#i garden i pick up trash in my areas i respect animals i keep an eye out for invasive species and ones that need extra help

[spiritmoon23]

I think its funny that my environmental art class is doing its best to make me hate the very idea of caring for the environment

[weirdo-with-a-nametag]

Brain is tv static with random frames interspersed

Think I'm like. Really stressed and jumping between topics to try and find something that helps / feels good

Topics:

Anyone know a good health tracking app for adhd people? I want one that like pops up when you open your phone, maybe? But is unobtrusive. Like maybe you just rate your mood or whatever when you open your phone, and it closes, and you go about your business. I just hate every app and paper method I've tried but really want to track some stuff

Pigeon. ? Pigeon as pet?

Service animals re: cats, pigeons, my cat specifically, and then also ESAs and also what to use as treats while training my cat (he's pretty happy to learn behaviors with praise and pets as reinforcement, but treats would make everything move much faster, but I haven't found something I want to give him so we've just been y'know. Chillin)

Service animals re: what tasks can my pet potentially do that would help me? I don't really know a lot about service animals and there is a Huge range. If anyone has suggestions, or places to read about it, I'd appreciate it! Mostly thinking they may help with anxiety, sensory, and mobility/fatigue related stuff. Not much of a need for medical alerts.

Bioactive enclosures for my snakes, need to research their biomes and make progress on designs and equipment specifications

Also. Hit a seriously hard patch and haven't been handling them much at all this month so that's not great

Casting stuff. Saw jewelry today made of metal casts of claws, skulls, etc, and they were really well done and made me want to do that

Some taxidermy / vulture culture stuff I won't get into right now

Puzzles????

How to organize my room

Need a shower

Need to organize bathroom

So Much Schoolwork

Uhhhhh trying, but not making much headway, to figure out how I want to do my music collection. Also really need to clean my records..

Make?

Food??? Ew.

Dental hygiene ://

Plampts. So many. Houseplants need maintenance, many need repotting. Keep taking in people's problem plants and like, they're doing better, largely, after being trimmed and watered and whatnot, but need repotting. Also need to trim some aquarium plants.

Also need to put water in tanks. And spray nepenthes.

Laundry.

Gotta pick up trash in my room. There's so much. Everywhere. Why.

Schoolwork. I'm so behind. So, so stuck. Kind of feel like I'm dying.

Going on a picnic tomorrow. Have to figure out what still needs doing for that, probably need to go to the store.

Leo needs water. I'm so....ugh, I'm trying so hard, but it feels impossible. I do my best to take good care of my pets, and I think they live pretty good lives most of the time, but sometimes I get like This and completely drop off the face of the earth and then like, wake up or whatever and two weeks have passed by and I have not cleaned a water bowl! That's a serious problem!!!! I do not know how to combat that, really, besides more reminders. Having someone around who is willing to like, help, when things are especially hard, would be great, but I don't live with my partner right now and do not feel like I can ask anyone here for that. But I can't put my animals at risk. I check on them every day, and if their bowls are dirty I do take them out and clean them, but sometimes (like now) i cannot get myself to do it without a pressure like a dirty bowl, or a feeding day. And like, it's really important that they have clean water. I'm talking to myself here but like, if anyone has advice. Please. With the tank redesigns and upgrades, the bowls will be more accessible, which will help because one of them is very heavy at the angle I have to pick it up, and another requires moving a lot of branches and is best to take out while the snake is out (this is Leo) which is fine because I love my boy, but adds time to the process, and makes it harder to start, you know? Maybe if I just got more bowls - I could take the bowl out and immediately replace it, fill the new one, and replace the decor and snake, and then clean the bowl as a separate task? That would be easier for my brain. Currently I have a Specific bowl I prefer to use for each tank, and then everything else is Just In Case, but I mean. Acquiring extras is something I want to do anyway, and it may help with several problems, so. Yeah. I'll try that. But also, any other ideas, guys?

Anxiety: can't stop picking at my face, skin, nails, cuticles, scalp, pretty much everywhere with callouses, also scratched a mole off my face, which is something I've been trying Not to do for a while, so that's...not great. Can't find my earmuffs, and also all of my headphones are painful? Ears are really sensitive lately.

Been playing a lot of Moth Game (flutter: starlight if you wanna be friends say hey I don't know how to do it but would enjoy talking about moths if nothing else. The game is just like, an idle ish collecting game with cutesy versions of different species, and very little actual information, but it's still fun, and if anyone else is on there and also Into Moths like I am, hiiiii) and like it's fun and cute but also greatly impacting my productivity, and raises my stress levels during events, which is most days, so the game has. Not been helping. But I can't stop because then I'll miss Exclusive Moths.

Anyway. Had baklava and two mugs of Thai tea today and the sugar has made me nauseous.

Trying to journal. Hurts to write. Also takes too long. Also my handwriting is very bad. But typing is..not as good

Want to draw. Thinking about drawing cats

Plants again! Want to make seed bombs, have seeds, have most of the other ingredients, just need to put em together, basically.

Really sad :(

Or am I?

Weird noise coming from dining room?

Birds. Spent half an hour at least on the deck tonight listening to a hundred different bird calls (literally) to identify one I was hearing, it was a pine siskin, which I checked early on but the recording was bad and I didn't realize which call was identified. Anyway, cool to put a name to a face, so to speak.

Need to practice for ASL

So much.....to do...

Only had like >3 hours of work this week which was not great because money, but also like I'm really feeling those 3 hours....

My cat is basically refusing to come into my room? Which is very strange and I'm worried something is Off but cannot figure out what. Also means less cuddles which means I'm sad.

It feels strange whenever people follow me, the attention is nice but I have no idea what content y'all are here for. So to everyone: hi, enjoy, hope my random personal posts aren't a surprise to anyone who followed for like. News reblogs and informational stuff.

Do I even have it in me to..be successful in school? Should I drop out of college? I'm struggling really hard and do not feel like I'm building on the skills I need to continue, so like. Uh.

My dad is being. Abrasive.

Mom and grandma are very angry lately

Housemate is also angry, about things i thought we were on good terms about, so I am stressed because like,, are we okay?

Can't find my eye mask :(

Yoga? Like...restorative yoga? Need to track down my PT stuff. And. Do it.

Need to put the stickers on my license plates....oops...

Still haven't found my antidepressants! Yay!

Do I want to store my stuff in open bins, or with lids? Which stuff needs spill protection and stacking capability and which stuff needs easy access?

How to earn money without..chaos

Gotta go to the pet store tomorrow. Have to compile my list of pet store items i need. Uhhhhhhhhhh

Also I have an essay due tomorrow that I've barely started. So. Wooooooo

Kt tape for supporting arches / inner ankles? I keep messing up my ankles, and part of it is walking wrong because I don't have the energy to engage the muscles in my feet/legs right to like, avoid injury, and part of it is I just need new shoes inserts. But i wear slippers a lot and they do not have arch support and it hurts. PT to help with this also but Where Is It

Family can't seem to get dish soap I can use, so I've just been having to avoid washing anything by hand, or being in the general kitchen area while anyone uses the stuff, which has led to more of my dishes sitting out, and more conflict over dishes. Lovely.

How hard is it for parents to learn they have to respect boundaries? Very hard, apparently. And you're supposed to just sort of remind people, and explain, over and over and over but like at this point my self worth is actually pretty good and the lifetime of proof that they do not want to listen? That's making me want to stop trying. Like, if you're not going to respect my boundaries I'm just not going to involve you in my life. I'm not talking to my dad right now because of this. Maybe I'll decide to lay things out to him, again and again and again again, maybe not. And I'm comfortable saying that's on him.

How to drink water

Am I dehydrated or are my hands just completely callous now. My fingertips have such hard skin. Why? It's uncomfortable. This is part of why I've been biting them.

Also testosterone. Been having a lot of trouble doing my shots, because anxiety and physical freakouts, but also not feeling super urgent about it. Which I'm realizing may be a sign i need to look at the effects so far and the possible effects of continuing, and see what they make me feel. It's possible I'm where I want to be as far as T, and don't really want to stay on it. A big thing for me is a deeper voice, so it seems time to take a look at whether I like my voice where it is or want to see if it'll drop any more. Etc etc

Miss my lil sisters

Saw a lot of cool rocks today. Huge (like hand sized) ammonite for $28. May go back and buy one because. Wow.

Want to plant food plants

Also my natives. Whole garden plot standing empty with a bunch of stuff waiting in nursery pots, needing to go in the ground. Because I can't get out of bed. Love that. Stuff is dying out there, I'm dying in here, there's a poetry to it and I do not want to romanticize suffering so I will say this: I brought a Bucket full of moss home a month ago and planted it and now go outside sometimes to drench my moss and it is very rewarding because the stuff is just so green. Incredible. When the rest of my plants are finally in the ground, that feeling will only intensify. But, for now, the moss is very nice.

