Kristina M. Gill
LightNews LightNews
banner
kmgill.bsky.social
Kristina M. Gill
@kmgill.bsky.social
2.4K followers 2K following 220 posts
Archaeobotanist, archaeologist, and historical ecologist working in island and coastal California. Native plant enthusiast 🌼 Lowe Syndrome Mom 🌼
Posts Replies Media Videos
kmgill.bsky.social
A very cool spider spotted on my native California thistle (Cirsium occidentale)!!
Image shows a spiny flower bud of a native thistle, with deep red petals in the center and deep purple spines that dry to tan tips. Known as a cobweb thistle, the flower bud looks like it has spider cobwebs wrapped around it. A crab spider—striped pink and white—sits in the center of the photo, edge of the flower bud facing up toward a tiny caterpillar suspended above.
August 10, 2025 at 2:21 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Happy belated Summer Solstice from Ragged Point, on the southern end of Big Sur. Where no cell service makes for a blissfully silent day punctuated only by rolling surf and wind through the cypress.
Image is overlooking a rocky point and sandy beach of San Carpoforo creek, with steep cliffs to the left. A Monterey cypress framed the left hand side of the image. White caps on the ocean show how windy it often here is this time of year.
June 22, 2025 at 4:13 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
I’m in my fancy beans for fiber phase. My Phaseolus Phase, if you will.

@ranchogordo.bsky.social
Image of a drawer with multiple packages of dried beans from Rancho Gordo in various colors from white to red, some striped. Image shows white giant California corona beans cooking in a clay pot on a gas stove.
June 1, 2025 at 10:49 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Lol my favorite representation of 841 is this drawing by Tongva artist Weshoyot Alvitre. She initially had the Santa Cruz Skate logo in there but they shut it down. They should’ve let her roll with it! 🦦🏄‍♀️
Image of a yellow water bottle with a sticker. The sticker has a glittery background and depicts a drawing of an otter flipping the bird and holding a surfboard that reads “841”. Text below the board and to the right of the otter says “Locals Only/ Awaswas Territory”
May 28, 2025 at 11:14 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Oh now I get why these guys are in with the Asparagales. Dichelostemma ida-maia, firecracker flower and cousins—native to California and southern Oregon—have spectacular plumage. And edible geophytes 🧨
Image shows a close up of a single flower, dangling from a stem, with a fuschia red tubular flower that opens at the end with lime green petal tips and cream color interior petals/parts.
May 27, 2025 at 1:51 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Excellent! I can also attest that containers work for California native plants too, as long as you have well draining soil (cactus soil works well).

🐝🪰🦋
Photo shows several blue hued ceramic pots on a deck, with the ocean and a cypress in the background. The plants in the pots are California natives, including giant coreopsis, island blue dicks, California fuchsia, and seaside Daisy.
May 26, 2025 at 8:23 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Me trying to Find My husband in the state park today. Lol oh, yeah, I guess this tracks 😂

