gardenvarietygay - Tumblr blog

[gardenvarietygay]

You can train your tastes. You can choose what you see beauty in.

Lemme go further, actually. You are constantly doing so--or letting others do it for you.

Nearly two decades ago, when we were planning our wedding, I made a very firm decision not to look at any wedding planning magazines or anything with marketing material for wedding products. I wanted our wedding to be uniquely us, and I also wanted not to be bombarded by product advertisement and beautiful photo shoots of very expensive weddings. Consequently, maybe we wasted a little bit of time reinventing the wheel, but we had a wedding we were very happy with that only cost perhaps four thousand dollars at most, probably not that much, spread out over our finances and those of both our families. Our guests went home with live potted plants that we'd paid pennies for at end of season, our florist had a great time getting to design a bouquet that tested her skills because I didn't have any preconceived ideas, my dress was utterly unique--and I really do feel that those magazines would have had a corrosive effect on all that.

When we moved to this property three years ago, I spent a LOT of time looking at images online, trying to form a coherent vision for a property that was at the time a fairly blank slate. I found myself scrolling through a lot of Russian dacha Instagrams, of all things, and they unlocked something for me. Seeing the same homey make-do decorations and techniques I grew up around a continent away, the same plywood cutout old ladies and tractor tire flower planters, somehow chewed through that last binding cord of classism, and suddenly I saw the art in it. The expression of a desire to embellish and beautify, even when you have very little, even when all you can afford is things the more well-to-do consider trash. I saw the exuberance of human love for beauty in a brilliant flower bed planted next to a collapsing shed--it didn't need to be perfect to be worthwhile. They didn't wait til everything was pristine to start enjoying things. And now I earnestly and unironically covet my own version of the tractor-tire Christmas tree at the farm down the road.

We've spent centuries now idolizing the manicured estates and quaint country retreats of the European wealthy elites. We've turned thousands of miles of living ecosystem into grass deserts in service of this vision. We need to start deliberately retraining our tastes. Seek out images of a different idea of beauty and peace. I'm not telling you what it'll be. I'm telling you this is not involuntary. You can participate. You can look at the many beautiful examples of native xeriscaping for arid climates, or photos of chaotic tangles of wildflowers, tamed by narrow paths, a bench under an arbor overwhelmed with wisteria. Maybe instead of trying to get lawn to grown under your mature trees, you'd actually get far more joy out of a patch of dirt. A hammock. A firepit ringed with log sections for seats.

You can free yourself from harmful conventions of taste and beauty, and you do it through imagining something better.

[gardenvarietygay]

I don’t have hard data but I know in my heart that the increase in price does not represent any (meaningful) increase in wages for the farm workers who grew, picked, and processed the produce.

Gotta love the rise of food costs along with the rise of recalls from lack of food regulations and protections. Nothing like paying $8 for a bag of wilted salad mix that will probably give you salmonella.

[gardenvarietygay]

I bought a state-specific wildflower seed mix that I sprinkled in my garden this year and the sprouts are everywhere. I am extremely excited to get my milkweed in there too; sprouts have onlt just started emerging for it.

I want to flood my home with bugs and plants and birds and all other critters that people think of as pests. I want my yard to have life.

[gardenvarietygay]

I was at a party with some engineers (derogatory) and they were brainstorming different ways they could kill the geese and ducks that nest in the mowed lawn around the pond in front of their stupid business building. I brought up that, actually, geese prefer to hang out in ponds surrounded by short grass and that if you planted taller native plants around the pond or even just let the grass grow really tall the geese probably wouldn’t come back next year. They said that would look ugly and instead continued their discussion of quirky ways to murder migratory birds for being “gross.”

POV you made a popular post about insects

[gardenvarietygay]

I made this! The sauce was superb, I served it over rice. My only advice would be if you (like me) are a recovering bean hater, maybe switch to a smaller legume like chickpea or cannellini since butterbeans are GIGANTIC and there’s nothing in this recipe that’s going to really help their canned texture. I’ll definitely make this again but I’ll probably use a smaller white bean.