Made a glow in the dark bead lizard from memory during therapy yesterday, and I love him. Also, still struggling with bringing up autism and psychosis topics with my therapist. Still very worried about. Things. Would like to get a new person? But sometimes she is helpful? And we have a routine. It's very hard to break the routine. Maybe I can set some time aside during the summer, to figure out what to do there.

Term ends in a couple weeks. The task of catching up, of passing, seems impossible. I really need to pass my courses. I'm on academic warning, because my GPA is lower than it should be, and if I can pass all of my classes this term I can get off academic warning but otherwise I'm not sure what will happen to my financial aid.

My phone is playing the same 50-100 songs on shuffle and I don't even particularly like most of them and it is very strange

Got my face wipes! Hooray, i can wash my face again

Been eating too much sugar in general. It's making my joints hurt more, and the nausea

Pet a dog the other day. I miss that. It would be really nice to have a dog in the house again. The exuberance, the cuddles, the tail wagging, the walks... I'd really like that. Maybe once I'm out in my room, tanks and catio built and everyone is situated, I'll look into getting a dog instead of a cat next. Was planning on holding off in case I'm not physically able to take them out on walks and such, but I've been pretty successful at doing this job, and I think that my main hurdle for walking really is motivation. Dog walking is a strong motivator for me. Best to start by fostering, or just do Wag, for a while though. I'm feeling overwhelmed with my current responsibilities, and here I am talking about getting a dog. Good job, me

How do you get wax off of somewhat water soluble rocks? My housemate broke my lava lamp on some of my rock collection and I am not sure how to get some of them clean without damage.

I am...pretty sure there are collared doves nesting over my room but it seems they're less common around here than I thought? But they are..pretty distinctive. Like if I'm wrong, what are those birds. Some very distinctly colored feral pigeons? Who are nesting here, in a tree, without their flock, and who happen to have pretty much the exact same pattern?

Probably should go to the dollar store and get some bins for organizing

Been wanting to keep a bin by the door and stock it with stim/fidget stuff people can just .have ..like extras of some of my favorites and other things i can get ahold of, to offer to my friends who haven't really had the chance to explore the world of stim toys

Hands are really just not doing great the last several weeks. Arthritis type pain cropping up more and more in all the little joints, making it hurt more to write, type, or just use them for whatever. Coordination isn't great because of that distraction, and because my hands/arms are slow to respond and kinda weak. Most people would say I'm not using them enough but I've been doing 15ish hours of manual labor per week, so maybe it's the other direction? More water would help. If only it wasn't so heavy.

I haven't taken a single shower since I started my job. Which was March 29th. That's not great.

Practiced parallel parking today. 10/10 still very bad at it.

Having anxiety that my friends think I'm lying about things, faking, and are watching me to see if I'll slip up. So that sucks. Can either talk about that directly or indirectly, or just shut up about those things until I can get my brain under control again. I'm not sure right now if the reassurance would work as a reality check or make me believe it more, right now, so might hold off on the talking bit for a little while.

Saw, smelled, picked a couple pretty roses. Good times

At this point I'm just trying to list all my thoughts so that maybe I'll be able to sleep and not worry I'll forget

My mom has put her spider plant on the deck, and it has maybe five living leaves. I have no idea how she killed such a well established spider plant, the last time I saw it it was so happy. Did she stick it in a corner and forget to water it? Whatever happened, it is now in the Plant ER, so hopefully I'll be able to...help get it on the up and up again

Leo is such a pretty noodle. He's so pretty. He's posing. Hi, baby boy.

Oh, he saw me moving around and decided to come say hi. Sorry little man, i did not mean to disturb you. Please resume lounging. I can't bring you out right now, I'm trying to sleep.

Also, terrariums. Water features. Need to ask. Someone. The one who was making that super cool garter snake enclosure and blogging the progress? With the lazy river and pool? About maintenance on that kind of setup. My milk snake really enjoys water, and I'd love to put a water feature in his tank. But I'm unclear on how to keep it clean, or honestly where to start. Don't want any huge falls or anything, though it actually may not make the humidity too high if I did maybe a small drip wall into the pool? That seems like something he would enjoy, and a good way to support different types of plants. But like, that's the thing, it's bioactive and I haven't done that before and no amount of research is ever enough.

Oh, Shogun has a dirt hat. How cute. I love when they do that

See, this is the thing. My snakes make me so happy. All three of them are actually hanging out where I can see them from my bed right now, and it's really nice. I want their lives to be the best possible, and I think I have the resources to do that. Which is so exciting. Now if only my brain and body would cooperate. It would hurt quite a lot to have to re-home any of them, but the most important thing is their health and quality of life, you know? If I can't get my act together somewhat, it may be that one or all of them would be better off with another keeper. I don't know. It's just, i talk about all these tank ideas and all this husbandry standards stuff but how much of it actually gets applied to my own animals whose lives are in my hands? How well am I caring for them, really?

Oh!!! My red thread! I thought that was gone forever.

Anyway, please do not worry. My snakes are healthy. I pay attention, and watch for signs of illness, and they're okay. There will always be places to improve, and the water is a big one, but most of the time i change their water out frequently, I'm just worried because of bad depression and fatigue times, you know? I'm working on making the most self sustaining systems i can, in part so that I am sure they'll be okay if I mess up sometimes. Just saying this because I hope you guys don't feel like you need to worry about the welfare of my pets. They're okay, i just always want better for them, is all.

Anyway, the sun is coming up and I should probably go to sleep. So uh, thanks for reading, if you read all of this randomness, and if anyone has thoughts or advice on anything in this post, i would welcome it! Good night!

[asphyxiatedredherring]

Life is constantly putting up new obstacles for you to tackle, so how can you honor our Earth every day?

I'm here to help with that by sharing a list of 15 ways to honor Earth and be closer to nature whether you be in quarantine, an urban area, winter, or whatever situation you may find yourself in.

❁ Summer Jar ❁

I'm going to start off this list with a personal tradition, a summer jar or flower jar. What I do is I collect flowers (mostly just petals) and dry them right before summer starts transitioning out into autumn. I put all of these now dried petals and flowers into a small jar (with a lid). Now you are left with a jar full of color and life to get you through the winter. When spring comes around and flowers are blooming once again I spread them in my yard and leave the jar open until the end of summer.

❁ Your Alter ❁

An alter is a great way to honor the Earth. You can have something to symbolize each element, flowers you've collected, crystals, and so much more. I like to keep something that symbolizes the area I'm from, for me it's a fossil my dad found at his work. So much of witchcraft and paganism is nature based so adding in extra Earth elements isn't hard, Google for more Earthy alter ideas!

❁ Nature Walks ❁

Not everyone lives in an area around the woods or forest but that doesn't mean you can't take nature walks. If you live in an urban area go to a park, it's still nature even if it is outlined in tall office buildings. Even walking down the street notice dandelions in cracks of the sidewalk or birds hopping by, make sure the thank the Earth for making room for you to live. While in a social distancing situation that has sprung up these past few months you can still take a nature walk as long as you are not too close to people. Don't forget that just because you are socially distancing doesn't mean you can't be friendly, wave to neighbors as you pass just don't get too close. If you have access to a car go on a drive down the back rounds, it's a family favorite at my house.

❁ Meditation ❁

Meditating is something everyone can do! Grounding exercises are great, you can envision roots extending from your body into the Earth below you. I personally like to envision myself walking through the woods or in a creek when I need to clear my mind.

❁ Gardening ❁

A garden one of the best ways to connect with nature. There is so much symbolism you can put in your garden too, like specific flowers or color schemes for deities. You can grow herbs for your craft and cooking, fruits, veggies, or even just flowers. Gardens don't have to be very big, you could even go to a community garden. Gardening can also bring you closer to family if you fo it together or it can be a way to get some alone time. Gardening can also be a way to give back to Earth and the people around you, I'm sure your neighbors would love to be gifted from fresh produce!

❁ House Plants ❁

If you can't have a garden house plants are a great alternative. Plus, they won't be affected by weather outside. Some plants like spider plants are really good air purifiers, other plants like aloe have magick and medical uses. If you are worried about pets like your super cute cat you can try and find places the animal doesn't go like a bathroom. Don't forget to make sure a plant isn't toxic to pets before you buy it, just in case. House plants are a wonderful way to bring a little bit of Earth inside with you. Bonus points if you name your plants or talk to them.

