
far the closest I’ve ever seen it to the new
A1A and I wonder how many A1As we’ll go
through.
(South Florida)

Still somewhat dry, but Utah and the
Rocky Mountain region had record snowfall
last winter that (in the southeast mostnoticeably) boosted a bunch of nonnative
species like saltlover and Russian thistle. It
seems like the melon crops were less prolificthis year. Lake Powell rose a bit but is still
pretty low.
(Rockies/high desert)

Climate Weirding

27

28

Reduction linocut by Luke Koeferl
29

Beyond
Plant
Nativism

Toward an earthbound ethicsof plant migration
Sweet Potato
30

“Everything is good for something. Creator do not makenothing bad.”– Peggy Hemmingway, Anishnaabe traditional medicine
teacher, discussing introduced plants ( from “Anishnaabe
Aki: an indigenous perspective on the global threat of invasive species”)

Which plants we choose to cultivate, and those we choose to control
or destroy in ecosystems we manage, is both an ethical and strategic
question for which the stakes, in 2024, are extremely high. Plant nativism is the use of the framework of native/non-native as a primary lensthrough which to determine the value of a particular plant species inmaking decisions about its cultivation or eradication. I present sevenchallenges to this framework that demonstrate its limitations and inability to address ecological crises. Additionally I present some alternative frameworks for understanding and addressing invasiveness.

But first, a few things I am not saying:
1. Invasive species don’t cause problems,and should never be removed.
2. People shouldn’t propagate or protect
native plants.
3. Non-native plants should be carelessly
introduced to new ecosystems.

A note on definitions: I use the term “invasiveness” to simply mean aspecies that spreads rapidly either due to introduction to a new ecosystem or in opportunistic response to changes in its native ecosystem.
Invasive species are sometimes specifically defined as causing harm,
but this harm is inconsistently defined—either as negatively impacting biodiversity, harming native species or causing economic loss. The
31

biodiversity criteria is most common but is often ignored in common
usage. If you somehow remove all the non-native dandelions from yourlawn, you haven’t increased biodiversity, you’ve reduced it. Ecosystems
are not zero-sum games. The spatial metaphor of “filling” a niche contributes to this confusion, as if there are limited spots and you need to
get in line early. In reality, habitat-creating species like trees and beavers, whether or not they’re native, construct niches for more species,
some of whom construct yet more niches. There can also be unfilled
niches which a newcomer can enter without displacing other species.
This is especially true at the end of a long era of widespread habitat
destruction and fragmentation by human infrastructure projects (inmany cases these are the underlying problem of which invasive plants
are only a symptom). We should learn from ecosystems’ own processes of healing after these disturbances, in which native and non-native
early successional plants work together to return life to the wastelands, constructing niches and inviting the next phase of succession.
Addressing the biodiversity crisis requires being open to the novel successional pathways and assemblages that arise through these collaborations.

Complications
1. Climate change is shifting zones of habitability for all sorts of species and changing every ecosystem on Earth. This will create “refugee
species” whose habitable ranges shift entirely away from their historical ranges. Essentially every species will see a shift in their potential
zones of habitation, which they could adapt to via natural migration
if the timescale of the change wasn’t so drastic. The native/non-native
framework cannot account for these changes and will result in increasingly incoherent responses if we insist on retaining it.
2. Migration. The history of life on Earth is one of constant movement. There are many examples of natural migrations causing ecological chaos, including both extinction and speciation, such as when
tectonic activity pushed North and South America together about 10
million years ago. Big cats are thought to have been particularly disruptive upon their arrival in South America at this time. A framework
which depends on static borders in order to assign value to partici32

pants in an ecosystem is thus at odds with the ever-changing nature ofecosystems. Simply put, every species was a newcomer to its home atsome point. The lack of any clear metric for when or how a migratory
species eventually becomes “native” shows the ultimate meaninglessness of these distinctions. The mango was first brought to Africa (asfar as we know) in the ninth century AD. Is it native yet? Or forever
non-native?
3. Humans vs. nature. The imagined separation of humans and nature is foundational to the framework of ecological nativism. Only migrations which aren’t caused by humans are considered “natural” andany species that is stained by human contact is labeled “non-native,”
unnatural, worthy of destruction. This is the same perspective whichdisplaces indigenous people to create “natural” preserves and which
misunderstood precolonial ecosystems as being “wild” or “untouched.”
This fundamentally anti-human framework must tie itself into knots
to avoid being openly anti-indigenous.1 Either condemn every native
people who’ve changed ecosystems by bringing plants or animals into
new spaces—including Polynesians bringing pigs to new islands,2 themany peoples who spread corn from its beginnings in southern Mexico all the way to Argentina and Canada, and those who spread fruitand nut trees throughout the Amazon3 and Eastern North America—
or arbitrarily decide that human-assisted migrations occurring before
a certain point (1492, for example) were good but ones occurring af-

1
This claim may be surprising to many native plant advocates, who see themselves
as allies to native people or opponents of colonization. In the absence of actual relationships
of solidarity with native people, there is reason to be skeptical of this self-image. In fact, theodd conflation between native plants and native people common in these circles bears acertain resemblance to xenophobic World War II era cartoons and newspaper articles that
depicted Japanese people as invasive Japanese Beetles and other insects (see, e.g., Biotic borders: Transpacific Plant and Insect Migration and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in America,
1890–1950 by Jeannie N. Shinozuka). While it is often presented in a self-effacing way bywhite people, the similar conflation of European colonizers and the plants they introduced
mostly serves to displace settler guilt onto innocent plants, with eradication of non-nativeplants becoming a way to morally cleanse oneself.
2
Horsburgh, K. A., Gosling, A. L., Cochrane, E. E., Kirch, P. V., Swift, J. A., & McCoy, M.
D. (2022). Origins of Polynesian pigs revealed by mitochondrial whole genome ancient DNA.
Animals, 12(18), 2469.
3
Maezumi, S.Y., Alves, D., Robinson, M. et al. The legacy of 4,500 years of polyculture
agroforestry in the eastern Amazon. Nature Plants 4, 540–547 (2018).
33

ter are bad. The latter perspective is probably the most prevalent in
the U.S.—though it is probably more accurate to say that most plantnativists simply ignore pre-Colombian ecosystem changes by humans
altogether.
4. Mutualism. Plant nativism tends to assume that a non-nativeplant will necessarily cause damage to other species while downplaying the possibility of mutually beneficial interactions. The tendency toemphasize competition and ignore cooperation is a perennial problem in masculinist western ecology. While it’s true that many symbiotic pairings like those of specialist pollinators and their host plants
can take a long time to develop, these are far from the only examples
of mutualism. Many of the mutually beneficial interactions plants
have with other plants, animals and insects are nonspecific enoughthat wholly novel mutualisms occur spontaneously when a new plantjoins an ecosystem. Birds in North America love to eat figs and othernon-native fruits. Birds plant more non-native and hybrid mulberries
than any human forest gardener could dream of, feasting on the fruits
as readily as they do on native mulberries and spreading seeds that will
feed future bird generations. Tree frogs the world over like to perch on
banana leaves. As you read this, non-native trees are cycling carbon
into the soil, exuding sugars which feed soil life, and providing shade
and habitat for many creatures.
5. Food Autonomy. In order to overthrow the industrial food systembefore it collapses from its own contradictions and plunges us all intofamine, we need to implement alternate systems which can actually
feed ten billion people. It is hard to imagine how this would be possible
if everyone’s diets were limited to whatever historically grew in theirregion,4 or even how such limitations could be enforced aside from naked authoritarianism.
4
The typical plant nativist response is that indigenous people did survive on native
crops, sometimes at considerable population densities. Setting aside plants which were modified by ancient people and introduced to wider ranges, this is basically true, but the damage
done since then by habitat destruction, reduction in prey animal populations, disease andnow climate change cannot be hand-waved away. Despite the massive depopulation ofAmerican chestnut trees due to blight, for example, many plant nativists oppose the plantingof blight resistant non-native hybrid chestnuts which could fill this empty niche and feed
millions.
34

6. Diaspora. What do we make of the efforts of various peoples,forced into migration by upheaval, catastrophe and direct violence, tobring with them some seeds, some living fragments of the place-based
culture they’re leaving behind but also carrying with them? Strictly
planting natives means rejecting Black diasporic crops like watermelon, okra and peanuts. If we criticize people for planting non-natives,
we’re at odds with any immigrants who want to plant their own culturally significant crops and fruit trees.

A few native landscaping trees ready to be planted at Cop City after 85+ acres
were clearcut. Source: Atlanta Police Department Press Release, Dec. 2023

7. Devaluation. Advocates of plant nativism should be alarmed by
how readily their framework is taken up by developers to justify ecocidal projects. For example, the City of Atlanta has repeatedly argued
that it’s okay to destroy hundreds of acres of forest to build the controversial police training center known as Cop City, claiming that the land
“is overwhelmingly dominated by invasive species like brush, weeds,
vines and softwood trees” and going so far as to deny that it’s a forest atall. This devaluation of living beings is a common feature of ecologicalnativism, finding its most dramatic expression in government extermination programs such as the recent proposal by the US Fish & Wildlife
Service to shoot 400,000 barred owls in Oregon to prevent competition
with native owls (instead of addressing underlying causes of habitat

35

destruction impacting both species).5 Backyard plant nativists also
engage in this devaluation, killing non-natives not just carelessly but
often gleefully, uncritically, based only on the shallow category of nativeness rather than careful analysis of a plant’s actual activity in an
ecosystem. Those who believe in the sanctity of non-human life should
be wary of potentially far-reaching consequences of this mode of ecological engagement.

These ideas are strongly influenced by various indigenous thinkers
and land stewards. I emphasize this not as an appeal to authority, or
to suggest that all indigenous people share this perspective, but simply
because the strongest arguments have been put forward by indigenous
people. For the purposes of this article, it’s worth quoting at length astudy conducted by and with Anishnaabe tradition bearers in so-called
Michigan, USA:
“Though there are no beliefs held in common among all
indigenous people, it is a commonly held belief among many
indigenous groups around the world that plants, animals
and other beings are members of the extended family... We
initiated our ethnographic project to understand how a groupof people with such a ‘kincentric’ worldview make sense of
introduced and ‘invasive’ species.”
5
Wing, S. V. (2023, December 7). USFWS proposes shooting barred owls to savespotted owls. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/30/barredspotted-owl-shoot/36

The study’s authors distilled their findings into three main points:
1. “For Anishnaabe, plants and animals are family members
and respected as elder siblings to humans. Anishnaabe regard
plants, like all beings, as persons that assemble into nations
more so than ‘species.’ The arrival of new plant nations isviewed by some Anishnaabe as a natural form of migration.
Plants and animals move across the landscape, and mobility
is not inherently good or bad, regardless of precipitating
cause.
2. “Humans have an obligation to figure out the nature of
our relationship with new arrivals, which includes carefulconsideration of their potential gifts and our reciprocal
responsibilities. It is the responsibility of humans todetermine the reason why new plants or animals have arrived
in their territories, and actively determine the nature ofnovel human–animal or human–plant relationships. Whenthe purpose of new plants is not obvious, Anishnaabe plant
specialists will turn to animals to help them understand how
to interact with new species. Ethical obligations to discovera new arrival’s proper use requires specific attention to thepossibility of mutual benefit.”
3. “While Anishnaabe describe invasive species asphenomenologically entangled with colonialism, the multiple
ways Anishnaabe people think about invasive species provide
alternatives to native-non-native binaries that dominate37

much of the scientific discourse. We found that Anishnaabe
tradition bearers are more concerned about an ‘invasive land
ethic’ than the threats of invasive species. Elements of thisinvasive land ethic include the imposition of Euro-American
property ownership regimes, ‘command and control’ formsof environmental management, and a worldview predicatedon the separation of people from nature. Our interlocutors
described the ways this invasive land ethic manifests in nonindigenous governmental and NGO approaches to invasive
species management.”6

Toward an earthbound ethics of plant migration
We need alternative frameworks for understanding the role of migrating species in the ecosystems we inhabit and the gardens we tend.
This begins with affirming the sacredness of all life on Earth, our familial connection to all branches of the tree of life, and our deep ethicalobligations to all these relatives. The values of solidarity, mutual aid
and freedom of movement should be extended to all beings. In thiscatastrophic era, our task is not to resurrect an ancient ecosystem nor
to “design” the ecosystems of the next century, but rather to support
both endemic and migratory species as they adopt their own strategies
6Reo, N.J., Ogden, L.A. Anishnaabe Aki: an indigenous perspective on the global
threat of invasive species. Sustain Sci 13, 1443–1452 (2018).
38

for navigating climate change. The thriving ecosystems of this century
will be complex communities including migrating plants and endemic
plants, each evolving to meet an ever-changing situation that includes
human habitation.
When an introduced species does need to be managed, we should
avoid bureaucratic and state-led interventions which rely on professionalized labor and are essentially militaristic in their approach. The
solution to this and many other ecological problems is inhabitation—
as more people come into reciprocal relationship with their ecosystems, we will be better positioned to heal the Earth and foster coexistence between native and migratory species.

Getting to kno
w the
SCRU
B JAY
Aphelocoma californica
Family: Corvidae

Apheles means “smooth” in greek; komemeans “hair of the head” thus “smoothhaired,” as in lacking a crest.
Scrub jays play an important role in distributing and planting acorns, leading many
biologists to designate them as a keystone
species.
Acorns are so connected to the oak-loving
California jays that their bills are specially adapted for tugging, transporting, andopening them; their bills are deeper, stouter,and slightly more hooked than thoseof their pine nut eating counterpartsin the Eastern Sierra.

39

#4

40

41

RecipeElderflower Beignets
by AlderI first learned how to make elderflower beignets from afriend who lives seasonally between New Orleans and Yosemite (we used to study monkeyflowers together in Yosemite and spent a summer there doing field work for below minimum wage and surviving mostly off Gushers). She learned
this recipe from the offical therapist for park service employees in the valley (lol). Although they look fancy, they’re actually super easy to make!

