Alder Burns
@adiantum.bsky.social
Permaculturist, homesteader, pagan, plant lover...
Reminds me of a quote from Zen stuff I read years ago: "Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water." And another, from New Agey stuff : "Everybody wants to do ayahuasca but nobody wants to do the dishes!"
November 23, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reminds me of a quote from Zen stuff I read years ago: "Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water." And another, from New Agey stuff : "Everybody wants to do ayahuasca but nobody wants to do the dishes!"
Ah, redwoods! I will always consider myself privileged to have walked among them those few times I got to while living out there! Oaks and pines will have to do for the rest of my days I think....
November 23, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Ah, redwoods! I will always consider myself privileged to have walked among them those few times I got to while living out there! Oaks and pines will have to do for the rest of my days I think....
Stir-fry them with curry spices. Or just cook them well, much as one would collard or mustard greens. Radish is a major crop in much of East and South Asia, as much for the greens as the roots. I often grow them as "cut and come again" greens and ignore the roots!
November 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Stir-fry them with curry spices. Or just cook them well, much as one would collard or mustard greens. Radish is a major crop in much of East and South Asia, as much for the greens as the roots. I often grow them as "cut and come again" greens and ignore the roots!
I've been familiar with this sort of stuff for years now as a forager, particularly with mushrooms. It's easy to die with a lot of the online info out there now. When doing a new ID with a view to eating, I always confirm from 3 sources, one of which must be a printed book from before 2000.
November 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I've been familiar with this sort of stuff for years now as a forager, particularly with mushrooms. It's easy to die with a lot of the online info out there now. When doing a new ID with a view to eating, I always confirm from 3 sources, one of which must be a printed book from before 2000.
How is it at eye-level? I thought this grew low on the ground, parasitic off of roots?
November 20, 2025 at 1:08 PM
How is it at eye-level? I thought this grew low on the ground, parasitic off of roots?
That article actually mentions my old friend Joe Hollis. I used to go visit him just about every year and talk plants at his amazing garden all down the side of a mountain. I hope those people got whatever plants from there....a lot of it washed away in the Helene flood.
November 19, 2025 at 7:16 PM
That article actually mentions my old friend Joe Hollis. I used to go visit him just about every year and talk plants at his amazing garden all down the side of a mountain. I hope those people got whatever plants from there....a lot of it washed away in the Helene flood.
Makes me feel old...had to go look up that acronym!
November 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Makes me feel old...had to go look up that acronym!
AND two bald eagles a couple days before!!
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 PM
AND two bald eagles a couple days before!!
Not a whole solution, but for years and years (since about 1995) I have subsidized my own diet, plus that of my friends and my animals, through the art and science of dumpster diving. Right now I'm watching a canner pot as it preserves a recent large "score" of sausage and pork!
November 12, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Not a whole solution, but for years and years (since about 1995) I have subsidized my own diet, plus that of my friends and my animals, through the art and science of dumpster diving. Right now I'm watching a canner pot as it preserves a recent large "score" of sausage and pork!
Not left in a pot for sure. Put it somewhere above freezing so the soil in the pot doesn't freeze. In the spring plant it in the ground. Planted in the ground they are very hardy.
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Not left in a pot for sure. Put it somewhere above freezing so the soil in the pot doesn't freeze. In the spring plant it in the ground. Planted in the ground they are very hardy.
There is another mushroom, Panellus stipticus, in North America that glows. One time years ago in Georgia I found a clump bright enough to read by! And it's poisonous and medicinal, too.
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
There is another mushroom, Panellus stipticus, in North America that glows. One time years ago in Georgia I found a clump bright enough to read by! And it's poisonous and medicinal, too.
Why is bsky not showing me your stuff in my feed! Somehow I missed this till coming to your page just now. These things are my absolute favorites (as evidenced by my profile photo) And all things that glow in the dark!
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Why is bsky not showing me your stuff in my feed! Somehow I missed this till coming to your page just now. These things are my absolute favorites (as evidenced by my profile photo) And all things that glow in the dark!
Do you know Sarah Anne Lawless at thepoisongarden@bsky.social? She posted about hellebore today too!
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Do you know Sarah Anne Lawless at thepoisongarden@bsky.social? She posted about hellebore today too!
Makes me want to plant some....just to have it around. Plus winter flowers are a rare thing!
November 10, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Makes me want to plant some....just to have it around. Plus winter flowers are a rare thing!
I've always read that when it comes to medicinal properties, the "wild types" of most herbs is the best, as compared to any variety bred for different flowers, etc.
November 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I've always read that when it comes to medicinal properties, the "wild types" of most herbs is the best, as compared to any variety bred for different flowers, etc.
My great grandmother outlived all four of my grandparents, dying when I was about 12. As a young woman she survived the Galveston hurricane of 1900 (arguably the worst natural disaster in American history). Even her house survived. She also lived for years with a man she wasn't married to.
November 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM
My great grandmother outlived all four of my grandparents, dying when I was about 12. As a young woman she survived the Galveston hurricane of 1900 (arguably the worst natural disaster in American history). Even her house survived. She also lived for years with a man she wasn't married to.
Oh wow! I had forgotten this plant completely! I still recall seeing it in the distance in North Carolina years ago, and exclaiming "what is that?", since most common things I know on sight, even at a distance. Another one to add to the seed list!
October 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Oh wow! I had forgotten this plant completely! I still recall seeing it in the distance in North Carolina years ago, and exclaiming "what is that?", since most common things I know on sight, even at a distance. Another one to add to the seed list!
They are a staple for me, and they like a long hot summer. But so long as I get them inside and it's not actually raining on them, they should dry out and be fine. They will store under my bed till well into spring.
October 27, 2025 at 6:59 PM
They are a staple for me, and they like a long hot summer. But so long as I get them inside and it's not actually raining on them, they should dry out and be fine. They will store under my bed till well into spring.
Perhaps you could trench in a barrier around the house, like heavy plastic, vertically into the ground, as both a root and a termite barrier, and then apply the poison only on the inside of it, between the plastic and the house. I've personally dealt with termites in multiple sites with hot borax.
October 24, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Perhaps you could trench in a barrier around the house, like heavy plastic, vertically into the ground, as both a root and a termite barrier, and then apply the poison only on the inside of it, between the plastic and the house. I've personally dealt with termites in multiple sites with hot borax.
Still a good deal better than an unexpected encounter with poison ivy, especially without leaves to recognize it by.
October 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Still a good deal better than an unexpected encounter with poison ivy, especially without leaves to recognize it by.
Oh always good! It's Jo Hickey Hall's "Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast". Listening to it every day again now while I sit and hull black walnuts out in the sunshine!
October 23, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Oh always good! It's Jo Hickey Hall's "Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast". Listening to it every day again now while I sit and hull black walnuts out in the sunshine!