❁ Crafts ❁

Making crafts with natural materials is so much fun! Going out to collect the supplies is half the fun. Crafting can be done so many different ways and in so many different mediums. Whether you like photography, drawing, painting, pottery, wood carving, metal working, or what ever else may float your goat the element of Earth can easily be added in. The internet if filled with countless crafts you can try to honor Earth if you want guidance or have artist block!

❁ Decor ❁

Decorating your room (or other space) with the earth element even works if you are broom closeted! You can spruce up your life and be more spiritual. You can decorate your place with earthy crafts, environmentally friendly products, crystals, a plant, a wooden sign, framed pictures, etc. Anything with those #EarthVibes!

❁ Clothes and Beauty ❁

What better way to honor Earth than use cruelty free products. You can check labels to see if your beauty and other self care products are not tested on animals, vegan, organic, contain micro plastics, and other things harmful to the environment. As for clothing I find it great to go to thrift stores for "new clothes" as well as donating my old clothes that either don't fit or I don't wear anymore. It can be great to support local stores rather than big name brands like American Eagle and it is way less expensive. Your clothes, jewelry, and makeup can even have an Earth theme to them. Brown and green tones are super earthy along with some rusty oranges. It doesn't need to be floral to be earthy!

❁ Food ❁

I am personally not a vegetarian or vegan but I am conscious of what I eat. I grow some of my own vegetables and I have a strawberry patch (witch is great for making jam). I try to eat organic or locally sources foods. If you live in a rural area try to get to know your local farmers. When you take food from the Earth you should always give back.

❁ Feathered Friends ❁

A family fun activity to get to know your Earth better is to go out and try to find some bird nests. Never get too close or disturb the nests or birds in any way, keep a respectful distance. It can be fun to keep an eye out and watch as the little babies grow. You could even go the extra mile and build (or buy if you aren't crafty) a bird box.

❁ Open the Windows ❁

Opening the windows is always wonderful. Houses and apartments can get stuffy so why not let Mother Nature give you fresh air. Opening windows gives opportunity to look and listen to the sounds of the Earth. Nothing is better than a breeze blowing through an open window.

❁ Cleanse Thyself ❁

I don't mean to break out the sage, I'm talking about a good old bath. Cleansing baths are great, you can add herbs, oils, scents, have candles, meditate, the whole shebang. But, if you are like me you only have a stand up shower then you can still have a good cleansing. Just envision all of the negative energies flowing down the drain. You can also save water (and money for new witchy supplies) by turning the water off while washing your hair, etc.

❁ Get Educated ❁

Learning about the natural history and features of your area can be really important. I love to study the geology of the mountains I'm from. You can learn about native flora and fauna and even what to do about invasive species. Education is a powerful weapon and and a tool of creation. The best way to get an understanding of the earth element is to learn about it. You can watch documentaries, read books, (credible) online articles, you can even talk to local people about the world around you. Part of learning about the earth could even be researching relevant deities.

❁ The 3 R's❁

Reduce, reuse, recycle: words we hear all the time but probably don't put enough thought into. Part of taking care of the earth is to keep it clean and not use to many of it's resources. This is such a broad category, you can reuse old containers to keep your witchy supplies in, cut back on the use of plastic and one use items, and recycle your trash so it can be made into new items. You can check out your local recycling place it there isn't a truck that picks it up on your street. There are so many ways to reduce your carbon footprint and reuse old products that seem usless. Check out upcycling, there are tons of trendy things you can do!

This is a repost of a post I made on the Pagan & Witch Amino a while ago

[ribboncrownstower]

No one:

Me: *Only knows how to draw one flag position*

Animal Crossing OCs! These are all my playable characters in New Leaf! It’s,, hard to maintain QMQ

I have a bit of interest in making an ACNL AU fancomic with these four, but if I do end up making it it probably won’t be my highest priority.

I also gave them their respective pride flags, because the amount of pride art I’ve been doing in proportion to the amount of queer characters I have is criminally low.

But anyways, character descriptions under the cut!

Angela: The accidental mayor of Currant Village, Angela does her best to fulfill the role given to her. A good enough leader, she often talks with her villagers casually to make sure everyone is content with the state of the village. Angela does not like asking for help and is often one to take matters entirely into her own hands, something her assistant Isabelle isn’t always too happy with. Privately, she is a huge Nintendo nerd, owning a wide range of videogames and memorabilia; She’s a particularly big fan of the Zelda series. She also quite enjoys bug-catching, being the winner three years in a row for the annual Bug-Off, and hosting a wide collection of rare insects. She may or may not have a crush on Isabelle.

Rachie: Very sweet and bubbly, Rachie is Currant Village’s Ambassador, in charge of keeping good relations with other villages. She’s also known to be an active part of her community, always willing to help others and keep the village happy. She lives in the middle of the village’s apple orchard, and is often seen maintaining the area, although her favorite fruit is actually peaches. Rachie has the unique ability to make everyone get along with her. It is often difficult to be angry in her presence. Rachie’s best friend is her next-door neighbor Cheri, however it is noted that she often goes into the alleyways of the Main Street to offer fruits to some unknown being. Rachie has many pets and villagers often like to visit her house, finding it a very fun place to be. She has a thing for wolf villagers, particularly her other next-door neighbor, Wolf Link.

Terry: The village gardener, many find Terry to be rather... unapproachable at first. Their face rests in a scowl, and their dark-colored clothes and quiet, stoic demeanor give off a rather unsociable appearance. However, this is only surface-level, as Terry, though having a deep, growly voice and scarcely dropping the aforementioned scowl, is found to be just as amicable as any other villager. While he won’t go out of his way to ask others if they need anything, he will always be willing to help if someone asks him for it. Terry is in charge of keeping up the town’s appearances- picking up trash, digging out pits, and the like. As mentioned before, she also has a deep love for gardening. Her house is decorated in all manner of rare flowers, breeding being one of his biggest hobbies. 

Ashes: Finally, we have Ashes. Though her outward demeanor is very meek, mild, and soft, goading villagers will find that she is perhaps the strongest of Currant Village’s inhabitants. She is half cat villager and half human, so she faced a lot of hardships growing up before she moved to Currant Village and asserted herself with help from Terry for the first few days. Given her innate strength, Ashes is the village’s protector. She guards the village whenever there is any sense of danger. In her off-time, Ashes loves to fish, and knows a very large variety of ways in which they can be cooked. Her romantic relationship with Terry has also given her a slight interest in flowers (and likewise Terry with fish). 

[because-its-important]

2017: a year of courage 🦄

If 2016 was a year of opening doors, 2017 was a year of walking through them. This year demanded a lot of courage.

First, the fun things!

Programming.

I’ve been talking about this quite a bit already, so I don’t want to linger too much. This was my first year working as a programmer (heyo) and I learned a whole lot very, very quickly. Building a data-heavy webapp for bar associations and their member lawyers from scratch is no joke! I’m also real proud to be capping the year off in the midst of a batch at Recurse Center. About a year ago I kept thinking about how good it would feel to be “ready” for something like RC, and it does, it feels good.

“what are u doing rn?” selfie circa mid May.

Zines and indie book sellers.

I encountered a lot of zines this year, exponentially more than all the years of my life prior. I went to a zine reading, multiple zine fairs (including one I volunteered at), I assembled a zine at the Bushwick Print Lab, I brought friends to Quimby’s. And, ofc, I bought a bunch too.

I purchased all the zines above at Pete’s Mini Zine Fest.  From top left to bottom right, they include: a parody science zine about “fracking”; a zine about a woman’s experiences riding the subway when she was pregnant; a zine about the history of animals that have been sent to space; a holographic bookmark that isn’t a zine but reminded me of a femme version of the robot in FLCL; a zine someone made about remembering her recently deceased father and how they’d go mushroom hunting; an art zine full of sketches of demons. I also asked every artist to sign the copy I bought, because I am a huge dork. 🤓

A beautiful zine I found in the library at the Recurse Center. Zines are everywhere! Keep an eye out. 👀

I also spent a lot of time browsing and buying books (often used, sometimes not) from independent bookstores and sellers. I picked up books from BookPeople in Austin, from the Oakland Book Festival, from a library sale in Syracuse, from Unnameable Books in Prospect Heights 1, from Autumn Leaves in Ithaca, from the Verso loft in DUMBO, from Borderlands in the Mission, from Powell’s in Portland. I even scored Invisible Cities and Frankenstein from a stack left outside my neighborhood coffee shop.

These were all purchased for like $3 from a library sale held in the garage of a old fire station in Syracuse, NY. Includes: a book about stream of consciousness novels; a book about how to make poisons written by this dude; a book of poetry about the devil. Must’ve been a real moody day.