Elderflower Beignets
Go out with scissors and fill a basket full of elderflower
heads. Where I live in Coast Miwok Territory (Point Reyes,
California), we mostly have Sambucus nigra (black elderberry) and Sambucus racemosa (red elderberry). I personallystick to flowers from black elderberry. I prefer their flavor,
and since red has more toxic seeds, I just avoid it altogether.
Even to an untrained eye, these two plants are easy enough42

Elderflower Beignets
to discern because on this peninsula, the red ones tend tobloom much earlier than the black ones (both species’ flowers are a yellowy-white). Black elderberries are also generally
taller and woodier than red, and I’ve noticed the red species
growing closer to the ocean and the black species growing
further inland. Both seem happy along roadsides and creeks,
and definitely have some crossover in habitat. Their blooming window will vary depending on where you live, but summer is their general blooming time! Even with eyes closed,
their distinct musky, sweet smell will give them away. I try tocatch them before too many tiny green berries start formingin the elderflower umbel. I also aim to disperse my harvest
between several different plants and make sure to leave plenty for the pollinators. Don’t forget to say please and thankyou!

Ingredients:
10-ish large whiteelderflower
umbels, with at least 1
inch of stem
attached
Froth:
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar

Batter:2 eggs1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons orange
juice
1 tablespoon melted
butterOil for frying
A bit of water or
beer

43

Instructions
RecipeShake off any dirt or debris from theflowers. You can also rinse them off, butthat can dilute some of the flavor.
For froth: Beat egg whites andsugar until stiff peaks form and set
aside.
For batter: beat eggs in a medium
bowl, add sugar and salt. Add flour to your mixture and beatagain. Then add orange juice, melted butter (or oil) and justenough water or beer to make about the consistency of pancake batter.
Preheat ¼-½ inch of cooking oil in a large pan to 365°F.
Soak elderflowers in the egg white froth.

Elderflower Beignets

Immediately dip them into beignet batter, drop into hot oil(with tongs if you need), and fry until a light golden brown.
Sometimes I move them around with tongs a bit to makesure they’re getting evenly cooked, and switch out the oil every once in a while if I’m making really big batches.
Remove from the oil (again, tongs are helpful for this) andput them on a towel to cool.
Dust them with powdered sugar and eat right away
(they’re best fresh). Sometimes I like to squeeze lemon juice on top of them, or drizzle in some oflast year’s elderberry syrup (or any jam orsauce will do).
Elderflower stems are slightly toxic so I
believe this is a fiddlehead-fern type scenario in which you wouldn’t want to eat
your weight in them but should be fine witha regular amount (everyone’s body is different, as is every
plant, so I can’t give you an exact number on this).

44

Climate Weirding

Penny’s Bend in early February
every winter we say a month early
until even the month doesn’t know its nametoo soon to face the sun
the sun revealing the earth, regardlessthe trout lilies came out
right as you leftyour ghost’s favorite bisexual bulb
lured from their winter slumber

she greeted me dog toothedso willful to be bornas stubborn as you were to die(Southeast)

Climate Weirding

45

My Great-Great-GreatGrandmother’sHazel Tree
Tracing the hazel’s roots deep into
Irish culture and mythology

Connor Burbridge,
Nuts & Bolts Nursery

I like to imagine her as a little girl harvesting hazelnuts. Filling up an
old skirt or cloth with hundreds of tiny nuts, running home excitedly
from the forest to an earthen hut. She would be anticipating the sweet
roasted nutty flavor before her parents even had a chance to start a46

fire in the hearth. I like to imagine this was her life in Ireland before.
Before the Great Hunger, famine, hollow eyes. Before mines, smoke
and pain in unfamiliar lands. I want to remember her happy, picking
hazelnuts.
My great-great-great-grandmother, Bridget Maloney-Smith, grew up
in a farming family in County Tipperary. In the 1850s, she emigrated
from Ireland to America among the waves escaping an Gorta Mór, (theGreat Hunger in Irish) a famine caused by the land theft and greedof British colonial policies and the landlords that enacted them. Her
county lost close to 50% of its population due to death or migration.
As a young adult, she arrived in New York City on one of the crowded “coffin ships”, aboard which mortality rates were between 10% and40%, and later moved to rural North Jersey. I visited her old house there
as a child, which is now a small museum. Members of her family have
lived in the same square mile radius since she moved there all those
years ago. Later in life, her husband John died in the iron mines, which
supplied factories in the city. The mining company gave her ownershipof the house she was renting from it, where she was left to take careof her two kids alone. She would die in that same house in 1907. She
never returned to Ireland.
I got to return to where she was born for the first time in 2022. On mytrip, in a park outside Tipperary town, I found a wooden plaque next
to a tall hazel tree. It read:
The Hazel (Corylus avellana) was once found bountifully
across Ireland. It was an important food source and was used
to make furniture and fencing. It was also important in Irish
Mythology, being heavily associated with seeking wisdom.
The Irish word for hazel is Coll.
As a part-time farmer for the last four years, I’ve propagated and distributed hundreds of baby hazel trees, but until that moment in thatpark, I didn’t even know hazels had grown in Ireland. I suddenly remembered that when I was little my dad had showed me an old hazel
tree outside the museum that was my great-great-great-grandmother’shouse; it was old, diseased and dying. He didn’t know anything about
the tree but thought maybe the state should cut it down. Standing in47

that Tipperary park, I felt like a thread that had long been severed was
being hastily tied back together. I kept searching through Ireland foranswers. Here is some of what I found:On the River Boyne (An Bhóinn in Irish) time and time ago, a little
boy and a poet fished together on a bank of the river surrounded bya small hazel grove, in the shadow of a 4,000-year-old earthen temple
known to the druids as Newgrange. The little boy, named Demne, hadcome to learn from the old poet, while helping the poet on his quest to
catch a fish. The poet, Finnéigas, had been fishingin the same spot everyday for the last five years
when the boy had shown up seeking knowledge
and stories. Finnéigas was looking for the Salmon of Wisdom. The Salmon of Wisdom,
he told the boy, swam up and down
the river, and back to the river’s
source, the Well of Segais. The
well was the sacred source of all
five of the major rivers in Ireland(or the five Srotha Éicsi, streams of
wisdom). Nine magical hazel trees
surrounded the well. The trees’ roots
stretched deep, past the well and into
the mystical otherworld, where the fairies and spirits lived. The hazelnuts that fell
from the tree were the Cuill Crinmoid Aiúsa, or
the hazels of poetic composition. Eating one of thesehazelnuts would allow a being to access all the knowledgeof the ancestors from the otherworld. Each year,
the hazels would drop their nuts at the same time
like in a mast year, and the salmon would return to the well to eat the nuts and gain theirknowledge. The salmon would then swim
back down their sacred river, bringing freshlife and vitality to the land.
After a year of sharing stories and experienceswith the young Demne, the old poet Finnéigas finally48

caught the fish, a giant salmon with dark spotted belly. While Finnéigas gathered special herbs in the forest, he instructed Demne to cook
the fish. Demne worked to cook it perfectly over their small campfire.
When a bubble appeared on the skin of the fish, Demne popped it withhis thumb, but fish oil burst from the fish and burned his thumb. The
little Demne instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, sucking it caringly. When Finnéigas came back, he saw the boy’s eyes glowing andhe knew what happened. “Go eat the rest of the fish and absorb theknowledge. From this day, you’ll no longer be known as Demne but
as Fionn.” This was the beginning of the legend of the mythical hero,
Fionn Mac Cumaill, or Finn McCool.
Many other stories from Irish Mythology talk about the importanceof the hazel tree. In Irish Trees: Myths, Legends, & Folklore, Niall Mac
Coitir describes how the Irish had sacred trees in each region, known
as Bile in Irish. Many Bile were told to be hazel trees, including one thatwas dedicated to Saint Patrick. The Tuatha De Danann, the pre-Christian gods and later fairy spirits of Ireland put the plough, the sun
and the hazel tree above all other things. This triad is sometimes
interpreted as a metaphor for the three major functions in Irish
society, the plough representing peasants, the sun representing
community leaders and the hazel representing poets and mystics.
The ancient goddess Brigid (anglicized as Bridget, connected to
Irish Saint Brigid, and also the namesake of my ancestor describedabove) was a member of the Tuatha De Danann and also associatedwith poetry and the River Boyne. Some sources suggest she was worshipped within hazel groves, given hazels’ association with poetry. The
hazel’s heavy association with poetry throughout Irish myth came from the well-known mythof the Cuill Crinmoid Aiúsa, the hazels that fellaround the Well of Seagis. These hazels were often seen
as a metaphor for acquiring knowledge and inspiration,
where the hard shell of the hazel is broken to acquire
the nourishment and enrichment inside. Hazel’s association with wisdom and truth also tied it to leadership.
The English name hazel is taken from the Anglo-Saxon
word for authority or leadership and the Irish word
Coll also translates to chieftain or leader. Many more49

myths and stories from Ireland also include the hazel. I’m still working
to learn them and keep their memory alive, but it’s a lifetime of learning. Or at least a full year of camping on the side of the river with an oldpoet, waiting for sacred wisdom to swim down the stream.
After my journey in Ireland, whenever I tend to the hazels on oursmall farm in Rhode Island, I hear the baby trees ask me to remember. They want me to remember my ancestors, the Great Hunger, theirforced migration, the beauty of the land they left behind. They ask me
to honor the continued ways of life and resistance of the Lenape andother indigenous peoples of this land that our family now calls home.
And they ask me to never forget the magic in the world around us, thewhispers of the otherworld hidden in every forest and river. This year,
when I return to Bridget’s old New Jersey home, I’ll bring two small
hazel trees and plant them in the backyard near where the old tree had
been. I’ll whisper things I would have said to her if I had ever gotten tomeet her alive. I’ll pray that these trees survive, that their roots makeit deep into the otherworld, and that whoever eats the nuts will gain
some of the wisdom from the past.

Check out our farm at nutsandboltsnursery.com or e-mail us yourthoughts at nutsandboltsnursery@gmail.com

Getting to know the SCRUB JAY
When fall arrives, these normally highly territorial birds gather in large numbers for feeding frenzies during which
they may collectively remove as many as four hundred acorns in one hour from an individual tree.
Before investing much energy into harvestingan acorn, a jay inspects it visually, then hefts it in
its bill and shakes it to determine the nut’s mass and density.
If the nut is good (undamaged by insect larvae and sufficiently weighty) the bird may eat it by holding it down with two toesof each foot and smashing with their bill.
50

Climate Weirding“Climate change is gonna transform theenvironment here to be like Guatemala, it’sgonna be a fuckin’ rain forest,” someone tells
me. It’s the third straight uncharacteristicallyhumid day here in southern Arizona.
I’ve heard this a number of times, evenrepeated it myself some. I mean, there wasthat monsoon season two years ago thatbrought rains heavy and early; I can still
picture Tumamoc hill green as Ireland, a fox
prancing in the (could it really have been??)grass. But then again, the summer before,
the monsoons didn’t come at all, the highsof 112 stayed for two consecutive weeks, andthe mountain caught fire, burning for what
felt like the whole season.
Later I heard that a friend had just madethat Guatemala thing up, like maybe as ajoke, or as idle speculation that got repeateduntil it made it back to him as truth. The
whole thing is pretty disorienting: theclimate (or is it just “weather,” I ask myself),
the way we talk about it, how to extrapolate
from what’s weird, and how to avoid
extrapolating too far.
Not sure if I’m supposed to feel this way,
but that time two years ago was gorgeous—saguaros hanging their prickly arms overlush meadows.

Climate Weirding51

landless & jaded
archetypes from the seedierside of farming

So you wanna be a farmer?
I get it; I’m with you.
Growing up in bi-coastal suburbs and plopping down in an
unfamiliar city in my early twenties, I believed that the lessonsof the “natural world” had been mostly lost on me: My connection to place felt truncated and insincere, my relationship withfood was twisted by pop culture, I couldn’t tell the trees apart,
couldn’t find my way out of the woods. I sought out the mentors I thought I needed, only to end up with another shitty job,another toxic power dynamic and more experts to despise—was I a farmer yet? With these experiences under my belt, ona good day I foster a deeper appreciation for life in all placesand divergent modes of survival, with a keener eye for those
who truly share my values and visions of the future. On a badday, I’m landless and jaded. Here are some of the reasons why,
so you might save yourself the trouble and guard your curious
heart.
Market farmers just scraping by: You quit your day job andtake the plunge, accepting a seasonal gig with the charmingly
dirty duo you’ve been chatting up at your local farmer’s market. Despite the facade of their manicured social media posts,
52

you soon find they’re even grumpier than they are classically
hot. They say you’re part of the family only because they expect
you to toil as hard as they do and look the other way when they
fight. These people would be happy to have you working as
an “apprentice” and living in their shed until you’re forty withnothing to show for it but chronic pain and an EBT card.

WWOOF host catfishers: Another hopeful internet searchon your quest to shirk the corporate workforce and touch plants
brought you to these guys, close cousins of the lovable market
farmers but without even the pretense of a fair exchange foryour labor. They squeeze as many free work hours out of you
as possible, rushing through the promised education, chasing
profit. Playing on your empathy, they guilt you into helping
with the homeschooling of their nine children but leave youa bad review when you demand a sick day and refuse to go tochurch with them.
Boomer landowners with a vision: For a rugged individualist she sure is charming—regaling you with stories ofout-smarting men, fighting cops and partying at the local communes—all while sweet-talking her cats and complimenting
your hair. She keeps you around by dangling the prospect of a
joint business venture or willing you her land​​​​​​but doesn’t actually trust you to do anything without her direct supervision.
53

Tack on the hoarding tendencies, questionable conspiratorial
views and a peppering of slurs, you lose faith. Eventually she
accuses you of stealing and changes the lock on the gate.
Permaculture bros with a guru complex: This guy’s 40hour workshop costs thousands of dollars and he learned
everything he knows from a slightly older version of himself
just last year. Gives no credit for the indigenous knowledge heblatantly co-opts, doesn’t want you to know he bought his landwith mommy and daddy’s money, and is banned from the local
ag supply store for refusal to wear shoes. Invites the youngest
girl from every cohort to acroyoga, tries to feel her up under
the full moon, and never calls.