@viking1000.bsky.social
Screen shot of the Find My app show Jon Erlandson was located (vaguely) in the North Pacific Ocean off California. No map is visible, just a dot showing his location in a sea of blue.
May 26, 2025 at 1:59 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Very true! Here’s an ex. from California’s Wi’ma (Santa Rosa Island) where Paleocoastal (12,000-8500 BP) features were identified in an NPS roadcut. I identified two types of #geophytes and we dated them directly to ~11,000 years ago. Indian potatoes (Dipterostemon) and little jicamas (Calochortus)
Figure from our 2021 article in American Antiquity on the earliest evidence for geophyte use in North America. Image is divided into three sections: A) (top left) shows two people sitting in a road cut, with feature locations outlined in a dashed line; B) (top right) shows the excavation unit with soil staining indicating the edge of a feature; and C) (bottom) shows a sidewall profile drawing of the excavation unit with Paleocoastal deposits originally overlain by ~40 cm of non-archaeological Holocene soil. Two burned rocks were found in the unit. These features were presumably roasting pits or ovens. Image caption reads as follows: Figure 2. Archaeological investigations at CA-SRI-997/H, Locus B: (A) Location of Unit DR-1, facing north, where A2 soils were exposed on an eroded road surface (Jon Erlandson, left; David Paul Dominguez, Chumash, right); (B) Unit DR-1 excavation showing CS1 and CS2 in relation to hearth-like feature with burned rocks, heat-treated lithics, and intact A2 soils; (C) Composite profile of Unit DR-1’s west wall, showing the depth of Holocene A1 soil (in the road cut adjacent to the unit) that overlay the Paleocoastal A2 anthropogenic stratum. Dashed line indicates a gradual tran- sition between the A2 and B2 soil horizons (photos by Todd Braje; profile and figure by Kristina Gill).
May 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
We caught it too, from further up the coast.
Image of a neighborhood with a rocket from the falcon 9 launch at vandenberg re-entering the atmosphere creating a vapor cloud behind it.
February 11, 2025 at 2:37 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Flowers of the island California native variety. Giant coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea) and island blue dicks (Six’on, Dipterostemon capitatus). San Nicolas Island.
Photo of a flower field on a coastal terrace of San Nicolas Island. In the foreground, island blue dicks with purple flower head clusters rise on slender stalks above a mat of long leaves. Immediately behind are taller giant coreopsis, with delicate green lacy leaves and bright yellow daisy-like flowers that turn island terraces yellow visible from a plane. The clear blue sky comprises the top third of the photo.
February 6, 2025 at 4:18 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
The first bloom of the season for my island blue dicks, Six’on, Dipterostemon capitatus. From Limuw (Santa Cruz Island). An important food like potatoes dating back at least 11,500 years on California’s Channel Islands. With @viking1000.bsky.social
Small cluster of blue/purple flower buds, only one fully open, on a thin stalk. A new leaf shoot crosses the flower stalk from behind, and a flat leaf folds away backwards towards the edge of the balcony. The setting sun shines through a gap in the balcony fence illuminating the flower. Brighter green foliage in the background is California figwort.
January 31, 2025 at 4:32 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
For anyone who needs some flowers. Crinkled onion (Allium crispum), endemic to California’s central coast ranges and Santa Monica mountains.
Small, pink cluster of onion flowers. Interior three petals are crinkled on the edges, giving it the name crinkled onion.
January 25, 2025 at 3:35 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Apropos of … everything, I’ve never had regrets from time spent outside. It’s the important stuff.

Like, why are most of these black turban snails actually hermit crabs? Why does that one hermit crab look so angry? Do six rayed sea stars eat hermit crabs or is this why there aren’t many snails?
Photo of a tide pool at low tide, focused on a tiny six-rayed sea star walking across a blade of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Other marine plants depicted include seagrass and a type of sargassum. Approx 12 Black turban snail shells are scattered about as well but on closer inspection, only one is a snail. The rest are inhabited by hermit crabs. One hermit crab is looking at the camera extremely grumpily.
January 20, 2025 at 5:12 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
I love audiobooks (free from the library), but this one is especially amusing. Booze! Plants! Archaeobotany!