Interference Archive and Church Night.

I visited a lot of new places in 2017, so I wanna talk about two places that I found myself coming back to again and again.

I first visited Interference Archive or went to events where they tabled roughly a dozen or so times this year. I remember spending snowy days in winter doing a bit of cataloging for a big archive they’d received of counter culture newspapers from the 70s. I participated in two reading groups hosted by IA, one on different social movements from the 60s to today and another on race and mass incarceration following The New Jim Crow2. Interference Archives annual block party was also killer, with free screen printing, radical button-making, a used book sale 😏, free tamales served out of a trash bag (they were so good!!), and a live Yiddish queer punk band.

I blew up and tied these balloons for IA’s block party all by myself! Very important work! 

One of the issues of The Berkeley Barb that I cataloged. I also cataloged about half of The Black Panther newspapers in their collection. You can check out Interference Archive’s catalog here.

I also went to church service four times! 😋 Church Night is a comedy show that features three standup sets, a burlesque show, and a 90s rock sing-a-long, all rolled up into a evangelical sketch. Each service is also topped off by a real-ass sermon, with positive messages that have made me cry multiple times. It is a really perverse good time and the folks who run it are extremely friendly and hardworking. They travel to Brooklyn every couple months or so and are based in Washington DC, so if you near live in either of those areas, I fucken implore you to check them out.

Another great service at Church Night!

Puppet shows and films.

I attended two puppet shows this year, which is two more than any year in adult memory and certainly two more than I could have expected! The first puppet show played after a few live bands on a rooftop in Bushwick on a hot summer night - I drank cold canned beer and graciously accepted when some generous stranger passed around a bowl.

The second puppet show was a performance at a banging housewarming party in a living room in Bed Stuy, and a friend was one of the central performers. At one point during the show an iMac in the living room fell four feet to the hardwood floor below and the audience - a room full of friends and friendly faces - gasped. THE SPECTRE OF FAILURE!3 I thought very loudly in my head while my face contorted into rapt, waiting concern. Of course the show Went On, the moment of danger transformed, transcended. Holy shit! This is real! This is real life! I thought over a swelling-swooning heart, and it set the tone for the best night of my year.

I managed to catch a bunch of rad shorts including the IFC’s showing of Academy Award-nominated animated shorts, Rooftop Films’ non-animated “uncanny” shorts as well as their animation block party, and a round of alternative horror shorts presented by the Bushwick Film Festival. Respectively, my favorite shorts from each of these collections were: Blind Vaysha, about a girl with an eye that sees the past and an eye that sees the future4, See A Dog, Hear A Dog which explores how we train non-humans (particularly 🐶 and 🤖) to respond to us as if they understand us, My Man (octopus) about the stickiness of a toxic relationship (or, from the same night, Pittari, about a v cute demon), and GREAT CHOICE, which is a hilarious horror short about being stuck in an infinitely looping Olive Garden commercial from the 90s.

If you enjoy films and live experiences generally, I can’t recommend Rooftop Films enough. They’re a long-running NYC nonprofit that supports diverse, independent filmmaking and their summer series is truly unique and wonderful; each screening is hosted in a dope outdoor location in NYC and is preceded by a musical act fit to the theme of the film. I saw films on the roof of the Old American Can Factory and backlit by the eponymous sunset of Sunset Park. The ticket-price also includes an open bar after each screening, and you can chat with the folks who worked on the films. These are the kind of events that make living in a city so special, so take a friend, take two, and go!

It was a chilly the night at the Old American Can Factory where we saw Rat Film, a documentary about Baltimore told through the measures taken to control the rat population. Eugene (left) is wearing a towel I bought in LA. Bailey (right) is wearing a NASA sweatshirt.

Big music, living room music, radio music, discos Good and Bad.

Unlike last year, I didn’t go to any music festivals, but I did hit up a couple biggish shows. I saw Chastity Belt at Williamsburg Hall of Music (what a great venue 💚) and Yaeji at Elsewhere.

In a surprise display of social aptitude and luck, I managed to pull together folks from no less than four disparate friend groups to go see Chastity Belt with me in June.

I’ve been getting good at identifying proper communal experiences and boy, AcouticQ really hits the nail on the head. It’s such a friendly, intimate setting that you can’t help but wonder, is this not the perfect what to share tunes about heartache and triumph? If that compelling to you and you’re a good person who enjoys folky music and supporting queer artists, starting following AcoustiQ and hit up one of their events! Bring snacks, bring booze, bring a cash donation. 💵

I saw Julia Weldon first at AcoustiQ in September…

…and then again in November at PIANOS. 😊🎸

I started listened to radio programs - I think perhaps when looking for tunes for my daily bike commute? Anyway, I found myself tuning in pretty regularly to Radio Free Brooklyn. Bushwick Garage is probably my most listened to station, and I haven’t really tried any of the more talk show stuff. I suspect there’s something for everyone, especially if you live in NYC. You can check out their schedule here, though I’ve been relying on their Mixcloud channel for the most part.

Continued to do a fair bit of dancing in 2017 and saw a few new-to-me venues. I’ve decided that I really hate most any dance club on a Friday or Saturday past midnight; the situation nearly always devolves into Basic Dance Beat while straights get sloppy all over the place. There is nothing more distracting and vibe-killing than pretending not to notice some baseball cap bro who keeps desperately dancing at you in a crowded space, especially when you know he’s “working up the courage” to say something that will inevitably be heinously stupid. Like, I did not come here to build empathy for mediocre dudes hoping to ~get lucky~ at the club, I came here to dance myself clean!!! 😤

So when I tell you that I’ve had nothing but positive, glowing experiences the last two times I’ve been to weekend events at Magick City, let me tell you, this is high praise! What a great DIY music venue. The first event I went to there was a record listening party, where a roomful of people laid on blanket on the floor and quietly listened to an album - had a break to talk about it, pee, get another beer - and then listened to another. The second event was a set by these folks in a thick fog with a great light show and yet room to dance and breathe! The drinks were cheap and there was a whole table of delicious free snacks that had been prepared onsite.

Look at this rad setup by Drippy Eye Projections!

A communal fifth of whiskey left in the bathroom at Magick City. Just in case you needed a lil, y’know? What a phenomenal discotheque!🕺✨

Biking.

Through 2017, biking has been my main form of commuting. I spent winter and spring using Citibike5 until finally buying my own in early June. Deciding to own a bike for the first time in the city, let alone picking what to buy, was a pretty challenging experience. I went with a lightweight matte-black hybrid with an internal hub for its 3 gears. 

My bb is decked out with cleated neon-chartreuse pedals, green and yellow spoke beads (not pictured), and a purple-teal bluetooth speaker. 💜💚

And a word, if we might, about my speaker: this speaker is tough as shit! I’ve dropped it off my bike multiple times, and once I looked back only to watch it get run over by a car, twice. It’s also survived rain, sailing, and being dumped roughly into airport bins.6

I have plenty more to say about biking, but to cut to the chase: biking is clearly a superior mode of urban transit if you are able-bodied, have the nerves to deal with cars, and don’t mind arriving at your destination kinda gross. In the last 18 months or so I’ve gone from someone who Never Goes Out to someone who Goes Out More Than Your Average Bear and I’m prepared to credit biking as a major enabler. If you want to learn more about your city, see your friends more often, and make new ones - start biking!

This is a video I shot while riding my bike home from a 4th of July party. I nearly got nailed with a Roman Candle, lol.

Traveling.

I also did a greater-than-expected bit of traveling again this year, again all within the United States. I went to Austin in April, visited Oakland and Berkeley for the first time in May, visited both Ithaca and Vermont for the first times in July, drove to Kentucky to see the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE with my cousin in August, drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles for Indiecade in October, and capped off with a half-work half-play visit to Portland, OR in November. I suspect this isn’t a sustainable amount of traveling, but it’s incredibly hard to regret - especially when it allows you to see friends who live far away or experience unique bonding moments with friends who live nearby - so who knows what next year will look like.

One of the most special places I’ve been this year was Lothlorien, a student coop at Berkeley where a friend lived in undergrad. It was an inspiring intentional community - so much art on the walls, a tree house with a perfect view of the sunset, a dream library. So magical! 💖

The cabin trip in Vermont was also really special. We did so many appropriate summer camp activities, like sailing, tubing, visiting cows, taking walks under a sky full of stars, building a blanket fort, putting together puzzles, and playing with fire.

We made this at the beginning of the day and boy oh boy did it come in handy for organizing ourselves! And gee, look at how well hydrated we were. 💦🌈💦

Now, the less easy stuff.