Rural men seeking tradwives: So you’ve fallen in love withthe child of back-to-the-land hippies and he’s convinced you tomove onto the family compound. Even though this is almost
the utopia you dreamed of, the isolation and drudgery of rurallife without community breaks your heart. You get really goodat canning jam and darning his wool socks, but your friends
never make the drive out and his mother campaigns to nameyour firstborn Rudolph Steiner. When he catches you eating
Oreos and watching reality tv on your phone in the garage, youknow it’s over; you pack your car and split, queue the breakup
playlist.
Lettuce farmers peddling dystopia: After his last startup
failed and a drunken night spent browsing Six Figure Farm54

er Youtube, he decides to go all-in growing garnish and edible
flowers for upscale restaurants you can’t afford. You tour his
grant-funded hydroponic hellscape, pondering scenes fromGattaca while he talks growing veg on Mars and uploading his
consciousness. When his Apple watch beeps, you glimpse a
notification that reads simply, “Mindfulness.” He says he’s “gotta jet,” and peels out in his Tesla, flattening a baby squirrel.
Anarcho-stoners living rent-free: This is another near-utopia, but the dumpstered Little Ceasars pizzas are wrecking
your gut and passers-thru leave all the good tools out in the rain
to rust and rot. You had some truly beautiful moments planting trees in your underwear and nurturing scrappy mutual aid
projects with the polycule, but maybe your yeast infection is asign it’s time to move on. Resentment builds when the resident
trust fund tenderqueer attempts to cancel your helpful elderly
neighbor for gendering their dog, plus the in-fighting over an
empty land acknowledgement. You start to wonder, what does
“land project” even mean?

Announcing Dear Landless & Jaded,a new advice column
So you went and got yourself a horrible farm boss/lover
landmate/anti-mentor/endearing wingnut sitting on 100
acres with no next of kin? I get it; I’m here for you.
Send cries for help, horror stories and tales of hope tolobeliacommons@protonmail.com with “landless & jaded” in the subject line to be considered for publication in
the advice column premiering in 2025.

55

56

57

“This is a plant of the sun. Let the fruit of it begathered accordingly, which as the most virtuous whilst
green, before it shells.”– Nicholas Culpepper, Complete Herbal

NocinoLore of an ancient walnut liqueur
I.P.

58

Pg 56-57 Reduction linocut by Luke KoeferlMost of my life, I have been surrounded by walnuts. Bright green
fruits, heavily laden low and high branches. Their compound leaflets,
waving in the breeze, made them one of the first trees I could identify definitively at a glance. During the transition to fall here in Central
Virginia as I write this, ripened black walnuts litter the ground, and I
marvel at their overwhelming abundance. I’m sharing here some reflections and instructions for making nocino, a walnut liqueur with its
own fascinating history and lore. My ancestors, Italians from Southern/Central Italy, likely had a relationship with walnuts (Juglans sp.),distilling the vitality of summer by concocting an elixir of its unripe
nuts. What follows is some background and methods for making yourown batch of nocino, from identifying to processing to macerating
your own high summer solstice beverage to enjoy anytime of year.

Botany of Walnut – Juglans sp.
Walnuts are a truly ancient species. Evidence of species related towalnuts have been found to have existed in the Miocene era (23-25
million years ago). The botanical family Juglandaceae contains species
such as Juglans regia (English walnut), J. nigra (Black Walnut) and J.
Cinerea (Butternut). The family of walnuts is so named because of thecompound jugalone, a chemical that suppresses the growth of nearby
plants and creates what’s called an allelopathic environment beneathand around a walnut tree. Living in the Southeast, I’m most well acquainted with black walnut, and this is the tree I’ll forage for bothnocino in spring as well as for the ripe nuts in fall. Black walnut is atree native to the Eastern U.S. with a large range spanning most of theMississippi watershed. Its leaves are long, alternate, and feather-compound. The number of leaflets are between 11-23, toothed. Its bark isgrayish, deeply grooved with diamond-shaped patterns. It’s nuts havea distinctive, “spicy” odor.
59

Recipe

Medicinal Qualities
The hulls/green nuts have antifungal properties andcan be used internally or topically for skin conditions
such as eczema and herpes. They are used internallyfor expelling intestinal parasites, such as worms. The
hulls can also promote gastrointestinal health andgood digestion/absorption overall. First nations people have used the leaves, sap, bark, andcrushed hulls for treating maladies
such as goiter, ringworm and hemorrhoids, according to Adkins
Arboretum.

Lore of Nocino making

Nocino60

In Italy, nocino is traditionallyprepared on June 24th on La Nottedi San Giovanni (the eve of St. John’sday), close to summer solstice when theplants and herbs contain their most vitality and potency. Honoring the walnut, and the making of nocino, harkens back to nature-worshiping traditions andrites that celebrated the heightened cosmic power ofthe solstice. The Christian Church, with their subjugation of earth-honoring traditions, refocused the midsummer ritual and revelry as St. John’s Day. Walnuts
became associated with witchcraft and the rituals
performed beneath their heavy crowns (The Wondersmith). Despite this, the tradition of nocino-making
maintains a strong tie back to the celebration of thesun and the god Jupiter. The genus Juglans comes fromjovis glans, latin for “nut of Jupiter” (O’Driscoll).

NocinoIngredients
With knowledge on our side, we are ready to make a batchof Nocino! Some tools to equip yourself:
Jar(s) — ideally wide-mouth
Sharp and/or heavy knife
Gloves (optional)
Liquor of choice (see note)*
Spices (see note)**Fine sieve ( for straining)
Parchment
Labeling materials* I usually get cheap vodka (40-50% ABV). I think gin or
grappa would also be tasty. I like a neutral spirit to highlightthe flavors of the black walnut.
** I personally keep it simple with spices for nocino. Sometimes I get wild in smaller batches. Lemon/orange peel, cinnamon, clove or a few coffee beans is always a good bet. I
have also tried juniper, rose, hawthorn, fennel seeds and staranise.

Preparation
First step is foraging your walnuts. I use black walnuts
though other walnuts would work and might bring exciting
flavor differences. It’s very important that the fruits are quite
unripe so that they are easy to cut through. I try to harvest
off a low branch rather than the ground. Between the summer solstice and St. John’s day is a good time to gather here61

Recipein the South (June 20-24). Shortly before then would also be
good. Try cutting into one, or sticking a sharp pin through,to make sure the hull hasn’t hardened around the nut.
Add your spices, if using, to the bottom of your jar. How
much is up to you — I might use 1-2 tsp. of spices for a quartsized jar. I want the flavor of the walnuts to shine first andforemost.
Halve or quarter your whole, unripe black walnuts (hulls
intact). Use gloves for this step if you don’t want your hands
impossibly stained. Or don your grubby walnut hands
proudly. Fit as many into your jar as you can. Cover with thespirit of your choice. Make sure your walnuts are completely
covered by the liquor, otherwise they could mold if exposed
to air.

NocinoCap your jar (I recommend putting a piece of parchment
between lid and ring if using a mason jar to prevent the lid
and ring from becoming stained), and label. Admire it. Let
it sit in a cool place away from direct sunlight. Within just a
few days, the color of the liquid in the jar will darken significantly.
Wait at least until All Saint’s Day (October 31st) to strain
your walnuts from the nocino. A fine strainer, several layersof cheesecloth, or even an old t-shirt should do the trick. Yournocino will be a rich black color, and should smell aromatic.
It would also taste very astringent, if you dared to try it.
62

NocinoOnce strained, make a simple syrup to sweeten your nocino. You could use honey or molasses for this step, but keep
in mind that you need quite a bit when opting for expensive
sweeteners. I find that simple syrup gives me the mouthfeel I
want and also doesn’t detract from the flavors already present. Combine 1:1 sugar to water in a small pot and warm until the sugar is fully dissolved. The amount of sugar depends
on the amount of nocino, but I would make enough to account for at least ⅓ of your volume of strained nocino. Extra
can be stored in the fridge. Let it cool and then add to yournocino to taste.
Once sweetened, allow your nocino to age for 3 months ormore out of direct sun. The longer it ages, the more balanced
and mellow the flavor becomes. Some folks bottle their nocino for at least a year before serving. It should last indefinitely
if stored in an airtight vessel or flask.
Ways to enjoy your nocino:Over ice, with a splash of seltzer
In a fancy cocktail
Over ice cream
In desserts
Straight up as a digestive
Under a walnut tree, performing
occult rituals
Shared with your pals
“Black Walnut : Indigenous Peoples’ Perspective Project .” Adkins Arboretum, www.adkinsarboretum.org/programs_events/ipp/black-walnut.html. Accessed 16 Nov. 2023.
“Walnuts, Witches, and Duality - Nocino and Pickled Green Walnuts.” The Wondersmith,
14 June 2018, misswondersmith.com/blog/2018/6/14/walnuts-witches-and-duality-nocino-and-pickled-green-walnuts.
O’Driscoll, Dana. “Sacred Tree Profile of Walnut (Juglans Nigra): Magical, Medicinal, andEdible Qualities.” The Druids Garden, 28 Apr. 2022, thedruidsgarden.com/2016/11/06/sacred-tree-profile-of-walnut-juglans-nigra-magical-medicinal-and-edible-qualities/.

63

64

Abortifacient Plants andthe Long War Against Birth
Control
Plant knowledge has long been central toreproductive autonomy.
Lala
Edible Parks Development Collective

The earliest documented description of birth control—defined as
methods, procedures or practices to prevent conception leading
to pregnancy—was the use of honey, acacia leaves, and lint to block
sperm, as described in The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus from 1550 BCE. Before and after that, the unwritten practice of abortifacients and emmenagogues (that is, drugs, plants or chemicals that induce abortion or
stimulate the menstrual cycle, respectively) was common knowledge
shared by Indigenous and Aboriginal peoples, who used these plants
to regulate the body’s menstrual cycle, to space out pregnancy andchildbearing, and later by enslaved and imprisoned communities toresist reproduction.
Ethnobotanical accounts show us thousands of years of effective
and safe plant medicine by traditional healers in every non-European
population in the world. It is with European expansion, bioprospectors and colonial botanical classification that we see the moralization,industrialization, restriction and banishment of certain plants and65practices. European peoples also maintained traditions of plant medicine, including abortifacients, and the authorities sought to stamp out
these as well. Between the 14th and 17th century, an estimated 100,000
people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America,and between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed. The witch trials of earlymodern times were an attempt not to extirpate female “naturalness
and irrationality,” argue Gunnar Heinsohn and Otto Steiger in a paper
titled “The Elimination of Medieval Birth Control and the Witch Trialsof Modern Times,” but to destroy a highly rational behavior of women—a medieval culture of birth control. After the population catastrophe of the Black Death in the 14th century, midwives became a main
target of pro-natalist and mercantilist policy. Labeled witches, midwives stopped learning about and prescribing herbal abortifacients forfear of being burned alive, thus breaking the chain of knowledge that
had been passed down for a thousand years.
By the 18th century, governments had made taking and selling abortifacients illegal in most of the world. As with most prohibitions, thisshift to suppression and punishment pushed the cultivation and practice of these plant relations into coded and clandestine spaces for preservation and so excluded many from these reliable measures to regulate reproduction.
One of the most striking records of intentional abortion within an
enslaved community comes from Maria Sibylla Merian’s recounting on
the Indigenous use of the Peacock Flower, in her 1705 book Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam. Her description ascribes rationality
to the act of abortion which, in the hands of Surinam’s slave women,
is an act of resistance, a reclamation of their bodies and reproductive
processes: “The Indians, who are not treated well by their Dutch slavers, use the seeds [of this plant] to abort their children, so that theirchildren will not become enslaved like they are. The black slaves from
Guinea and Angola have demanded to be well treated, threatening torefuse to have children. They told me this themselves.”
A separate account from one 1860 medical record by a white physician in Tennessee: “Some slave women used herbal abortifacients as
a form of rebellion, including the infusion or decoction of tansy, rue,roots and seed of the cotton plant, pennyroyal, cedar gum, and cam66

phor.” A refusal to bear children was a powerful statement for enslaved
women—in doing so, they denied their enslavers economic gains of
the enslavement of their children.
Today, abortifacients are mostly mythologized and understudied,and their abortifacient properties are often even omitted from medical
journals due to colonized repression of their uses and benefits. These
plants can be found commonly: on roadsides, in forests and in secretgardens kept by brave resistance growers.
Maintaining these plants and knowledge of their use is part of an unbroken tradition relevant to all of us striving for reproductive autonomy as laws become more restrictive and punitive around the world.

Getting to know the SCRUB JAY
A preference for large acorns conveniently
allows scrub-jays to avoid competition withacorn woodpeckers, who prefer the smaller
ones. Each jay caches up to five thousandacorns during the fall months. According toUniversity of California scientists, “an industrious group of jays can mount an acorn airliftthat is nothing short of incredible, moving aforest worth of trees every autumn.”
Often the acorns are planted in ideal spots
for growing oaks. Biologists believe western
scrub-jays, who carry acorns much farther
than squirrels, play a key roll in the distribution and germination of California’s oaks.
Joseph Grinnell noted that without scrub-jays,
who often plant acorns uphill from the parent
trees, nuts would roll downhill and oaks would
be concentrated in valleys.