Tuscan "Marry Me" Butter Beans

[gardenvarietygay]

Mid April 2024 and the Brunnera and Celandine Poppy is up and blooming in the front shade bed, my columnar apple trees are blooming, both my raised beds are full and ready to be planted, my chickens lay far too many eggs, and it's toad time

[gardenvarietygay]

If I ask nicely will people reblog this and tell me what their most common breakfast is? Not your favorite necessarily, just what you have for breakfast most frequently? 🙏🏽

[gardenvarietygay]

Please disregard the numerous dandelions. I took these yesterday in the twilight because we were supposed to have a heat spell and I was worried they might fade fast. They smell incredible and my neighbor told me they were the most beautiful flowers she’d ever seen. Not a bad showing for a $30 bag of bulbs! I believe these hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) are the variety ‘Delft Blue.’

[gardenvarietygay]

Phlox divaricata ❤️

We grow almost all our own plants. The only stuff we buy in are some shrubs and a couple of species that are too unreliable to grow from seed. We purposefully try to sell our plants when they’re young both because we find they establish better and it’s logistically easier for us. That means it’s pretty rare we get flowers on any of our stock (except for some annuals and anise hyssop Agastache foeniculum) so when we get a shipment of phlox in full bloom it’s a delight. Especially since they are fragrant enough that the entire greenhouse smells like lilacs.

[gardenvarietygay]

The low chance of finding some good free stuff on Nextdoor is completely outweighed by having to trudge through some of the most reactionary, fear-mongering posts telling you to call the cops on everyone you don’t personally know for walking past your house. This is your reminder to please talk to your older loved ones and remind them that children exist and they’re not inherently dangerous. So many older people—through no fault of their own—get siloed into really scary worldviews where everyone is out to get them. Help them feel less afraid and help 12-year-olds not get the cops called on them for *checks notes* doing bike tricks in a public park.

[gardenvarietygay]

HOLY SHIT THEY PASSED THE BILL TO LEGALIZE SAME SEX MARRIAGE

[gardenvarietygay]

Please please please donate to the PCRF

Or donate to the Cartoonist Cooperative's e-sim drive that provides a handy guide to how it works and why it's important

[gardenvarietygay]

Just some photos of invasive callery pear tree saplings that have seeded themselves into a local park that are small enough to cut with hand pruners or a folding saw. Who could possibly say whether they will continue to exist by the end of this week?

[gardenvarietygay]

Saw this beauty at the thrift store.

[gardenvarietygay]

Adenium obesum flowers! This is one of the plants I raised from seed. They’re a little over five years old now I think? This is a fun species to grow from seed, even if it means you won’t get flowers for a few years. They’re so round!

[gardenvarietygay]

42 SONG POP PUNK MASHUP

Songs Sampled:

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade Green Day - Good Riddance  Panic! at the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies blink-182 - What’s My Age Again? Jimmy Eat World - The Middle We The Kings - Check Yes Juliet Third Eye Blind - Graduate All Time Low - Weightless All Time Low - Dear Maria Count Me In Switchfoot - Meant to Live Fall Out Boy - Sugar We’re Going Down My Chemical Romance - I’m Not Okay (I Promise) Boys Like Girls - Thunder 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue Relient K - Be My Escape Relient K - Sadie Hawkins Dance Simple Plan - I’d Do Anything Paramore - Misery Business Rise Against - Savior Sum 41 - Fat Lip My Chemical Romance - Teenagers Fountains of Wayne - Stacy’s Mom All American Rejects - Gives You Hell blink-182 - Feeling This Lit - My Own Worst Enemy Sum 41 - In Too Deep The Cab - One of THOSE Nights Relient K - High of 75 blink-182 - I Miss You Paramore - That’s What You Get AFI - Miss Murder Good Charlotte - Dance Floor Anthem Cute Is What We Aim For - Curse of Curves 30 Seconds to Mars - Closer to the Edge A Day to Remember - All I Want Mayday Parade - Jamie All Over Fall Out Boy - Thnks Fr Th Mmrs Cartel - Say Anything (Else) Taking Back Sunday - MakeDamnSure Rise Against - Audience of One Fall Out Boy - Sugar We’re Going Down

[gardenvarietygay]

don't loose hope, there is love in life, there is community. people are coming together to protest all over the world, people are finding solidarity with each other even among the horror, people want to help. over the course of hours i saw hundreds come together from all over the world online to buy e-sim cards for the gaza reporters (they've succeeded in getting internet access to key online press reporters and are working to connect more), i've seen stories of people coming together in their grief and joy. despite the darkness there really is love. and i do believe that it is fundamental to the human condition.

Palestinians prepare food for the displaced families in the south of Gaza Strip. 10-28-2023