Sex.

One of my goals this year was to “learn more about sex.”

me: when you said we were going to be learning about sex, i didn’t realize there’d be so much reading involved, i thought it might be less of a mental and more of a physical edu- also me: lol don’t front

When I first cracked open Bataille’s Erotism: Death and Sensuality, I remember being absolutely floored by how much it was not whatever I had expected it to be - and that that was a helpful starting place. Erotism is an examination of the function of taboos and their sites of transgression, how the act of transgressing is subject to its own social rules and tends to be ritualized7, and how as conscious mortal beings we’re compelled towards moments of transgression because they seem to imitate what we imagine the great continuity of death feels like without having to, y’know, die. I liked his analysis of de Sade’s writing and the irony of sadism - that the promise of transgression is greater self-awareness, but the violence it requires necessarily also erodes that same awareness. I both appreciate and am wary of how aggressively Bataille dislocates sex from a bodily endeavor to a psychological compulsion. He had also some real undercooked shit say about women and was clearly terrified of sex, so I’m kinda disinclined to treat his opinions as functionally valuable to lived experience.

The Persistent Desire, on the other hand, was easily the most personally important book I read this year. It’s an anthology of generations of lesbian femme-butch relationships, told through stories from women’s lives, interviews with queer scholars, and some extremely hot sex poems. My primary inner-dialogue with gender has been “ugh” and “this shit again” and “if I pitch my voice and play Nice Girl this unbearable interaction will be over faster.” I had never spent so much concentrated time thinking about the performance of gendered sexuality in queer relationships, and wow, I have been missing out on some much better thoughts!

Like, Q: Does gender performance ever feel sexy to me, not just hostile? Under what circumstances? A: Yes, but generally only so long as a) the performance is fluid, eg. you’re the boy, I’m the girl, now you’re the girl, now we’re both boys, and b) power, however gendered, doesn’t rest in one place for too long. Gender is fun to play with as long as it feels like playing, where the heteronormative script is really only referenced insofar as it’s being subverted, shredded up by contact with a reality that unequivocally de-legitimizes it.

Like, Q: how much better would my life be if I approached sexual relationships from a place of radical honesty and expected the same from my partners? A: PROBABLY A LOT.

Like, Q: how do I make space in my life to form romantic-sexual relationships with people who aren’t cishet dudes? A: idk bitch, but you’re apparently a pro at lifestyle changes! Keep going to queer events, keep reading, keep processing. I believe in you.

This is a cute fire safety map at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, which I visited for the first time on a very wet snowy day in November. The archives had been mentioned frequently in The Persistent Desire and I was so excited to find that they were still around (44 years!), located in Brooklyn, and having an annual book sale.

Depression, denial, and death.

At one point this year I remember having an entirely normal hang out with my sister and partner in our Bed-Stuy apartment. I turned to the both of them and said, “You know, I think I might be real sad. I think I might depressed.” I wasn’t worried when I said it, though I do remember the words feeling strange. My sister and my partner of 7 years looked at each other, something like ‘Uh, do you want to take this one?’ or ‘Does she really not know?’ and eventually someone said, “Yeah, Nicole, that sounds right.”

If you had told me last year that I’d be spending so much time with Freud and Camus I would have rolled my eyes very, very exaggeratedly.

The most frightening thing about mental unwellness, imo, is that a good personal quality which is otherwise healthy and worth cherishing can become catastrophically distorted. So, say, an extremely deep capacity for enduring pain and discomfort, especially in service of others, becomes proving your worth by how much you’re willing to suffer, how much energy you’re willing to give away without expecting reciprocation. Worse still, let’s say, is being trapped in a cycle of denial about your own nature.

Denial takes lazy, irrational, harmful patterns of thought and elevates them to Gospel. You can’t be a generous and giving person because you can so clearly recall all the moments when you could have given more. You can’t be getting taken advantage of because you obviously would not abide exploitation in your presence. A friend wouldn’t repeatedly use you, to your loss and their gain, so that’s impossible by definition. If what you’re doing was really that painful and exhausting, you would have stopped already. _If you were depressed, you’d know it._8

I took this photo in Austin on a night when I was feeling decidedly not good at all. In fact, I was feeling so not good and so ashamed of not feeling good that I went out and bought The Myth of Sisyphus.

Last month the opiate epidemic rose up and swallowed my estranged uncle. Though we weren’t personally close, I’d spent my childhood within a ten minute walk from his house and had lots of memories of him. Death leaves a vacuum, always. It’s also an effective invitation to re-examine your life and the people in it. My uncle was provided with endless love and support from his family - and yet. Self-delusion sure is captivating.9

This was a year where I decided that I valued truth over self-delusion, and more importantly, a year where I affirmed that decision with concerted effort. It is extraordinarily challenging to reckon with the blind-spots in your perception of reality, especially whenever those blind-spots were constructed By You to cope with past pain and avoid it again in the future. Maybe everyone doesn’t need to do this? Maybe most people live comfortably with the given state of their ego? But internal delusions are a barrier to conscious clarity, and to the extent that living consciously feels the most like Actually Living and not Waiting To Die, I am determined to clean that shit up.

Lessons, imperatives!

So it’s late afternoon on Dec 31st and if this is going to be a 2017 recap, I’m really coming down to the wire. Here are the most important lessons I learned this year.

I luv this demon, because they sure got the right idea. ❤️🖤 

AESTHETICS MATTER.

I’ve often caught myself feeling bad for identifying with a community or culture that I didn’t feel like I’d “earned” my place at yet. This happened with biking, it happened with programming, it happened in queer spaces. imo, the best way to handle impostor syndrome is to kill it where it sleeps. I sure am! I am a devious impostor! Let’s see how far I can get before someone reveals me, exiles me! Turns out you can get all the way to Being The Thing, especially if your intentions are true. Your attraction to the thing is the first signal of your belonging, so get busy belonging!

LOVE THYSELF, AND GET GOOD AT IT.

Most of the psychological friction I’ve come up against in my search for The Truth Please has been caused by a very stubborn refusal to see and accurately assess my own self-worth. Very classic, very boring. I have only just begun to internalize what it might mean to love myself, to care for myself with even a little of the generosity and kindness and specificity that I happily devote to other people. The psychic backbending I’ve had to do to accomplish this goes something like, what if we loved ourselves the way we wished someone else would, like, idk, as a joke or something? Wouldn’t that be funny, at least? 🙃

That worked pretty well, but when it didn’t, I used brute willpower: hating yourself is a coward’s game, and whatever I may be able to lie to myself about, I will not pretend that I’m a coward.

Ultimately, though, the best way to learn how to love yourself is to watch how your friends do it and to actively resist the urge to interrupt them.

SPEAK, BITCH 🗯

Earlier this year I was walking with a friend, and I was very ashamed of myself when I told her I was thinking about writing something. I immediately walked it back, waffled, recoiled from myself. She was bewildered. “You should! I feel like you have things to say!” My reaction to this was sharp, panicked fear.

Because she was right. Because self-articulation and knowledge-sharing are fundamental human endeavors and if I think I’m somehow exempt from that, that I somehow uniquely Haven’t Got Anything Worth Saying, then that is delusion. Because if the real thing holding me back is a fear that my skill won’t measure up to the things I want to express, then the brave and honest thing to do is to try anyway.

So when I went to Recurse Center, I started this blog. I named it Because Its Important just so that every time I started doubting myself and asking “Why oh why am I doing this?” I would have the answer right there. 🐙

👋 Thank you for reading! Here is a silly-glasses bathroom selfie.

I read Donna Haraway’s CYBORG MANIFESTO for an outdoor discussion group at Unnameable books this summer. It is so amazing. I could only barely keep pace with it and I can’t wait to read it again after some time. ↩︎

I consistently arrived late, but bearing coffee by way of apology. ☕️🙏 ↩︎

I read Theatre of the Unimpressed, a book recommended to me by a friend after we saw an indie play earlier this year. The book talks a lot about what makes theater captivating, about the necessity of the possibility of failure, about the tendency for people to see see one boring-ass play and decide that they Just Aren’t Into Theater. The play we saw together wasn’t memorable, save for the fact that it was performed in a loft that hosts semi-regular makeout parties, which I’ve attended on half a dozen occasions. They are largely terrible. ↩︎

In one of the scenes Vaysha is courted by suitors, but they appear as child in one eye and an old man in the other. Fucking chilling. ↩︎

I remember a conversation earlier this year where a guy said that he “couldn’t imagine what it takes” to ride a heavy Citibike over a bridge in NYC. “Willpower, mostly” I replied. He ignored me, repeated himself: “Gee, but I just don’t get it!” If someone doesn’t want to understand, they don’t want to understand. ↩︎

You can buy one here. ↩︎

In fact, a taboo ain’t even a taboo if it can’t be transgressed! ↩︎

A possibly less upsetting example of a denial! In September I was walking to brunch with my sister and her boyfriend the morning after a party at my bff's apartment. "Nicole, you really brought the party!" He said to me. My immediate emotional response was anger at how 100% wrong he was. The night before I had brought glowsticks, mini shark toys, and a Gingerhead House kit to the party. I was going to a party that night for which I'd purchased a tank of helium and large tropical balloons. But my desire to argue, my certainty that He Had Erred was complete. I've very rarely experienced moments where my subjective experience is so strongly misaligned with objective reality, but now that I'm in the business of noticing this crap, it happens pretty regularly whenever anyone says anything nice about me, to me. ↩︎

Drugs, too. ↩︎

[thebonegeneration-blog]

Incense and Smudging~ A Millennia of Smoke

Read this on THEBONEGENERATION website.