67

Climate Weirding“God must hate California with all the fires
they got,” says the grime and grit covered 19
year old sitting next to me in my community
college trades class. I wonder if he saw thebittersweet reality coming, that by next week
our region would be filled with smoke fromthe fires happening up at the New River
Gorge, or later by the fires in Virginia. Bitter
because climate chaos is real, sweet because
now we all know we’re in this together. No
more hiding behind the illusion of safety
and separation in the mountains. No more
us in here and them out there. Can’t pretend
it’s fog anymore when the smoke hits yourthroat from the fires, now only as far away
as the crow flies. Coming home to roost in
the east. Yeah, if God hated California, God
hates everywhere now.
(West Virginia)

Yesterday there was a wildfire near Athens,
Ohio just over the ridge to the south of ourfarm. About a mile away. Firefighters got it
out within a few hours, but not something wehear every day in these parts.
(Ohio)

68

Climate WeirdingArtisanal Vegan Cheese
Tim Holland
Midcoast Vegan (Maine)

Editor’s Note: Readers may, like we did, think of vegan cheese as a luxury item and a fairly recent creation. However, in researching the origins offermented, non-dairy cheeses, we learned that similiarities between making
cheese and tofu have led many to conclude that tofu is a non-dairy cheese.
And indeed, though the exact origins of tofu are lost to time, one theory
suggests that it was first created by ancient Chinese cooks using soy milk
and emulating Mongolian milk-curdling techniques. Tofu was historically a“poor-man’s food,” eaten by those who could not afford the meat and dairy
favored by the rich. We hope that this tidbit sparks some creativity among
our era’s acorn foragers, urban pecan gleaners, nut-orchard keepers and others who will bring vegan cheese out of the hole foods™ and into the world.
Both of the following cheese styles revolve around boiling (or soaking)nuts or seeds, adding a probiotic element, then letting them ferment atroom temperature for 1-3 days (depending on the ambient temperatureand the desired flavor). The sky is the limit with plant-based cheesemaking—you can make mold based cheeses, aged cheeses utilizing mesophilic cultures, or cheese with water kefir or probioitic capsules. Once you get
the hang of the fermented cheese process, there is so much that can bedone in terms of flavor and texture. This is just meant to get folks started
and is by no means an exhaustive resource.
69

RecipeLet’s start with a simple, fresh (meaning not-aged)
cheese recipe:

Sunflower seed and/or
hazelnut cheese with a wild
probiotic brine1
Ingredients
1/2 cup probiotic starter liquid
3 cups of boiled hazelnuts, sunflower seeds orother seeds/nuts/acorns/legumes
1 tablespoon of miso
1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast

Vegan Cheese

Step 1: Create a probiotic starter using fermented vegetables.2 Take a large
mason jar (or larger vessel) and fill it
about 40% with cabbage (or carrots, radishes, whatever); fill the rest with filteredwater and leave about 2 inches of spaceat the top. Add salt equal to 5% of thetotal weight of the water and veggies.
The salt will inhibit bad bacteria andallow lactofermentation to occur
safely. Place a large cabbage leaf orpiece of cling wrap over top of thevegetables, weighed down with arock or weight, to keep the vegetables
1
This recipe is based on the methods laid out in Pascal Bauder’s
Wildcrafted Fermentation.
2
You can replace this fermented vegetable starter liquid with the
rejuvalac methods in Miyoko Schinner’s seminal “Artisanal Cheesemaking” or with probiotic capsules they sell in the store (but don’t use those,
they taste like shit).

70

Vegan Cheese
submerged. Check back in a few days. When fermentation hits its peak (pH levels fall below 4.0 and you cansee lots of active bubbling) proceed to step two. If you
can’t tell, just wait a week—it’s a forgiving process.
Step 2: Combine about a half cup of the probiotic
starter liquid with the nuts (or seeds or legumes), miso
and nutritional yeast and blend as finely as you can ina blender or food processor.3
Step 3: Remove the mix from the food processor andwrap tightly in a flour sack or t-shirt, put a weight on it
and let it sit for about 48 hours at room temperature.
Taste after 24 hours. If it’s not complex/bitter enoughlet it sit for another 12-24 hours.
Step 4: Roll the cheese in herbs of your choice thenage in the fridge for a few days. Because these are actively fermenting cheeses, they’ll become bitter after
about two weeks unless they’re stored frozen.
Step 5: Eat! (Or freeze to eat at a later date).

3
You can also add coconut oil and potato starch to make melty
cheeses. To learn to make cheeses like this I recommend The Non Dairy
Evolution Cookbook by Skye Michael Conroy. If you don’t want to to go
overboard with ingredients like carrageenan or coconut oil, try binding
agents like oat, potato starch, or even arrowroot or sunchokes to createcheeses that have more elasticity.

71

Recipe

Aged cheese with mesophillic
cultureIngredients
4 cups of boiled seeds/nuts
1/2 -1 cup of filtered water
3/4 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of miso
1/16 tablespoon mesophillic culture4(you can also add roquefort or penicillin candidum to make blue or brie, see ref. below)

Instructions
Blend all ingredients and place in a container with a towel over the top. You can also put it in a flour sack. Ferment
for 12 hours at room temperature. Roll into desired shape orkeep in container. Store in a fridge for a week or more andthe cheese begins to develop a more complex flavor thatis both sweet and tangy, like cheese! If you have access toa wine fridge, throw it in there. There are few rules: checkthe taste every few days or weeks, learn the methods of realcheese makers and conduct experiments! If you plan on aging your cheese for longer periods of time, rub salt across
any surfaces that are exposed to oxygen to inhibit unwanted
mold.
This is enough to get started. There’s tons of informationout there, and these processes are pretty forgiving (until
they’re not). Good luck!
4
You can buy vegan mesophillic cultures online. It’s also possible to use household dairy
items like cultured buttermilk and yogurt as mesophilic starter culture. To learn to make agedvegan cheeses or mold based cheeses, check out the free Art of Plant Based Cheese book on
fullofplants.com

72

Climate Weirding

Here in Eastern Iowa we were talking
about going swimming two days ago in the
80-plus-degree weather, and now I’m looking
at a light snowfall outside the window.
(Midwest)

From the confluence of the Platte andMissouri rivers—surprised to see that we’rein severe drought but maybe that’s becuase
my perception has been skewed to drier
conditions. Best pawpaw and peach year
in the last decade. Lots of shallow lakes are
below normal and some river side wetlands
have dried up but that might also just be
an ecological swing back from centuryfloods of 2018 and 2020 that changed theflood plains drastically. Morels have also
recolonized nicely and were abundant inyoung cottonwood groves!
(Great Plains)

Climate Weirding73

TAROTSCOPESCANCER
cicadaEnergy conservation is at theforeground of thisnext cycle. Your opportunites will be many. The love and life
you wished for has arrived. Allow yourself to become a vessel of love. Allow
your heart to set your intentions. Pickwith care the things you choose to do.
Focus your attention to the corner ofthe world you have been invested in.
The finer details in sewing the frayededges of the universe make more of adifference than you think. Resistancemeets opportunity to remind you of theborders of your integrity. Resistancemet does not equal immediate actions.
Resistance met begs many questions
about how you will spend
finite energy.

GEMINI
dragonfly
Despiteeverything, believe in the
power of beauty. Unlock the mysteryof liminal space through self-actualization. Hold hands with the beginningand the end at the exact same time. Ridethe waves and dive deep, but remember
to come up and breathe and float inshallow waters from time to time. Play
74

2024

•

Xiamara Chupaflor

is your holy work. Let play guide you tolove. Lay love on grief ’s altar. Patience iswhere strength and vulnerability meet.
Expect that you’ll need to cry. Make sure
to chase laughter. Don’t let old wounds
drain your life force. Healing becomes areal possibility when you allow yourself
to begin again.

TAURUS
honey beeYour power liesin the wisdom thatyou have spent the better part of yourlifetime cultivating. Past timelines will
suddenly collide with current ones.
You’ll have the unique opportunity tomeet the past in the present moments
and heal multiple internal timelines
at once. Simply put, you are integrating. Burdens will become manageable
through the application of willpowerand compassion, compassion for yourself and others. Build your reserves.
Build bridges. Build others up rather than tearing them down. When in
doubt, be kind. When in doubt, listen.
Relief for psychic weight will be foundin the completion of individual tasks.
Write out steps, create maps that lead
you to the intelligence of the heart.
Lead with love knowing that somewhere along time and space your offering will have blossomed into spiritual
protection.

ARIES
fireflyEveryactiondoes not needanexplanation.
Support the vitality ofyour endeavors with compassion. Risk
your heart one more time without announcement. Close the gap between
your words and actions and watch yourlife propel forward like you’ve neverexperienced before. Show your heart
through ritual community efforts. Ritual of action is the foundation on which
you build your holy sanctuary. Once
your sanctuary is built, be with yourloved ones there. Be with the people
you love more often. Eliminate beliefs
that keep you from experiencing thefull spectrum of life. Become familiar
with creative commitment. Commit tocraft. Commit to your dreams. Commit to eating well. Commit to dressing
yourself well. Commit to beauty andfind the portal you have been searchingfor this whole time.

PISCES
diving bell spider
Stay close tohome to find thetruth you have been
avoiding. The courage
to confront what you have been avoiding lies in your home element, water.
Let water wash you clean, cool the heatthat bubbles beneath your anger. Loos-en your grip on the past to release theheaviness of your heart. You are not an
island, but you do need to learn how to
be your own refuge. Learn to be alone.
Learn to be bored. Peace lies in simplicity of action. Let this peace guide a new
way of being. Sow seeds blessed by gratitude. Replace resentments and contempt with care. In this cycle, the universe will not let you run away. So get
comfortable with yourself and where
you are. Change is inevitable, changing
yourself is a daily choice.

AQUARIUS
tardigrade
Expecteverything to change.
Expect your truth tochange. When met with acrossroads don’t be afraid to take a risk.
This new path will give rise to something that has been lying dormant fora very long time. Ask questions when
you feel scared. Give curiosity attention
over assumption. Do not rush to givenew experiences definition, this will
give you room to grow as you adjust to
your rapidly changing world. Your purpose will rise from unsettling places, so
let love give shape to your new world.
Expand your threshold for more. Take
breaks and ask for help. If you have felt
stuck for a long time, be prepared tomove forward with more confidence
and vitality. Remember, fortune favors
the brave.

75

CAPRICORN
lady bug
Groundingdown in your actual confidence isthe best protection you
could ever ask for. Just make sure you
discern the difference between ego andconfidence before making your protection spells. Wear an armor of your talents and best assets with pride. Shower yourself with the love and care thatyou give others. Honor endings with apause to integrate all that has come topass. Do not let pain be the center ofyour voice. Speak kindness into eachbreath and let it expand your world.
This next cycle is a call to cycle into
your highest and best, anything less will
erode your reputation where it mattersthe most. Take solace in a job well done
and the fact that you have done yourbest. Changes are in effect but will rollout very slow. A slow and intentional
pace creates lasting change.

SAGITTARIUS
stag horn beetle
You can just let
it go. You are notdefined by what
happened to youor the battles you think you lost. You
are defined by joy and love. Joy is yourwork in this next cycle. Joy asks thatyou be present. Indulge the sweetnessof your wildest imaginations and invite
76

your beloved people to the party. Make
agreements based on desire and noton obligations. Give yourself room tothink. Give yourself the gift of spiritual
exploration. Find new places to houseyour integrity. Reduce unnecessary energy output by divesting from empty
petty victories. Messages from above
are coming to offer you clarity, keep thechannels clear and pure. Imbibe less,drink more water.

SCORPIO
black widow
Commit to rituals that support yourmost grounded plans and wildest
dreams. The two are not mutually exclusive, but are locked in a perpetual
dance. This next year bodes well forcommitments of all types. Commit towhat flows with ease. Release what is
no longer working. When you feel stuck
close your eyes and imagine a river andfollow its guidance. Accept invitations
to try new things because your magic
will be activated in the most surprisinglocations. Clarify your goals and makeroom for them to grow. It’s time to moveon. Take words of kindness with you.
Ask yourself: What good can I speak inthis moment? How do I honor my highest and best intentions through action?
What is my truth? How do I connect tospirit? Ask yourself questions to define
what feels unclear. When your question
can’t be answered, take it to your altar
and let spirit answer it for you.

LIBRApraying mantis
Ceremonyisbest with others.
Tend to your connections with care andintention. Give the grief of the past a
proper funeral. You are no longer who
you once were, so stop making choicesthat reinforce what you wish to shed.
Make choices in favor of who you arebecoming. Trust that you know how
to be good. Trust joy. Cry and let grief
move you forward. Make altars. Allow
yourself the gift of vulnerability. Tell thetruth of your heart. Don’t fear rejection.
Finish up old projects before you start
new ones. Make new friends. Make newagreements with old friends. Honor
endings by celebrating new beginnings.
Honor what you have learned with a
new outlook on life.

VIRGO
carpenter ant
Let ritual buoy
you through transformation.
When
in doubt, prepare. This
next cycle is going to ask a lot of you.
Center love and justice in all that you
do and choose. Measure success on
how well things flow, not how quickly
they produce. Your energy is limited,
be intentional. Compassion is the holy
space that will make challenges tenable. Do not resist big changes. Embracechange as you would an old friend. Givechanges a party complete with cake tomark the birth of forward motion. Accept love and care from others. Ask forwhat you need and don’t be surprisedby people’s desire to show up and help
when the burdens feel too big. This next
cycle is meant to break you open so you
can find the portal you needed buried
in your very own heart.

LEO
monarch butterfly
Make
your
home at the borders of creation.
Root down in the integrity of your heart. Learn to motheryourself and watch yourself blossom.
Pack yourself good lunches. Take time
to baby yourself. Acknowledge yourgoodness. Know the difference between
self-reliance and individualism. Know
the difference between isolation andenjoying your company. Let the universe shake free what is no longer working for you. When in doubt, choose to
wait. When in doubt, put flowers on
your altar. Get dressed for nothing else
but your own pleasure. Remember
pleasure through noticing the beauty ofthe mundane. Save for a rainy day andbe impressed with how well you takecare of yourself, this will also reflect in
how well you take care of your relationships.