Written by Amy Stewart and narrated by someone who sounds remarkably like Moira Rose on her first, maybe second martini 🍸 🐦‍⬛🖤 🏺🧪
Screenshot of an audiobook recording of Amy Stewart’s “The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Create the World’s Great Drinks”. The book cover is green, text in a vaguely old timey serif font, centered around a martini glass with a plant growing out of it.
January 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
If you or anyone you know are in need of finding cremated remains (cremains) that may have been lost or left behind in wildfire devastated areas, Alta Heritage Foundation can help at no cost. CA based volunteer archaeologists. Alt text included here…if anyone needs assistance connecting lmk 🏺
Cremated Remains Recovery. Have you lost your home in a fire? If the cremated remains (cremains) of your loved ones were inside, help is available. A team of dedicated volunteer archaeologists and trained canines are here to assist. What you need to do: 1) do not disturb the site, please wait for the professionals as sifting through can make recovery more difficult; 2) protect the area (limit foot traffic); 3) sign up for assistance: QR code available to scan or go to www.altahf.org.
January 13, 2025 at 3:48 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Venus setting over the water is not so subtle tonight ✨
Nighttime view looking at the Pacific Ocean with houses in the lower foreground, Monterey pine on the lower right, and the waxing crescent moon top left of center. A patch of thin white clouds is just above the horizon to the left of center, and Venus is lower center, shining brightly enough to create a reflection on the water.
January 6, 2025 at 4:21 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Ours was last week!
Image of a makowiec cake cut in half with light colored pastry and a swirl of dark poppyseed filling.
December 24, 2024 at 10:45 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Happy Solstice!! This picture is from Solstice years ago, showing crepuscular rays as the sun sets over Wi’ma (Santa Rosa Island), from Christy Beach on western Limuw (Santa Cruz Island). Channel Islands, CA. Some of my places any time of year, but winter is most spectacular, with clear skies.
Image shows sunset over an island in the distance, with waves lapping at the beach in the foreground. The light is dark in the upper sky, and the sunset highlights the outline of Santa Rosa Island. Crepuscular rays are pink in the otherwise dark blue sky as the sunset highlights sets behind.
December 21, 2024 at 5:20 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
The native (edible) geophytes are waking up in my planter boxes! San Clemente Island Brodiaea (B. kinkiensis) came up first (left), mariposa lily (Calochortus plummera) second (back), + firecracker Brodiaea (Dichelostemma ida-maia) (right) just now breaking through. Dudleyas for perennial color ✨
Image of a planter box with slender green shoots emerging from the soil. Succulents are flowering orange and a large gastropod shell of mega astrea present as well. Background is a Monterey pine and the pacific in the distant background.
December 19, 2024 at 11:55 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Can confirm: it helps! Taking notes + brainstorming by hand always helps me organize my thoughts in ways that I cannot seem to do on a computer with a blinking cursor. This example comes from sketching out a chapter on the use and availability of plants on California’s Channel Islands 🌼
Handwritten notes on paper organizing thoughts/themes prior to writing on the computer. Handwriting is messy, arrows connecting different thoughts, etc.
December 19, 2024 at 6:03 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Good morning, blue sky! Sunrise from Cambria, California as the waning gibbous moon sets behind me ✨🌖🌤️
Golden sunrise near the horizon, with high wispy clouds in pink, purple, and ethereal white. The outline of a coast live oak tree is in the lower left corner and a few stars are visible in the dark sky at the top of the photo.
December 17, 2024 at 3:47 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Just have to say, Emily’s jewelry is epic ✨. I love watching people recognize the solar system! Space art from a space scientist 🧪🌎🪐
Photo of a space themed gold hoop earring. Stone beads representing the solar system hang from a curved line that extends across the diameter of the hoop.
December 6, 2024 at 3:57 AM
kmgill.bsky.social
Good morning from the Sacramento River. Where I was surprised to see California sea lions hauled out on the dock across from the Delta King paddle boat. But apparently it’s a thing, they cone up for the fishing 🦭 🐟 ⛅️ ☀️
Photo of the Sacramento River from the middle of tower bridge, so the river comprises the majority of the image. White puffy clouds are in a blue sky, to the left of the river is a mirrored building, trees, and a dock with sea lions hauled out. On the right is the Old Sacramento waterfront area including restaurants, train station, a Farris wheel, and the historic Delta King paddle boat that used to run up and down the river starting in the 1920s-1930s.
November 30, 2024 at 4:25 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Grateful for family, friends, and the multiculturalism that is the fabric and strength of America. The foods we incorporate into family gatherings are reflective of that, from my grandma’s Polish Makowiec to my great aunt’s Cajun seafood gumbo. What are your favorite holiday food traditions? 🦐🦀🦃
Image of a Polish poppyseed cake, Makowiec, which is a small oval loaf cut in half to show the swirl of black poppyseed filling and dough. Bowl of Cajun seafood gumbo, a traditional Thanksgiving food at our home. Bowl shows rice, shrimp, crab, and andouille sausage in a rich broth.
November 28, 2024 at 7:50 PM
kmgill.bsky.social
Happiest of birthdays to my favorite collaborator, Jon Erlandson!! He’s new to blue sky, and getting up to speed. Give him a follow for archaeology, historical ecology, the Kelp Hwy, Channel Islands, and a little Icelandic archaeology too 🧪🏺🌎🌼 @viking1000.bsky.social
Jon collecting seaweeds at low tide on a tidal platform along the Estero Bluffs of California’s central coast. Channel Islands Shell midden site with a surf grass mat eroding out; Jon in background knelt down inspecting the surface.
November 24, 2024 at 8:24 PM