One the few most important things I consider when practicing or living the craft is simply, ” Is my space secure and clean?”  Incense and Smudging have been used for thousands of years for all kinds of gatherings, rituals, prayer, and in our case, spells!

What is Incense?

In the most basic of terms, incense is a material gathered in small quantities to burn. The place in which you burn from is most commonly a fixed spot and in most cases: cannot be moved. Different forms of incense include: stick incense, packed cone and other shapes, raw(Sap, splintered wood, & loose leaf) and fine ground (granule).

Stick incense can be put in an incense holder to catch the falling ash, as well as a simple container full of sand. It can be very cheap and easy to maintain if set up correctly. If you are looking to try out incense, Dollar stores and Walmart have a few very cheap scents you can choose from. You can also support online or local artists by buying their handmade products. I find the hand made version to have more care put into the product, leaving the incense smell less invasive and strong.

All others like loose leaf, splintered wood, granules, and cone incense must be put within an incense pot. These types need charcoal, which is heated by a candle, match or lighter from underneath (Sloped side) until sparks being to appear.  Sometimes a hanging burner can be a good alternative to an immobile burner. It is best to hold the charcoal with a small pair of tongs to keep your fingers clear of any potential burns.

Note: Do not worry about the sparks. Settle it inside an incense burner on a heat proof surface to drop the chosen incense within. The groove of the charcoal should be facing upward for the incense to settle and burn.

Disclaimer: Hot coal can cause fires and burn you, so please use caution when using the tool!  Here is a great way to handle the charcoal effectively without causing harm to yourself and others. Use tongs to handle the charcoal. The longer your burn the disk, the more likely it will break apart with used ash. Please take great care when using incense tools! Always keep a window open so as to not set off a smoke alarm. Burning often can cause some respiratory distress so it is best to burn on occasion.

Until recently, I didn’t know I was burning the incense at too high a temperature directly on the charcoal disk. It is common for the incense to burn quickly since the incense in sitting directly on the charcoal. You can find many different ways to burn it, but the best way I found would be if you bury a hot coal within a mound of rice ash in a heat proof container, (Glass, ceramic, etc.) It allows the bowl to not become too hot. You can lay the incense just on top of the ash, (With the coal covered) it will burn steadily, and won’t waste the incense, leaving the scent as it was intended. I have also found that you can burn the disk on rock salt in a heatproof container.

The smoke is aromatic, creating a smell that is pleasant, and can help change a mood or state of mind. Different materials that can be used as incense are: herbs, wood, resins /tree sap, and some minerals; These materials are dried, ground and burned. Even if you burn different kinds of wood, there are distinct differences in their scent as it wafts up to the sky. These scents are hand crafted to invoke different burning experiences.

Be Careful: Some woods and other natural items can be toxic/dangerous when burned. For Example, Green woods(Not dried yet), Soft wood like Pine (Full of sap, which can explode when burned),Driftwood (Full of Salt), Poison ivy, Sumac, & Oak (Poison being the indicator here, is never is a good idea to burn), Mexican Elder (Natural source of Cyanide), Oleander, etc are examples of things to steer clear of. Always double-check and make sure the natural plants you are burning are not toxic (Whether burned or not, the plant could still be poisonous!) Finally, do not burn anything that is considered a struggling species. This means that if it is endangered, definitely do not cut/gather it, let-alone burn it.

What is Smudging?

Unlike Incense, Smudging is mobile and the matter you burn is whole bundle. -Instead of grinding material into a fine powder or grains, you can gather aromatic herbs (Such as Lavender, Sage, and Cedar) to be bound tightly and left to dry. This allows the bundle to burn evenly for a smudging ceremony or a simple clearing of your space.  You can burn the whole things but I like to use the bundles in sections. Smudging is most well-known to be practiced and passed down by the Native North American and South American tribes. Palo Santo is an aromatic wood that is used to cleanse as well as the traditional bundle of herbs. Sweet Grass is braided long, increasing it to a longer life of smudging.

Note: Incense and Smudging can be synonymous, however we must remember that Incense is usually never moved, whereas Smudging is carried by the hand to envelop smoke around an object, place, or person for cleanse and clearing of negative energy.

Origins:

Incense has been dated back to roughly 3000 BCE and has been seen around the globe in many different forms. The further back we look, the less documentation for use of incense has been confirmed. The Babylonians (Deeply centered within Central South Asia and Middle East stretching to the Northern parts of Africa) have been rumored to be the first to create Incense and with time it spread to the Romans and Greeks. Many cultures followed  with this knowledge such as: Arabian, Chinese, Indian, Jerusalemite, Tibetan, Japanese, Egyptian, North American, and South Americans.

The use for incense was almost always for the very same reason: To chase off any uninvited and malevolent spirits from the sacred space. This isn’t to say that the well-meaning and benevolent were chased off too. They are generally well in co-habitation with this form of cleansing. This is what I like to call Separation.

It is still uncertain as to whether or not the Smudging and Incense clears of all spirit activity, but it is in my experience that the well-meaning spirits don’t mind leaving on their own, and therefore don’t need to be cleared. This means they can stay despite your removing what energies you don’t want in your home.

(I will be creating an article specifically about different kinds of spirit activity and how to manage the different energies surrounding you further along…)

~

Sage is considered the most common form of Smudge bundling but this form of smudging is quickly creating an endangerment of the Wild White Sage plant. And so I must urge my readers to consider an alternative and to remember to be respectful to the plants you harvest from. So if you can, replant what you take!

If you are foraging for your herbs, Always use the 1/15 rule which states: Take one for every 15 you see. This can apply to leaves, branches,flowers etc. It is better to spread out your harvest so as to not hurt a singular plant beyond repair. Also, be sure to avoid trails for it hurts the view for other hikers that want to enjoy nature as much as you do.

You could leave the path as long as you are dressed appropriately so you may not come in contact with any potential abrasive, poisonous plants/snakes/insects/spiders,or aggressive animals. Remember where you are wandering from and do not let yourself get lost! This is a common issue for those who want to forage; So please be mindful of where you are at all times.

I do not suggest foraging within a national park, or area owned by the government. Find a place like your backyard, a friend’s place or befriend someone to let you discover what lies on their land. -It can be difficult, but it is well worth it. If you don’t live on the land you are planning to forage, always ask for permission!

Important Note: Make sure you know exactly which plant you are harvesting. Many plants can look similar to each other but can be harmful from the tame version you are looking for. Never ingest plant matter like berries etc. without a professional or proper identification.

How can I balance my work as a witch to give back to the earth?

What a wonderful question! I always encourage bringing a bag of some sort to gather trash if any is present to show respect for the earth you take from. If you are in an area that is on your own land, you can always plant seeds as a thank you. If it is your own Garden: seeds, water, or shiny stones/glass is a fantastic offering to your preferred gods,goddesses, fae-kind, etc. Please be aware of what you leave as a thank you, and be sure to pick it up later if you are unsure if it will hurt the environment.

Resources

https://www.spiritualscents.com/t-art_What_Is_Smudging.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense

http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/mas_assets/theme/ngc/pdf/histincense.pdf

https://books.google.com/books?id=1x0sNljp5ioC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/home/9-kinds-of-wood-you-should-never-burn/slide/10

[jobsearchtips02]

27 Greatest Jobs for Teenagers Hiring Now

I started to hate my first job as a youngster inside months of beginning it.

I labored in a small, greasy restaurant and solely made minimal wage. However these two years of expertise taught me learn how to work onerous, even when the times have been sluggish and the pay was low.

If I had recognized then what I do know now — what number of jobs for teenagers there are past work in quick meals — I might need chosen a distinct path.