77

Suggested Readingfrom the editorial collective

Maroon Nation
Johnhenry Gonzalez
A timely, powerful reclamation of the meaning of the Haitian Revolution. This agrarian history tells how, contrary to the idea that therevolution failed to truly destroy the plantation system or emancipate
those who worked it, early Haitian dictators largely failed in their attempts to revive the plantation economy, and for a century after the
revolution, increasing numbers of Haitians lived free lives based on
decentralized, small-scale agriculture - alongside an unprecedented
period of reforestation. The author argues convincingly that maroon
lifeways, including escape to the mountains and dense forests, unauthorized landholding and avoidance of formal commerce and taxation, defined the national character of postemancipation Haiti.
Make The Golf Course A Public Sex Forest
Edited by Lyn Corelle and jimmy cooper
A tantalizing invitation to reinhabit some of the most restricted andsanitized contemporary outdoor spaces—golf courses—through wildacts of public sex and play. What started a few years ago as a joviallyantagonistic slogan plastered across yard signs in Minneapolis, MN in
response to the proposed re-development of said golf course has taken
wing in this collection of short poems, prose, historical essays and lotsof gay erotica. An imaginative picture is painted across the anthology
of a future where the re-wilding of a landscape is made possible andsexy through devoted stewardship as land shifts into the commons,and free queer love in the open air.
The Solutions Are Already HerePeter Gelderloos
I’ve taken to reading way too many books about climate projections,anxiety and policy as study of the shifting terrain in the 21st century.
Exhausted by what’s now a robust genre, I was slow to pick up Peter
Gelderloos’ newest book, which lays out the unfolding crisis of ourtime, from it’s ecological symptoms to statist strategies to maintain78

control. But once I picked it up, I burned through it. This book is a great
resource to put in the hands of someone who feels lost in apocalyptic
times. He identifies a growing unnamed (and maybe unnameable) webof movements taking place from Brazil to Indonesia to europe whichhave diverse and varied historical roots while sharing a kindred spirit and direction. More than just a primer, Gelderloos notes a departure from the primacy of -isms in these projects and identifies several
characteristics that act as “tensions that vibrate throughout the entire
web,” giving a living, practiced foundation for solidarity and collaboration in uncertain times.
An important contribution for study and an excellent introduction
for new activists and militants seeking new approaches to building
food autonomy and community survival. A much needed grounding inplanet-wide territorial struggle.
The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food
Mark Kurlansky
Region specific foodways, recipes and foraging and harvest traditions collected and archived by WPA writers during the Great Depression.
Films for Palestine
https://www.filmsforpalestine.com/[Statement from the curator] Films for Palestine is an ever-expanding
collection of Palestinian and Palestinian-adjacent films that began asa series of Instagram stories and evolved into a website. The importance of situating oneself in a historical context in order to understandthe unfolding 2023 genocide in Palestine cannot be overstated. These
are crucial films—narrative, documentary, experimental. May we view
them with our hearts and minds wide open, and for the knowledge wegain to be the foundation of our fight for a Free Palestine.
Decolonize Palestine’s Reading List
https://decolonizepalestine.com/reading-list/
79

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

SUNSET

SUNRISE1
3
11
15

6:55am5:11pm 12:03pm

10h16m

6:56am5:12pm 12:04pm

10h16m

6:57am5:19pm 12:08pm

10h22m

6:56am5:22pm 12:09pm

10h25m17
25
31

6:56am5:24pm 12:10pm

10h28m

6:54am5:31pm 12:12pm

10h37m

6:51am5:36pm 12:13pm

10h45m

MOON

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

DAY OF
MONTH

January

TREE OF THE MONTH

Japanese Raisin Tree, Hovenia dulcis

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

Lunar pareidolia

First annual Day of the Forest Defender in memorial of the martyrdom of Tortuguita,
murdered at the hands of the Georgia State Patrol while defending the Weelaunee
Forest.

Seeds Planted: Thyme (greenhouse)
Rosemary (greenhouse) Mint
(greenhouse) Marjoram (greenhouse)
Groundhogs: Last year the three
farms had groundhogs so bad that
we had to call in a trapping service
to try and lessen their population. In
all we trapped 17 ground hogs, andour collective farms are only 3 acres.
This year, hopefully, we’ll have things
a little more under control.

80

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm(outside of Richmond, VA)

Crop plan finished, seeds purchased.
Greenhouse temps beginning toreach 60. Heaters broken and vents
opening randomly. Can’t fully use it
until we figure it out.

1/4/2023
SW MS
We have been observing a very large
wood ear on a sweetgum stump (fella season ago)
-Very dark purple to dark brown

Notes from an anonymous
amateur mycologist

JANUARY 18, 2024

-Upper surface finely pilose-Under surface smoothAppears to be Auricularia
angiospermarumNotes81

SUNSET

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

1
2
9
15

6:50am5:37pm12:13pm

10h47m

6:50am5:38pm12:13pm

10h48m

6:45am5:43pm12:14pm

10h58m

6:40am

5:48pm12:14pm

11h08m16
24
All data specific to29
New Orleans, LA

6:39am

5:48pm12:14pm

11h10m

6:31am5:55pm12:13pm

11h23m

6:26am5:59pm12:12pm

11h32mTREE OF THE MONTH

Quaking Aspen, Populus tremuloides

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE ITFEBRUARY 2,1913

Led by French general
Victor-EmmanuelLeclerc and sent by
Napoleon, an expeditionary force of nearly 30,000
arrives in Haiti with thegoal of re-establishingslavery. By the end of thatyear all but 8000 weredead and by the end of
the following year, thesurvivors fled the island
in total defeat.

Orca attacks Strait of Gibraltar

Groundhogs: All’s quiet. Too quiet.
First families emerge.

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm(outside of Richmond, VA)

Seeds Planted: Carrots, Purple
Dragon (direct seeded) Carrots,
Orange storage (direct seeded) Snow
Peas (direct seeded) Sweet Peppers(greenhouse)82

FEBRUARY 1802

Masanobu Fukuoka, philosopher and author of One Straw Revolution,is born in Iyo, Ehime, Japan

Notes from an anonymous
amateur mycologist

MOON

SUNRISEDAY OFMONTH

February

2/23/23
SW MS
Found a brown agaric in one of theStropharia beds (hardwood chips,
aged)
Pileus: glabrous, slightly sticky, hasa peelable skin, generally brownwith a slightly darker (small) umbo;
margin uneven; convex to plane;
4.5 cmGills: free, close, deep, pale tan/lightbrown
Stipe: white, tough, peels whensnapped, doesn’t bruise anywhere;
5cm H x 5mm W
No odor; No KOH react; spore print
rusty brown
Probably Pluteus cervinus

Notes83

SOLARNOONTIMEDAYLIGHT
HOURS

5:59pm12:12pm

11h34m

6:23am6:01pm12:12pm

11h37m

7:15am

7:05pm1:10pm11h50m

7:09am7:08pm1:08pm11h59m

16
19
25
31

7:08am7:09pm1:08pm12h1m

7:04am7:11pm1:07pm

12h6m

6:57am7:15pm

1:06pm12h17m

6:50am

7:18pm

1:04pm12h29mAll data specific to
New Orleans, LA
TREE OF THE MONTH

Neem, Azadirachta indica

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

Seeds Planted: Turnips, Hakurai(direct seeded) Radishes, Baby Belle(direct seeded) Beets, Boldor &Chiogga (direct seeded) Parsley, Flatleaf (transplant) Ethiopian Kale,
Gomen (transplant) Cabbage, Red& Green (transplant) Green Onions(transplant) Kale, Vates (transplant)Kale, Tuscan (transplant)
Cauliflower (transplant) Collards,
Champion (transplant)
Groundhogs: Spotted a large female,
mostly by the greenhouse and potato
bags, doesn’t seem like she is causing
too much damage so I’m going to let
her be.

84

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm(outside of Richmond, VA)

Built a Johnson-Su Vermicompost
Bioreactor. Somehow colder thanFebruary

Ornamental hermits

Notes from an anonymous
amateur mycologist

EQUINOX

Container ship theEver Given becomes
lodged in the Suez Canal, blocking all traffic
through the trading
route for six days.

SUNSET

6:25am

MOON

1
3
10
15

DAY OFMONTH

SUNRISEThe US Air Force begins Operation Popeye, a five year effort toextend the monsoon seasons over the Ho Chi Minh trail in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam via “cloud seeding” with lead and silver
iodide. The program was halted two days after being revealed by
the publication of the Pentagon Papers.

MARCH 23, 2021

MARCH 20,
1967

March

Notes85AprilSUNSET

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

6:48am7:19pm1:03pm12h30m

6:40am7:23pm1:01pm12h43m

6:32am7:27pm1:00pm12h55m

6:24am7:32pm

12:58pm

13h8m

30

6:17am7:37pm

12:57pm

13h19mAll data specific to
New Orleans, LA

MOON

1
8
15
23

DAY OFMONTH

SUNRISE

APRIL
17, 1996

A prison rebellion begins as 400 men take control of the Southern Ohio Correctional
Facility in Lucasville in response to overcrowding and mistreatment. After a negotiatedsurrender, five inmates would be tried and sentenced to death for their leadership.
All remain on death row in Ohio.

TREE OF THE MONTH

Curly Willow, Salix matsudana

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

American Hippo Bill

Groundhogs: Another large female
spotted, and the first had babies.
Three of the cutest little baby rodents
I’ve ever seen. Scared to leavemommas side. Momma is starting tochop the cover crop from last year,
mainly the clover and field peasthat we have in the tomato rows. If
she keeps eating them I don’t thinkthey’ll be able to flower which means
they will fix less nitrogen into thesoil. Not good.
86

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

Seeds Planted: Leeks, King Richard(direct seeded) Beets, Boldor,
succession 2 (direct seeded)
Cabbage, Red & Green, succession
2 (transplant) Eggplant, Ping Tung
(greenhouse) Eggplant, Rosa Bianca(greenhouse) Tomatoes, Landrace
Custom succession 1 (transplant)
Tomatoes, Sungold, succession 1(greenhouse)

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm (outsideof Richmond, VA)

Community Dinner hosted to fund thematerials for an outdoor kitchen.
Collective Workforce Program starting
this month, 7 new participants.
Electric deer fence revamped, training
stations working well.

4/5/23
SW MS
Found several clumps of thin, tonguelike fruit bodies coming out of
hardwood mulch + soil mix
Fruiting body thin, centrally creamwhite, salmon/pink superior, baseblack; up to 3 cm tall, 2mm wide,snaking
Probably Xylaria hypoxylon?

Notes87

SOLARNOONTIMEDAYLIGHT
HOURS

12:57pm

13h21m6:12am7:41pm

12:56pm

13h30m

6:06am7:47pm

12:56pm

13h40m

6:02am7:51pm

12:57pm

13h49m30
31

6:00am7:55pm

12:57pm

13h56m

5:59am7:56pm

12:58pm

13h57mAll data specific to
New Orleans, LA

TREE OF THE MONTH

Hollyleaf Cherry, Prunus ilicifolia

MAY 6,
1885

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

John William Mitchell, agriculturalist and educator, is born in Morehead City, North Carolina. Mitchellserved as the Black extension agent (a segregated position at the time) for 3 counties in North Carolina
at once, travelling between them by horse or bicycle, and eventually worked up the ranks to become
National Extension Leader. Also known for his work establishing large 4-H clubs for the education ofBlack youth and advocating for national anti-lynching laws.

Seeds Planted: West African Summer
greens, Koto Spinach (direct seed)
Calaloo, Jamaican Lime green (directseed) Molohkia (direct seed) Bissop
aka Sorrel (transplant) Tomatoes,
Roma succession 1 (transplant)
Tomatoes, Landrace Custom
succession 2 (transplant) Tomatoes,
Sungold, succession 2 (transplant)
Maize, Oaxacan Green Dent (directseed) Maize, Jersey Blue Dent (direct
seed)
Groundhogs: Momma keeps eatingback the cover crop, preventing itfrom flowering. It seems like they areparticularly interested in the flowers,

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

CSA starting. My friend Lou
built a beautiful flow-throughvermicomposting bin. Irrigation
system left off at critical time forherbs, soil dusty as hell. Rehydrating
will probably look like handwatering
full beds while irrigation remains on.

88

North Atlantic Cold Blob

Earth First!-ers Judi Barri and Darryl
Cherney survive the explosion of a pipebomb planted beneath their car a day
before the start of the Redwood Summer
anti-logging movement in Humboldt
County, California.

SUNSET
7:37pm

MOON

6:17amDAY OF
MONTH
1
7
15
23

MAY 24, 1990

SUNRISEMay

likely because of their nutrient density,
but now we are a few weeks behind on
planting and I don’t think they maxedout on nitrogen fixation. Ran up on
the babies a few times, they are sounbelievably slow and clumsy that I
couldn’t bring myself to kill them. Set
up a few traps with some cantaloupe
to trap and release.

Notes89

7:57pm

12:58pm 13h57m

5:58am7:59pm

12:59pm

14h1m

5:58am8:02pm1:00pm14h3m

5:59am8:02pm1:00pm14h4m

6:00am8:04pm1:02pm14h4m

6:02am

8:05pm1:03pm14h3m

6:02am

8:05pm

1:04pm

14h2m

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

5:59am

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

MOON

SUNSET

1
6
14
15
21
28
30

SUNRISESOLSTICE
All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

DAY OF
MONTH

June
June 15, 1648
Maragaret Jones becomes the first
person executed for witchcraft bya court of the Massachussetts Bay
Colony.

TREE OF THE MONTH

Golden Chinquapin, Chrysolepis chrysophylla

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

PleachingSeeds Planted: Okra, Hire (direct seed)
Eggplant, Ping Tung (transplant)
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca (transplant)
Tomatoes, Roma succession 2(transplant) Tomatoes, Landrace
Custom succession 3 (transplant)
Tomatoes, Sungold, succession 3(transplant) Buckwheat (cover crop)
Groundhogs: Babies have grown andthis aint cute anymore. There are now
5 almost full-sized ground hogs again
and they are evading the humane
traps I keep setting. I’m trying to benice but they wrecked almost all of
our spring greens, including the kaleand collards even after I put a net
over all of them to deter them from90

Farm notes from Real Roots Farm (outside of Richmond, VA

Community Dinner a success, $1800
raised and kitchen build started.
Drought getting more intense, 2-3
weeks at a time with no rain. CoolBot
outdoor fridge building up lots ofmoisture, need to replace the door sothat moisture doesn’t get in so easily.

discovering it. The babies are fasterand smarter, and have begun tounderstand when I and most humans
leave around dusk, and strike then.
I’ve got traps at all of their holes now.

Notes91

SUNSET

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

6:03am

8:05pm

1:04pm14h2m

6:04am

8:05pm

1:04pm14h

6:08am8:03pm

1:06pm13h54m

6:09am8:02pm

1:06pm13h53m21
27
31

6:13am7:59pm

1:06pm13h47m

6:16am7:56pm

1:06pm13h40m

6:19am7:53pm

1:06pm13h34mAll data specific to
New Orleans, LA

MOON

1
5
13
15

DAY OFMONTH

SUNRISEJuly

TREE OF THE MONTH

Nitrogen-fixing corn slime

The government-ordered assassination of Mayan chief Manuel Antonio Ay marks the beginning of the 54
year long Caste War of Yucatán, an armed native uprising against the European descended population
exploiting their labor and communal lands for henequen production. Within a year, Mayan forces took
over most of the Yucatán, in part resulting in several thousand Spanish-speaking peninsulares (born in
Spain), criollos of Spanish descent and mestizos (of partial indigenous descent but culturally European)settling in northern Belize, while Mayan communities were re-established in the north and west.

Seeds Planted: Buckwheat
everywhere
Groundhogs: We are getting washed.
They have eaten almost nine fullrows of buckwheat cover crop
shoots, and we don’t have enoughnetting to cover all of them. They
are taking single bites out of all of
our heirloom slicers, ripe and green,
breaking stems off of small plants
and leaving teeth marks in all of thesquash. I’m going to cover as manyof the rows as possible

Farm notes from Real Roots
Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

Compost program picking up, picking
up from 2 Black owned juice bars
now, feeding pulp to the worms.
Noticing siginificant differencein soil productivity this year,
potentially from the regular drought
or maybe because of the lack ofcompost I added this year.

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

JULY 26, 1847

Kobanî becomes thefirst city in Rojava to expel
the Assad regime.

Monterrey Cypress, Hesperocyparis macrocarpa

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

92

JULY 19, 2012

7/10/23
Maurepas WMA
White agaric growing on live willow(Salix nigra)
Pileus: White, eraser-like texture,oblong, 5-8cm
Gills: Sinuate-decurrent, deep,
forking, white, wide
Stipe: 5cm H x 2-5mm W, white,
central, snaps, splits
Spore print: cream-yellow
Oudemanisella canarii

Notes93

DAYLIGHT
HOURS
13h29m

6:26am 7:43pm 1:05pm

13h17m19
26
31

6:30am 7:36pm 1:03pm

13h6m

6:34am 7:28pm 1:01pm

12h54m

6:37am 7:23pm 1:00pm

12h46m

6:28am 7:40pm 1:04pm 13h12m

Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum

Seeds Planted: Yea Nahhh. Outside
Max Temp 102 - Greenhouse Max
Temp 133
Groundhogs: All attempts at peace
have failed. War has been declaredon the ground hogs. I had topurchased two Scheels connibear
traps for placement in and aroundtheir holes. They’ve been eating too
good. I’ve lost probably 1000’s of $of crop at this point. If all of theseoffspring have their own litters, we’ll
be back in the same situation wewere last year.

Farm notes from Real Roots
Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

Starting volunteer days 1 hour earlier.
Wire grass out of control, goingto start using tarps to cover thembecause making the volunteers do it
every week isn’t fair. Second growingsite becoming untenable.

Acequia

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT

Emiliano Zapata was born in Anenecuilco, in the
Mexican state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City.
Zapata was an advocate of fundamental land
reform who lead a successful peasant army to become one of the most famous heroes of the Mexican
Revolution. His central demand famously states“The land belongs to those who work it.” In 1917,
Zapata’s land reform was enshrined in a new
Mexican constitution legalizing communal
landholdings, called ejidos, and severely limiting
the power of large landholders in Mexico.

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

13h33m

6:21am 7:50pm 1:06pm

TREE OF THE MONTH

94

SUNSET

SUNRISE

6:19am 7:52pm 1:06pm

MOON

1
4
12
15

AUGUST 10, 1680

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

DAY OF
MONTH

August8/31/23
SW MS
Found several large ants, biting leaf
petioles w/ a thin hair-like fruiting
body coming out from behind theants’ head
Ants: 1cm long, gold-red, exoskeletenrottedFruiting body: 5-6 mm tall, tapers
towards tip, black-brown at base,becoming white and thin towards tip
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu
latoNotes95

6:45am 7:04pm

12:55pm 12h20m

6:46am 7:02pm

12:54pm 12h16m

6:48am

6:56am

12:52pm

12h7m

6:50am 6:53pm

12:52pm

12h3m

6:53am 6:46pm

12:50pm 11h52m

Larry Itliong of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) calls for the Delano Grape
Strike, in which more than 1,000 Fillipino farmworkers struck. AWOC was joined in this effort by the National Farm Workers Association (led by Chicano movement leaders Dolores Huerta and César Chávez)and their alliance prevented scabbing. The strike, in combination with a boycott on buying table grapes
and alliances with dock workers, led to table grape growers signing union paperwork in 1970.

Seeds Planted: Turnip, Hakurai(direct seed) Scallions, (direct seed)
Beets, Bulls Blood (direct seeds)
Radishes, Easter Egg (direct seeds)
Carrots, Purple Dragon (direct seeds)
Potatoes, some random shit from
Whole Foods (direct seeds)
Groundhogs: They have pretty muchdecimated my area and have begun
to move to the flower farm next tomine, Hazel Witch Farm. They ate
almost all of her cover crop andsome of her fall cut flower cash crop
starts. Gotta do more research on
the connibear traps. Damn near
took my hand off trynna set thisthing. Humane traps only catchingpossums, bless their hearts.

Farm notes from Real Roots
Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

Temps finally dropping, second roundof direct seeding happening. Was
going to just do a spring and summer
crop, now considering a full fall crop.
CSA getting harder to fulfill, crop
diversity down significantly becauseof summer heat.

96

National Bharat Bandh (national
blockade of roads) begins inmovement of Indian farmers.

12:56pm 12h27m

SEPTEMBER
25, 2020

12:59pm 12h42m

6:43am 7:09pm

Dhap gardens

6:38am 7:20pm

JUST FUCKINGGOOGLE IT

12h44mChaste Tree,
Vitex agnus-castus

1:00pmTREE OF THE
MONTH

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

SUNRISE

6:37am 7:21pm

9/13/23

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

SEPTEMBER
8, 1965

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

EQUINOX

17
22
24
30

SUNSET

1
2
11
15

MOON

DAY OF
MONTH

SeptemberHymenium: Bright yellow, bruises
black-blue and dries brown; pores
hexagonal-labyrinthine, 2 pores/mm

Atchafalaya NWR
Bottomland, cypress, oak, hackberry,
sweetgum, mulberry nearby
Found a red capped bolete on soil
Cap: Brick red, dries-bruises tan,scratches to flesh in tears, almost
sticky, 4cm
Flesh: Pale mustard yellow, squishy,bruises faintly blue, tubes brown in
profile + 5mm

Stipe: 5 cm H x 8 mm W, snaps +peels, hollow-pithy ish, yellow to
red to white and yellow at the basew/ mycelial mass (yellowish)
KOH: red-brown on hymenium, noneon capGenus Hortiboletus?

Notes97

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

1
2
10
15

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

SUNSET

SUNRISEMOON

DAY OF
MONTH

October
6:53am 6:44pm 12:49pm 11h51m
6:54am 6:43pm 12:49pm 11h49m
6:59am 6:34pm 12:47pm 11h35m
7:02am 6:28pm 12:45pm 11h26m

7:03am 6:26pm 12:45pm 11h23m
17
7:08am 6:16pm 12:44pm 11h11m
24
7:13am 6:13pm 12:43pm
11h
31
Al Badawi Olive TreeTREE OF THE MONTH
Solar evacuated tube cooking
JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT
A general strike is called in response to the visiting of the Al-Aqsa mosque by right-wingIsraeli politician Ariel Sharon. The conflagration that erupted across Palestine became
known as the second Intifada or “shaking off ” of Israeli colonization.

Seeds Planted: Peas, Austrian Winter(cover crop) Crimson Clover (covercrop) Garlic, hardneck (direct seed)
Turnip, Hakurai (direct seed) Kale,Red Russian (direct seed)
Groundhogs: .22 calliber Rossi longrifle purchased. Hollow point highvelocity copper plated ammo. No
options left, if they go into their lairs
and mate its a wrap. I’m a muchbetter shot than I am at setting traps
and I don’t have time for this. All
due respect to these little creatures
but my patience has dried up. Openseason.

98

Farm notes from Real Roots
Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

Trying to sell this woodchipper, don’t
need it. Gotta figure out a way tokeep the worms warm. Setting up
a worm composting workshop next
month for beginners.

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

OCTOBER 1,
2000

10/8/23
North Alabama
Bottomland area, near oaks, elms,
sweetgum, occasional pines
Found 2 small stiped polypores on a
hardwood twig
Pileus: white-cream, undulating
shape, 3 cm
Hymenium: pores tiny, decurrent
Stipe: white, 3-4cm H x <1cm W
Loweomyces fractipes

Notes99

November
6:12pm 12:43pm 10h58m

6:20am5:07pm 11:44am 10h48m

6:25am5:03pm 11:44am 10h38m

6:31am5:01pm 11:46am 10h30m30

6:38am

5:00pm 11:49am 10h22m

Cedars of God (Bsharre, Lebanon)

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT
NOVEMBER 2,
1979

PemmicanAssata Shakur escapes from federal prison.

Groundhogs: I feel insane. walking
around my farm at dusk like
Elmer Fudd. I think they know. As
soon as I copped the rifle they justdisappeared. I swear it was the nextday. I saw one but by the time I got
to my truck to get the gun it had ran
off. I think I waited too long.

Farm notes from Real Roots
Farm (outside of Richmond, VA)

Workshop went well. Retooling
workforce program this winter,want to incorporate profit sharing/collective decision-making Seeds
Planted: Peas and Oats Mix, (covercrop)

Following months of regime desertions andall time low morale, rebels in Myanmar shootdown a junta fighter jet. Most insurgents got
their start protesting the 2021 coup using
shields and thrown projectiles before moving
onto bows & arrows, catapults and then homemade 3D printed firearms. A constellation of
myriad ethnic militias and various rebel armed
formations, the resistance to the junta is largely
decentralized and anti-authoritarian.

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

7:14amTREE OF THE MONTH

100

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

SUNSET

SUNRISE

MOON

1
8
15
22

Notes from an anonymous amateur
mycologist

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

DAY OF
MONTHFirst major occupations of wealthy estates by poor farmers in Portugal’s Alentejo region.
Within a year, a quarter of all farmland had been occupied, turning latifundia plantations into
communal farms.

NOVEMBER 11, 2023

NOVEMBER
1974

11/21/23
SW MS
Mixed pine/hardwood; dominated bysweetgums, oaks and loblolly pine
Found a heavily rotted (hardwood?)
chunk of wood covered in what
appears to be pale yellow-green
Cladonia lichen
11/14/23
New Orleans
Front yard garden of densely growing
native plants
Found a bunch of individual tonguelike fruiting bodies on decaying
mulchwood
Fruiting body: 2-3cm, black with awhite/salmon superior, snaking,crustyAppears to be Xylaria hypoxylon

Notes101

All data specific to
New Orleans, LA

1
8
15
21
22
30
31

DAYLIGHT
HOURS

6:44am 5:00pm 11:52am 10h17m
6:48am 5:02pm 11:55am 10h14m
6:52am 5:05pm 11:58am 10h13m
6:52am 5:05am 11:59am 10h13m
6:55am 5:10pm

12:am

10h15m

6:55am 5:11pm 12:03am 10h15m
Date Palm, Phoenix dactylifera

JUST FUCKING GOOGLE IT
SCRUB JAY

SOLAR
NOON
TIME

SUNSET

SUNRISE

6:38am 5:00pm 11:49am 10h21m

TREE OF THE MONTH

Bald eagle courtship
cartwheel

As fall turns to winter the jays increasingly rely on their cached acorns, eating them into spring. The tannic
acids in acorns interfere with protein digestion, so they’ll eat almost anything else they can get there bills
on. In late spring they switch to moth and butterfly caterpillars, found mainly on oaks. They will eat otherinsects as well as fruit, birds, reptiles, rodents and carrion. Watch for them whacking snakes, lizards, orcaterpillars againts the ground or rubbing hairy caterpillars on hard surfaces to scour away their bristle.
They even hop around on deer looking for ticks while their grateful host remains perfectly still.