There are dozens of fine jobs on the market for youngsters. You simply must look in the proper locations earlier than settling for a place at McDonald’s or Walmart.

Whereas that work will allow you to earn cash, first jobs aren’t one-size-fits-all alternatives. Take time to analysis your choices and select one thing that you simply’ll take pleasure in.

The way to Discover a Job and Make Cash as a Teenager

Discovering jobs for teenagers that pay effectively is simpler than you may assume. In keeping with Pew Analysis, solely 34.6% of teenagers picked up a summer time job in 2018, a quantity that’s down from a excessive of 58 % within the 1980s. With fewer teenagers working, extra positions could also be accessible and able to be crammed.

Teenagers can get employed for a job by submitting an awesome resume that features extracurricular actions like volunteering and particular abilities. It additionally helps to learn to nail a job interview, be accessible to cowl odd hours and be passionate in regards to the business you select.

Although many corporations need staff with expertise, there are loads prepared to present an opportunity to these between the ages of 13 and 18.

Discovering jobs for teenagers as younger as 13 might be troublesome in some states. Verify your state’s labor legal guidelines for the minimal age necessities and the utmost variety of hours 13 and 14-year-olds can work.

Ship Newspapers

Some corporations rent teenagers who’re 13 or older to ship newspapers. That is usually a weekend job and may begin within the early morning. In keeping with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for newspaper supply drivers is $11.88 per hour. Because you’ll be delivering on foot or bicycle, you’ll be able to count on to earn a bit lower than the median.

To search out native newspaper supply jobs, attempt contacting the circulation departments for the papers which are delivered to your space. You possibly can inquire about open paper routes and ask learn how to apply for a place.

Stroll Canine

Your neighbor’s canine is likely to be aching to get out and play fetch or take a stroll. Along with your mother and father’ permission, contemplate beginning a dog-walking service in your neighborhood. Supply to take native canine on afternoon walks a couple of occasions every week.

You possibly can create flyers to submit on public bulletin boards on the town that embody your contact info, an image of you with your personal canine, and a brief bio sharing your expertise with animals. You may also submit about it in your neighborhood’s Fb group or ask your mother and father to share a flyer at their workplace.

With the assistance of your mother and father or a sibling who’s 18 or older, create an account with Rover to get the phrase out about your companies. You possibly can supply to board pets whereas their house owners are on trip, arrange stroll schedules, or supply doggy daycare in your house.

Supply Digital Companies

Fiverr is an internet platform that permits children beginning at age 13 to checklist their digital companies together with social media assist, voiceovers, and brand or T-shirt graphic design. There are tons of of digital companies you’ll be able to supply in your spare time.

The beginning pay for gigs on Fiverr is $5. However you’ll be able to enhance your charges by creating add-on companies and charging further charges primarily based on the period of time it takes to finish. The variety of jobs you tackle is proscribed solely by the recognition of the service you supply and the period of time you’ll be able to decide to finishing orders.

Consign “Junk”

Assist your folks, household, and neighbors clear out their attics and sheds whereas making them (and also you) cash by consigning their invaluable gadgets. Supply to promote any possessions they not need and break up the proceeds with them.

Consignment is a good various to trashing gadgets that also have worth, and your shoppers can select to donate the issues that don’t promote.

With the assistance of a father or mother or sibling 18 years or older, you’ll find the moment worth of things on Decluttr.

The corporate pays for electronics, video games, CDs, DVDs, books, and extra. You may also checklist gadgets individually or in bundles on websites like Craigslist and Fb Market.

Take On-line Surveys

Since 13 is a younger age to start out working away from residence, you’ll be able to take paid surveys at residence to usher in cash whereas avoiding a commute. There are paid survey websites that settle for purposes from children as younger as 13.

Moreover finishing questionnaires, you’ll be able to earn cash enjoying video games, watching TV clips, looking the online, and reviewing merchandise.

To ensure there’s a gentle movement of surveys and micro-tasks accessible to work on, you’ll be able to join with a number of surveys websites. Swagbucks, MyPoints, and Survey Junkie are respected survey websites to contemplate. You may also be a part of a survey listing like Survey Membership to search out much more alternatives to finish surveys in your spare time.

Some corporations enable 14-year-olds to work restricted hours in the course of the faculty 12 months. This is likely to be a superb time to search out positions with corporations prepared to work round your schedule.

Babysit

If in case you have expertise caring for kids like youthful siblings or the kids of household buddies, you’ll be able to apply for native babysitting jobs. A very good place to start out is by posting your companies on Fb and asking family and friends members for references and referrals.

You may also arrange a free account with Care.com to attach with mother and father in your space. The vary of pay for babysitters can differ significantly relying in your age, expertise, and site. Verify for related listings in your space that will help you determine what charges to set on your companies.

Wash Dishes or Prep Meals

Many eating places begin hiring teenagers on the age of 14. You possibly can work as a busboy or dishwasher or typically in meals prep. Verify with native eating places and ask for a job utility.

Listing all related abilities you’ve gotten and any relevant expertise, corresponding to serving to at residence within the kitchen or volunteering at an area meals financial institution. Do a couple of follow interviews at residence so you are feeling snug answering questions. When you get the job, you’ll be able to count on to earn the native minimal wage working for an area restaurant.

Work at an Amusement Park

When you’re a thrill-seeker or don’t thoughts coping with crowds, contemplate working at an amusement park over the summer time. You will get employed to work with meals or drinks, be on cleanup responsibility, or probably work in experience operation.

Verify for an internet utility to use to your native amusement park, or go to the customer’s info middle on-site to request a paper copy. Pay will possible begin at minimal wage.

Promote Film Tickets

When you dwell in a metropolis or a suburb, you in all probability have a movie show close to you. Some theaters rent teenagers as younger as 14 to promote film tickets, popcorn, and sweet. You possibly can stroll in and ask for a job utility or test for one on-line.

The job may require some flexibility in your half, and you’ve got could must work nights and weekends whereas your folks are hanging out.

If you flip 15, it is going to get simpler to search out part-time jobs close to you. Enterprise house owners know that many high-schoolers are versatile in the course of the summer time, or can be found on nights and weekends.

Mow Lawns/Shovel Snow

Many garden upkeep companies rent 15-year-olds to work for them. Verify your native newspaper advertisements, or inquire in native Fb teams. So long as you’re versatile and prepared to decide to the job, you’ll be able to count on to earn at the very least minimal wage or extra, relying in your expertise and work ethic.

You may also test along with your neighbors to see in the event that they want garden or shoveling companies. When you decide up shoppers close by, you’ll be able to stroll or experience your bike to their houses, eliminating the necessity for a automobile. Negotiate your costs primarily based on the scale of the lawns you’re mowing or the driveways you’re shoveling.

Element Automobiles

You gained’t must go far to search out messy vehicles in want of a superb detailing service. You in all probability have buddies and neighbors who could be completely satisfied to pay you to filter, vacuum, and wash their automobiles, in and out.

You are able to do the work proper in your shoppers’ driveways, or ask in the event that they’re prepared to deliver their automobiles to you. You’ll want rubbish baggage, sponges or cloths, a bucket, and cleaning soap, and you’ll set your costs primarily based on the scale of the automobiles and the time it takes to finish every job.

Grow to be a Lifeguard

By age 15, you’ll be able to take a category to earn your lifeguard certification from the American Pink Cross. Your certification lasts for 2 years, and you’ll take refresher programs to maintain your abilities up-to-date.

After incomes your certification, apply to work for native swimming pools or water parks. In keeping with Snagajob, the common pay to work as a lifeguard is $9.25 per hour, and jobs usually require fewer than 40 hours per week.

Many web sites that supply work-from-home jobs set minimal age necessities at 16.

At this age, it must also be simpler to search out on-line jobs for teenagers.

Tutor

When you get good grades in a selected topic, contemplate providing tutoring companies to buddies or classmates. You possibly can schedule after-school hours with college students who’re struggling to grasp the fabric and assist stroll them by the homework or research for quizzes and exams.

You may also tutor youthful children, corresponding to these in center or elementary faculty. Whilst you can set your personal hourly charge, test what different folks close to you’re charging so your pricing is aggressive.

In keeping with PayScale, the common hourly charge for tutoring is $17.52, however this may differ primarily based in your expertise and site.

Housekeep

Do you take pleasure in retaining your room clear or serving to with chores round the home? Most likely not. However that doesn’t imply you’ll be able to’t housekeep for others to earn cash as a youngster. It’s affordable to cost upwards of $10 per hour to scrub homes, relying in your space.