SW MS
Mixed pine/hardwood; dominated bysweetgums, oaks and loblolly pine
Found 2 very small yellow-capped
agarics on a clump of mossy (sandy)
dirt (dug up and displaced last spring)
Pileus: 4-5 mm, bright yellow, deeply
striate (orange); margin white, even;shape broadly convex
Gills: pale yellow, sinuate, includes short
gills, subdistantStipe: 3 cm H x 1 mm W, hollow, white
w/ white mycelial mass at base, even,centralFlesh yellow, thin; no noticeable odor;
KOH has brown react; Spore print rusty
orangeGalerina sp

Notes from an anonymous amateur mycologist

12/27/23

102

DECEMBER 18-20, 2018
Seeking to revitalize traditional stewardship practices
and assert their autonomy, Karenni activists establish
the 1.4 million acre Salween Peace Park on theirancestral domain in so-called Myanmar. The Park
follows a land-use tradition of the Karen people basedin spirituality known as kaw, which divides land into
places for hunting, places for crops, places for burial,
places of forest protection and places of dwelling.

SOLSTICEMOONDAY OF
MONTH

December

12/9/23
North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain
Pine dominated, open woods
Found 2 individual agarics growing in
Pine (primarily) duff- dense fruiting
across the space
Pileus: cramy-white to pale yellow
warts, peachy pink to yellow-orange
cap, glabrous, striate gills along
margin, 7 cm
Gills: Free, includes short gills, crowded,
deep, white-cream
Stipe: 9cm H x 1-3 W, white/cream-tan,fibrillose, bulbous; annulus robust,“crepe-y”
Odor lightly citrus-y to portobello-y
Amanita persicina

Notes103

A List of Perennial Vegetables
Note that this is a global inventory of perennial vegetables. Some of these species are, or
could become, serious weeds outside of their native range. We present this list to provide
a jumping off point for those looking to learn more of the possibilities of a perennial
agriculture. For much more down this rabbit hole, check out Edible Forest Gardens vol. 1& 2 by Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier.
EXTREME COLD (USDA Zones 1-3)
nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum), showy & common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca, A. speciosa), redvalerian (Centranthus ruber), Maximilan sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani), sunchoke (Helianthus
tuberosus), duckweed (Lemna spp.), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), watercress (Nasturtium
officinale), mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna), yampah (Perideridia gairdnerii), rhubarb (Rheum x
cultorum), arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), cattail (Typha spp.), water meal (Wolffia spp.)
COLD TEMPERATE (USDA Zones 4-7)
perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum), multiplier onion (Allium cepa aggregatum), walking onion(Allium cepa proliferum), nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum), Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum),ramps (Allium tricoccum), garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), groundnut (Apios americana), udo(Aralia cordata), river cane (Arundinaria gigantea), showy & common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca,
A. speciosa), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), yellow asphodel (Asphodeline lutea), sea beet (Betavulgaris maritima), Turkish rocket (Bunias orientalis), camass (Camassia spp.), fragrant springtree (Cedrella sinensis), red valerian (Centranthus ruber), good King Henry (Chenopodium bonushenricus), chicory (Cichorium intybus), colewort (Crambe cordifolia), sea kale (Crambe maritima),
jinenjo (Dioscorea japonica), Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita), sylvetta arugula (Diplotaxis
muralis, D. tenuifolia), Caucasian spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides), Maximilan sunflower (Helianthus
maximiliani), sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus), daylily (Hemerocallis spp.), wood nettle (Laportaea
canadensis), duckweed (Lemna spp.), lovage (Levisticum officinale), biscuit root (Lomatium spp.), leaf
goji (Lycium chinense), gumbo leaf mallow (Malva moschata), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris),
mulberry (Morus alba), watercress (Nasturtium officinale), American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), Chinese
lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), water celery (Oenanthe javanica), mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna),
yampah (Perideridia gairdnerii), fuki (Petasites japonicus), running bamboo (Phyllostachys spp.),clammy ground cherry (Physalis heterophylla), longleaf groundcherry (Physalis longifolia), groundcherry (Physalis pruinosa), pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), giant Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum
commutatum), Himalayan rhubarb (Rheum australe), turkey rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), rhubarb(Rheum x cultorum), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), French sorrel (Rumex acetosa), sheep sorrel(Rumex acetosella), buckler-leaf sorrel (Rumex scutatus), arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), runningbamboo (Sasa kurilensis), scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica), running bamboo (Semiarundinaria
fastuosa), skirret (Sium sisarum), Chinese artichoke, crosnes (Stachys sieboldii), dandelion(Taraxacum officinale), New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), linden, lime, basswood(Tilia spp.), cattail (Typha spp.), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), water meal (Wolffia spp.)
COOL MARITIME (USDA Zones 8-9)
perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum), multiplier onion (Allium cepa aggregatum), walking onion(Allium cepa proliferum), nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum), Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum),
garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), ramsons (Allium ursinum), groundnut (Apios americana), wildcelery (Apium prostratum filiforme), udo (Aralia cordata), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), yellow
asphodel (Asphodeline lutea), saltbush (Atriplex halimus), water parsnip (Berula erecta), sea beet
(Beta vulgaris maritima), “Western Front” kale (Brassica napus), wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea),
104

“Colocha” (Brassica oleracea), “Tree Collards” (Brassica oleracea acephala), Gai Lon (Brassica
oleracea alboglabra), “9 Star” perennial broccoli (Brassica oleracea botrytis), branching bush kales,“Dorbentons” kale (Brassica oleracea ramosa), Turkish rocket (Bunias orientalis), camass (Camassiaspp.), achira, edible canna (Canna edulis), fragrant spring tree (Cedrella sinensis), red valerian(Centranthus ruber), good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), chicory (Cichorium intybus),
taro (Colocasia esculenta), colewort (Crambe cordifolia), sea kale (Crambe maritima), cardoon(Cynara cardunculus), globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus), Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita), sylvetta
arugula (Diplotaxis muralis, D. tenuifolia), Caucasian spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides), Maximilan
sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani), sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus), daylily (Hemerocallis spp.),wood nettle (Laportaea canadensis), lovage (Levisticum officinale), biscuit root (Lomatium spp.),leaf goji (Lycium chinense), gumbo leaf mallow (Malva moschata), bush banana, Austral doubah(Marsdenia australis), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), mulberry (Morus alba), watercress(Nasturtium officinale), American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), Chinese lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), watercelery (Oenanthe javanica), nopale cactus, tuna (Opuntia ficus-indica, O. robusta, O. streptacantha),oca (Oxalis tuberosa), mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna), yampah (Perideridia gairdnerii), fuki
(Petasites japonicus), runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), runningbamboo (Phyllostachys spp.), goldenberry (Physalis peruviana), pokeweed (Phytolacca americana),root beer leaf, hoja santa (Piper auritum), giant Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum commutatum),
Himalayan rhubarb (Rheum australe), turkey rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), rhubarb (Rheum x
cultorum), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), French sorrel (Rumex acetosa), sheep sorrel (Rumex
acetosella), buckler-leaf sorrel (Rumex scutatus), arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), Chinese arrowhead(Sagittaria sinensis), running bamboo (Sasa kurilensis), scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica), runningbamboo (Semiarundinaria fastuosa), skirret (Sium sisarum), yacon (Smallianthus sonchifolia),
potato (Solanum tuberosum), Chinese artichoke, crosnes (Stachys sieboldii), dandelion (Taraxacum
officinale), New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), linden, lime, basswood (Tilia spp.), “KenAslett” mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), cattail (Typha spp.), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), izote(Yucca guatemalensis)
HOT AND HUMID (USDA Zones 8-9)
perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum), multiplier onion (Allium cepa aggregatum), walking onion(Allium cepa proliferum), nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum), Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum),
garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), groundnut (Apios americana), river cane (Arundinaria gigantea),
showy & common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca, A. speciosa), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis),
Turkish rocket (Bunias orientalis), achira, edible canna (Canna edulis), fragrant spring tree (Cedrellasinensis), taro (Colocasia esculenta), colewort (Crambe cordifolia), globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus),air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera), Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita), sylvetta arugula (Diplotaxis
muralis, D. tenuifolia), sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus), daylily (Hemerocallis spp.), arrowroot(Maranta arundinacea), moringa (Moringa oleifera), African moringa (Moringa stenopetala),mulberry (Morus alba), watercress (Nasturtium officinale), American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), Chinese
lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), nopale cactus, tuna (Opuntia ficus-indica, O. robusta, O. streptacantha),lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), goldenberry (Physalis peruviana), pokeweed (Phytolacca americana),root beer leaf, hoja santa (Piper auritum), “Day Neutral” winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonobolus),
arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), Chinese arrowhead (Sagittaria sinensis), chayote (Sechium edule),yacon (Smallianthus sonchifolia), cattail (Typha spp.), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)
ARID AND HOT (USDA Zones 8-10)
edible seed acacias (Acacia holosericea, A. murrayana, A victoriae), hardy agaves (Agave parreyi, A.
chrysantha, A. deserti, A. utahensis, A. palmeri), tropical agaves (Agave salmiana, A. tequilana), garlicchives (Allium tuberosum), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), palo verde (Cercidium microphyllum), chaya(Cnidoscolus chayamansa), bull nettle (Cnidoscolus palmeri), cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa),
105

gamote (Cymopteris spp.), moringa (Moringa oleifera), African moringa (Moringa stenopetala),mulberry (Morus alba), nopale cactus, tuna (Opuntia ficus-indica, O. robusta, O. streptacantha),runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), cache bean (Phaseolus
polysanthus), Livingstone potato (Plectranthus esculentus), marama bean (Tylosema esculentum),izote (Yucca guatemalensis),
MILD MEDITERRANEAN (USDA Zones 8-10)
perennial okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), edible seed acacias (Acacia holosericea, A. murrayana,
A victoriae), hardy agaves (Agave parreyi, A. chrysantha, A. deserti, A. utahensis, A. palmeri),tropical agaves (Agave salmiana, A. tequilana), perennial leek (Allium ampeloprasum), multiplier
onion (Allium cepa aggregatum), walking onion (Allium cepa proliferum), Welsh onion (Allium
fistulosum), garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), wild celery (Apium prostratum filiforme), water
hawthorn (Aponogeton distachios), udo (Aralia cordata), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), yellow
asphodel (Asphodeline lutea), saltbush (Atriplex halimus), water parsnip (Berula erecta), sea beet
(Beta vulgaris maritima), “Western Front” kale (Brassica napus), wild cabbage (Brassica oleracea),“Colocha” (Brassica oleracea), “Tree Collards” (Brassica oleracea acephala), Gai Lon (Brassica
oleracea alboglabra), “9 Star” perennial broccoli (Brassica oleracea botrytis), branching bush kales,“Dorbentons” kale (Brassica oleracea ramosa), Turkish rocket (Bunias orientalis), camass (Camassiaspp.), achira, edible canna (Canna edulis), babac (Carica pentaloba), fragrant spring tree (Cedrellasinensis), red valerian (Centranthus ruber), good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), chicory(Cichorium intybus), chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa), taro (Colocasia esculenta), colewort (Crambe
cordifolia), sea kale (Crambe maritima), chipilin (Crotolaria longirostrata), figleaf gourd, chilacayote(Cucurbita ficifolia), cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa), cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), globe
artichoke (Cynara scolymus), chufa (Cyperus esculentus sativus), jinenjo (Dioscorea japonica),
Chinese yam(Dioscorea opposita), cush cush yam (Dioscorea trifida), sylvetta arugula (Diplotaxis
muralis, D. tenuifolia), lablab bean (Dolichos lablab), water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), enset(Ensete ventricosum), Caucasian spinach (Hablitzia tamnoides), Maximilan sunflower (Helianthus
maximiliani), sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus), daylily (Hemerocallis spp.), cranberry hibiscus(Hibiscus acetosella), sweet potato, boniato (Ipomoea batatas), lovage (Levisticum officinale),leaf goji (Lycium chinense), gumbo leaf mallow (Malva moschata), bush banana, Austral doubah(Marsdenia australis), moringa (Moringa oleifera), African moringa (Moringa stenopetala), mulberry(Morus alba), watercress (Nasturtium officinale), American lotus (Nelumbo lutea), Chinese lotus(Nelumbo nucifera), water celery (Oenanthe javanica), nopale cactus, tuna (Opuntia ficus-indica,O. robusta, O. streptacantha), oca (Oxalis tuberosa), mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna), yampah(Perideridia gairdnerii), fuki (Petasites japonicus), runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), lima bean
(Phaseolus lunatus), cache bean (Phaseolus polysanthus), running bamboo (Phyllostachys spp.),
goldenberry (Physalis peruviana), ground cherry (Physalis pruinosa), root beer leaf, hoja santa (Piper
auritum), Livingstone potato (Plectranthus esculentus), “Day Neutral” winged bean (Psophocarpus
tetragonobolus), Himalayan rhubarb (Rheum australe), turkey rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), rhubarb(Rheum x cultorum), French sorrel (Rumex acetosa), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), bucklerleaf sorrel (Rumex scutatus), scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica), skirret (Sium sisarum), yacon(Smallianthus sonchifolia), pepino melon (Solanum muricatum), potato (Solanum tuberosum),hausa potato (Solonostemon rotundifolius), Chinese artichoke, crosnes (Stachys sieboldii), dandelion(Taraxacum officinale), New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides), linden, lime, basswood(Tilia spp.), “Ken Aslett” mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), cattail(Typha spp.), ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), izote (Yucca guatemalensis),
LOWLAND MONSOON AND HUMID TROPICS (USDA Zones 10-12)
perennial okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), edible hibiscus (Abelmoschus manihot), baobab (Adansonia
digitata), tropical agaves (Agave salmiana, A. tequilana), Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum), garlic chives106

(Allium tuberosum), giant taro (Alocasia macrhorrhizos), sissoo spinach (Alternanthera sissoo), water
hawthorn (Aponogeton distachios), water yam (Aponogeton madagascarensis), breadfruit (Artocarpus
altilis), jakfruit (Artocarpus heterophylla), clumping bamboo (Bambusa spp.), Malabar spinach(Basella alba), pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), achira, edible canna (Canna edulis), papaya (Carica
papaya), water hornfern (Ceratopteris thalyctroides), tepijelote (Chamaedora tepijelote), chaya(Cnidoscolus chayamansa), bull nettle (Cnidoscolus palmeri), spurge nettle (Cnidoscolus stimulosus),
ivy gourd, perennial cucumber (Coccinia grandis), taro (Colocasia esculenta), cholla (Cylindropuntia
acanthocarpa), clumping bamboo (Dendrocalamus spp.), white yam (Dioscorea alata), air potato(Dioscorea bulbifera), Asiatic lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta), cush cush yam (Dioscorea trifida),
lablab bean (Dolichos lablab), water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), gorgon plant (Euryale ferox),
clumping bamboo (Gigantochloa spp.), African jointfir (Gnetum africanum), jointfir (Gnetum
gnemon), Okinawa spinach (Gynura crepioides), cranberry hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella), water
spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), sweet potato, boniato (Ipomoea batatas), duckweed (Lemna spp.), guaje(Leucaena esculenta), cassava, yuca, manioc (Manihot esculenta), arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea),
bitter gourd (Momordica charantica), moringa (Moringa oleifera), African moringa (Moringa
stenopetala), mulberry (Morus alba), banana, plantain (Musa x paradisica), watercress (Nasturtium
officinale), clumping bamboo (Nastus elatus), Chinese lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), nopale cactus, tuna
(Opuntia ficus-indica, O. robusta, O. streptacantha), lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), root beer leaf,
hoja santa (Piper auritum), Livingstone potato (Plectranthus esculentus), “Day Neutral” winged bean
(Psophocarpus tetragonobolus), winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonobolus), Chinese arrowhead(Sagittaria sinensis), katuk (Sauropus androgynous), chayote (Sechium edule), hummingbird tree
(Sesbania grandiflora), highlands pitpit (Setaria palmifolia), eggplant (Solanum melongena), hausa
potato (Solonostemon rotundifolius) African yambean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa), fluted gourd(Telfairia occidentalis), Haitian basket vine (Trichostigma octandrum), Australian arrowgrass(Triglochin spp.), water meal (Wolffia spp.), belembe/taioba (Xanthosoma brasiliense), cocoyam(Xanthosoma saggitifolium), violet-stem taro (Xanthosoma violaceum), izote (Yucca guatemalensis)

107z
2 o spb
4 T Tsp
12

Baking Conversions

p
Cu

t
Pin

CONVERSIONS

1 /4

2 Cups
16 oz
32 Tbsp
96 Tspsup
2 C oz
16 bspT
32 Tsp
96

p

Pint

ts
s
up
z
2o sp
Tb
64

2 Pints
4 Cups32oz
64 Tbsp

1/4 Cup
1 Tb

Ba

sp =

n
sio
ver
on
gC

kin

2 oz
4 Tbsp
12Tsp

p=

Cup

Cups
6 oz
Tbsp
6 Tsp

8 oz
16 Tbsp
48 Tspbs
1T

1/2 Cup
4 oz
8 Tbsp24 Tsp

1/4 Cu2 oz
4 Tbsp12Tsp

Baking Conversions

Gallon4 Quarts
8 Pints
16 Cups
128 oz

108

p

sp
3T

s

Pint

3 Ts

Quart
2 Pints
4 Cups32oz
64 Tbsp

Pint
2 Cups
16 oz
32 Tbsp
96 TspBaking

CONVERSIONS° F to ° C° C to ° F(° F-32) x .556
° C(1.8) + 32

To Change

To

Multiply By

InchesInchesMillimeters
Feet
Meters
Feet
Yards
Yards
MetersMiles
Kilometers
Square Inches
Square Feet
Square Feet
Square Yards
Cubic Inches
Cubic Feet
Cubic Feet
Cubic Yards
Cubic Inches
Cubic Feet
Gallons
Gallons
Gallons
Lbs of Water
OuncesPoundsInches of Water

Feet
Millimeters
InchesInches
Feet
Yards
Feet

.0833
25.4
.03937
12

Meters

.9144

Yards

1.094

Kilometers

1.609

Miles

.6214

Square Feet
Square Inches
Square Yards
Square Feet
Cubic Feet
Cubic Inches
Cubic Yards
Cubic Feet
Gallons
Gallons
Cubic Inches
Cubic Feet
Lbs of Water
Gallons
PoundsOunces
Lbs/Square Inch.00694144.11111
9.000581728.0370327.00433
7.48
231
.1337
8.33
.12004
.0625
16
.0361

Temperature

3.281

.3333
3

109

Home Test for Soil TypeSTART

Place approximately 25g soil in palm. Add water dropwise andknead the soil to break down all aggregates. Soil is at the properconsistency when plastic and moldable, like moist putty.

Does soil remain in a ball when squeezed?

Add dry soil tosoak up water

Is soil too dry?

Is soil too wet?

Place ball of soil between thumb and forefinger gently pushing the soil with the thumb,squeezing it upward into a ribbon. Form a ribbon of uniform thickness and width. Allow the
ribbon to emerge and extend over the forefinger, breaking from its own weight.

LOAMY
SAND

Does soil form a ribbon?

Does soil make a weak
ribbon less than 2.5cm
long before breaking?

Does soil make a medium
ribbon 2.5-5cm long
before breaking?

Does soil make a strong
ribbon 5cm or longer
before breaking?

Excessively wet a small pinch of soil in palm and rub with forefinger.

SANDY
LOAM

Does soil feelvery gritty?

SANDY
CLAY
LOAM

Does soil feelvery gritty?

SANDY
CLAY

Does soil feelvery gritty?

SILT
LOAM

Does soil feelvery smooth:

SILTY
CLAY
LOAM

Does soil feelvery smooth:

SILTY
CLAY

Does soil feelvery smooth:

LOAM

Neither
grittiness nor
smoothness
predmoninates

CLAY
LOAM

Neither
grittiness nor
smoothness
predmoninates

CLAY

Neither
grittiness nor
smoothness
predmoninates

110

SAND

10

100
90

20

80

30
silt loam

sandy loam

ys
an
d
sand

silt

100

10 loam

loam

90

20

sandy clay
loam

silty clay
loam

80

30

clay loam

70

clay

60

40 sandy

50

40

nt
c
rce

silty
clay

ilt

50

ts
en

pe

clay

60

rc
pe

lay

70

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0
10

percent sand111Essential Plant Nutrients
Nutrient

Ions Absorbed
by Plants

Structural elements
Carbon, C
Hydrogen, H
Oxygen, O
Primary nutrients
Nitrogen, N
Phosphorus, P
Potassium, K
Secondary nutrients
Calcium, Ca
Magnesium, Mg
Sulfur, S
Micronutrients
Boron, B
Chlorine, Cl
Cobalt, Co
Copper, Cu
Iron, Fe
Manganese, Mn
Molybdenum, Mo
Zinc, Zn

PO4

C02
H20
02
NO3-, NH4+
H2PO4-,HPO4-2
K+
Ca+2
Mg+2
SO4-2
H2BO3ClCo+2
Cu+2
Fe+2, Fe+3
Mn+2
MoO4-2Zn+2

Rocks & soilleaching & runoff

Absorption

Nutrients
Consumption

Photosynthetic organisms: bacteria, algae, plants
Decomposition

PcycleBacteria
Bacteria
PO4

112

Heterotrophic organisms

Animal waste

Typical nutrient content, moisture
content, and weight of manure
Type of Animal
ManureN

Chicken with litter73

Laying hen

37

Sheep
RabbitP2

K

Moisture,
percent

28

55

30

900

25

39

60

1,400

18

4.0

29

72

1,400

15

4.2

12

75

1,400
1,400

lb per ton as is

1,2

Weight,lb/cu yard

Beef

12

2.6

14

77

Horse

9

2.6

13

63

1,400

9

1.8

16

65

1,400

5

0.9

2.4

81

1,100

Dry stack dairy
Separated dairy soilds

3

1

Manure analyses are usually reported in terms of P and K, while fertilizer labels are phosphate(P205) and potash (K20). To convert from P to P205, multiply P by 2.3. To convert from K to K20,
multply K by 1.2.

2

These values assume that manure has been protected from rain.

3

Separated dairy solids are produced when dairy manure is pumped over a screen, separating thesoilds from the rest of the manure.

Soil Temperatures for Germination
Beets
Carrots
Lettuce
Parsley
Radishes
SpinachTurnip
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Corn
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Peppers
Cantaloupe
SquashBeans
Watermelon
Okra
Eggplant
Pumpkins

40oF

50oF

60oF

= Practical temp. for planting

70oF

80oF

90oF

100oF

= Optimal temp. for germination

113

114

Shifting USDA Hardiness Map

1971-2000

1981-2010

Difference

115

116

117

#

2

There are 130 species of Mason bees (Osmia) out of the thousands of pollinators throughout North
America. The Mason bee is part of the Apidae bee family, which also includes the most familiar pollinatorthe honey bee (Apis melifera). Unlike honey bees who are a collective social bee, in hives of tens of
thousands, the Mason bee is solitary. They pollinate plants up to a 300 feet radius of where they nest andan individual Mason bee has much higher pollination rate than an individual honey bee due to the way
they carry pollen, on their lower abdomen rather than on the backs of their legs. Mason bees nest insmall holes most commonly in trees or logs that were already created by woodpeckers and insects. They
forage throughout the warm months, mate with a male (who only lives for up to 2 weeks to mate thendies), gather about a pea size amount of pollen for each egg, lay the egg next to the pollen, find mud tobuild up a protective barrier (where the name mason comes from). She will do this in succession in about
two tubes and lay about 15-20 eggs in her life span of 6 weeks, then dies. The baby bees pupate and are
fully developed by the fall, hibernate through the winter then emerge from their coccoons in the spring.
If you would like to invite more pollinators to your home but might not want or have space to have a full
fledged bee hive, making Mason bee habitats are a great low maintenance way! There are many different
ways to make a Mason bee hive, here are two examples...

118

With any Mason bee hive method, if it appears that the holes
have been built up and bees are no longer nesting in them, they
can be cleaned out for future Mason bee inhabitants. Take off
the backing piece, drill out the mud, or take out straws andbamboo cuttings, clean them or replace with fresh ones. This
will also help protect the bees from mites and fungal threats.
If you’d like to get even nerdier with Mason bees... and due tothe unpredictability of an ever quickly changing climate, anotherway to insure that the bees are emerging from their cocoons
when there is an abundant food source, is to line the wooden
holes (or bamboo cuttings) with paper.

Then, In the winter after all the eggs are laid and cocoons have developed open the back ofhive. Pull out each roll of paper. Open and collect the healthy cocoons. Place in a breathable
cardboard box and place in a refrigerator. Leave in the fridge until there is no fear of anothercold snap. When warm, Make a hole in the side of the cardboard box and place in a shaded, dry
area. The bees will emerge from their cocoons within the box, leave from the opening, begin
foraging and start their life cycle!

119

#3

BIO CHAR

120

121

It’s Going Down is a digitalcommunity center for anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements acrossso-called North America.

itsgoingdown.org
twitter: @IGD_News
instagram: @its.going.down

Poor Prole’s Almanac is an ecoagriculture podcast focused on building community resiliency through developing an
ecological framework for envisioning abetter world.
twitter @thepoorproles
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everywhere else @poorprolesalmanac

CLASSIFIEDS
When the one-way tickets to Mars go on sale, are you busy shopping
for seeds instead?
Then EARTHBOUND TV is for you!
A cooperatively run youtube channel by farmers, gardeners, ranchers,
weavers, tinkerers, carpenters and cooks sharing skills, experiences,
frameworks and how-to’s for communal autonomy.
tinyurl.com/earthboundtv

Bayou Food Forest is a project to transform 11
acres of former monoculture in SW Louisiana intoa site of intense food production and perennial &fruit tree propagation.
Sometimes seeking volunteers, if interested,
please email Indianbayoufarm@protonmail.
com.
Useful skills include: gardening, carpentry, electrical, irrigration, cooking, photo/video, art/design.
Insta: @bayou_foodforest

Earthbound?
We’re cultivating crews in the PNW.
Summer intensives and/or
long-term worker collective members,
cedarmoon.us/earthboundCedar Moon tends unsettling earth
with the Sacred Lands Alliance & TLC Farm,on Atfalati and Clackamas lands: Portland, OR
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We appreciate everyone who contributed
to make this fourth issue of the EarthboundFarmer’s Almanac possible. We hope to beback next year so if you’re reading this andexcited to contribute to future issues, send
pitches to lobeliacommons@protonmail.com
with “2025 Almanac:” and the pitch topic in
the subject by July 31st, 2024.
If you’d like to learn more about
Lobelia Commons and the projects we’re
working on, check out @lobeliacommons on
instagram and twitter.
Free PDFs of all issues of the EarthboundFarmer’s Almanac can be found online

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132The old farmer’s almanac presented conventional wisdom. This almanac is a place for experimentation, for finding new forms and retrofitting
old ones, for sharing stories of lived efforts toward
a collective exit from this colonial nightmare, thisseparateness from the Earth.

Climate Weirdings

The way forward, out of this mess, will mean
charting a new course informed with ancestralknowledges developed through generations of
struggle against land theft, exploitation, and enslavement. We will have to work together—constructing and re-constructing the ability to sustain and care for each other. This almanac is fordeveloping the necessary knowledge, infrastructure and practices.

Plant Guides

The evolving crises all around us and reigning
institutions’ desperate attempts to appear in control at any cost make it clear that we must build
the tools for our own autonomy and survival.
There are alternatives to the antics of hoarding
preppers and consumerist gimmicks. Instead, reconsidering our relationships to our water, foods,
and medicines will determine our ability to continually resist, subvert, and create.

Recipes

DIY Builds
Historic Dates
Sunrise/Sunset and Moon Phases		

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This is a farmer’s almanac for the end of a world
and the beginning of many others.

Correspondences

FARMER’S ALMANAC

Tarotscopes

2024

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EARTHBOUND