To search out shoppers, test native job listings, or submit your companies on native Fb teams. It helps to share your earlier expertise, even when that solely consists of doing chores round your home.

Knowledge Entry

Put your pc abilities to good use by making use of for knowledge entry jobs with corporations like FlexJobs or Scribie. You’ll have to have fundamental typing abilities and be snug working with Excel and Google spreadsheets, Phrase paperwork, PowerPoint, and e-mail.

Knowledge entry work is often employed out to impartial contractors slightly than staff, that means you would find yourself incomes lower than your state’s minimal wage doing it. One of the best factor to do is apply to respected corporations and observe the time spent to check it along with your earnings. That method you’ll know the place to spend your time to take advantage of cash.

Begin a YouTube Channel

Making a YouTube channel is a well-liked teen job concept. Many individuals make good cash displaying advertisements and establishing paid partnerships with merchandise they use of their movies. You can begin a channel doing make-up tutorials, gaming streams, and product opinions.

The typical YouTuber earns between $three and $5 per 1,00zero video views. It may be troublesome to earn good cash constantly, nevertheless it solely takes one viral video to start out making some earnings. As you create new movies and develop your subscriber base, your earnings will add up.

By age 17, you shouldn’t have an issue discovering corporations that rent teenagers close to you. When you’ve been working for a couple of years now, it’s best to have a resume that makes it simpler to discover a job you want.

Care / Companionship for Senior Residents

Child Boomers are getting older, and plenty of of them need assistance maintaining with chores round the home. You possibly can transcend housekeeping and supply companies like gardening, snow removing and attic cleanouts. If in case you have a driver’s license, you too can supply to drive your shoppers to their appointments, or take them grocery purchasing.

Some senior residents are lonely and would pay on your companionship. Arrange home calls to test on them within the warmth or chilly, or play video games with them a couple of occasions per week. There’s a rising want for assist amongst the aged, and you’ll assist and earn cash doing it.

Work as a Cashier

Retail and grocery shops in your space is likely to be hiring cashiers. You’ll be anticipated to deal with cash and work together with prospects. It’s useful to know fundamental math abilities and perceive learn how to use a calculator. Most shops will prepare entry-level cashiers on their gear.

Go to the shops in your space to request a job utility, or test every firm’s web site for a duplicate. Embrace any related abilities in your utility, like math grades and other people abilities. Cashiers simply beginning out earn between $eight and $10 per hour on common.

Work in a Quick Meals Restaurant

Working for a fast-food chain isn’t for everybody, however there are a lot of individuals who take pleasure in this type of work. You possibly can apply to a number of places and select the one that gives probably the most perks.

In keeping with PayScale, fast-food employees earn a median of $eight.47 per hour, which is probably going according to every state’s minimal wage. You possibly can test your state’s minimal wage to find out how a lot a fast-food job would pay.

Work in a Health Middle

When you’re fascinated by health, test your native gyms to see in the event that they’re hiring entrance desk employees or facility cleaners. Whilst you can’t grow to be an authorized coach till you flip 18, you’ll be able to observe trainers and determine if that is one thing you’d love to do sooner or later.

As a health middle employee, you’ll be able to count on to work together with prospects, deal with new member signups, or clear gear. This job could require some flexibility, relying on the place and particular person duties.

Since most corporations contemplate an 18-year-old an grownup, it’s best to have a simple time discovering jobs for teenagers.

Grocery Store

When you don’t thoughts purchasing for groceries, contemplate changing into an Instacart shopper. This firm hires two sorts of employees: full-service customers (impartial contractors) and in-store customers (part-time staff).

As a full-service shopper, you’ll be able to decide up requests in your spare time, store for the gadgets, and ship them to the client. In-store customers solely do the purchasing portion, not the supply half.

Each full-service customers and in-store customers earn a median of $10-$15 per hour, however full-service customers have the potential to earn ideas after they ship the groceries. The trade-off is that solely in-store customers get retirement and commuter advantages.

To not fear, if you happen to’re like this man, you’ll be able to in all probability afford to divert a few of your $100,00zero in yearly earnings in direction of buying an affordable healthcare plan.

Grow to be a Digital Assistant

There are numerous self-employment jobs accessible for teenagers who’re fascinated by changing into digital assistants (VAs). You possibly can work with a number of shoppers and hold your schedule as full as you need. Plus, you’ll be able to set your personal hourly or job charges, so long as they continue to be aggressive and match your abilities.

Digital assistants supply companies like graphic design, web site administration, e-mail advertising and marketing, buyer help, and way more.

Strive Freelance Writing

By the point you flip 18, likelihood is you’ve grow to be aware of writing essays, studies, and other forms of papers. When you take pleasure in writing, search for on-line publications that pay freelance writers to create contemporary content material.

The typical pay for freelance writing is $22.70 per hour, however this charge can differ significantly if you happen to cost on a per-word foundation, which could possibly be between $zero.10 and $1.00 per phrase.

This implies a single spaced, one web page article could possibly be value $500 [at $1.00 per word]. To study extra about freelance writing, take a look at our newbie freelance author information.

Handle Social Media

You’re in all probability on social media rather a lot, so why not earn cash when you’re at it? Managing social media accounts for native and on-line companies is the right job for a youngster. The work requires creating participating memes, graphics, and posts that assist your shoppers attain extra potential prospects.

Many companies need assistance with Instagram, Fb, Twitter, and Pinterest. The best choice is to grasp a single social media channel and learn to develop and interact followers. Begin by creating your personal social media accounts about one thing that pursuits you, and use the pages to show your expertise to potential shoppers. This can function your portfolio.

Fb Advertisements

Go a step additional along with your social media abilities, and learn to create Fb advertisements for native companies. Your first precedence with this job is to assist your shoppers get extra prospects. You possibly can work for native gyms, espresso retailers, and different companies by serving to them goal their Fb advertisements to the proper prospects.

Organising focused Fb advertisements is easy, nevertheless it does require some studying to ensure your methods are efficient. Bobby Hoyt perfected a method that lets him cost $1,00zero to $2,00zero per consumer monthly.

As soon as the advertisements are arrange, he simply has to drag studies and make small adjustments to the present ones. He teaches precisely how to do that in his on-line FB Facet Hustle course.

Promote Garments

Promoting garments on-line is without doubt one of the extra relaxed, enjoyable jobs for teenagers. Whereas it’s one thing that teenagers of all ages can do utilizing Fb or Craigslist, you have to be 18 or older to promote garments on-line with ThredUp or eBay. When promoting garments to native consumers, make sure to take somebody with you and meet in a secure, public place.

When you prefer to sustain with the most recent model traits, contemplate changing into a stylist for Sew Repair.

Your job would entail styling the right outfits for patrons on-line and in the end generate clothes gross sales for the corporate.

Associated: Greatest Apps to Promote Stuff On-line

Promote Handmade Items

When you take pleasure in making issues like candles, tub bombs, or scarves, you may make cash as a youngster by promoting your creations on-line. There are numerous locations to promote handmade items, like Etsy, Handmade at Amazon, or Artfire. You may also promote them regionally by itemizing them on Fb Market or Craigslist.

It’s necessary to contemplate your supplies, skills, and time spent when pricing your handmade gadgets. You possibly can test the pricing of comparable handmade items in your space that will help you set your costs pretty and competitively.

The Greatest Paying Jobs for Teenagers Can Be Pleasant

You could assume that jobs for teenagers pay poorly, however there are a lot of alternatives to make good cash and revel in your job.

Since youngsters are usually probably the most versatile in the course of the summer time, mid-to-late spring is an effective time to use for jobs. When you discover an gratifying place and your employer appreciates your onerous work, you may even have the ability to snag some part-time hours in the course of the faculty 12 months.

from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/27-greatest-jobs-for-teenagers-hiring-now/

[humanegardener]

A visit to this suburban property outside Washington, D.C., feels like returning to a land time forgot, a place where salamanders, hummingbirds, chipmunks, caterpillars, and deer thrive among the humans welcoming them back to their long-lost home. Learn more about the rare transformation in this fifth dispatch of the Humane Gardening Heroes series.

Logs become sofas and highways for animals in Genberg’s garden. (Photo above and featured image: Toni Genberg)

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen neighbors kick fallen leaves to the curbside for county pickup and discard tree trimmings like trash, Toni Genberg thinks of the wilder residents of her community who would appreciate these natural treasures: the robins and white-throated sparrows who like to peck through the leafy layers, the salamanders who take cover in the moisture, and the firefly larvae who make “happy meals” out of the earthworms and slugs beneath. She considers the pileated and downy woodpeckers drilling for insects in logs, the chipmunks making prostrate branches into superhighways, and the squirrels lying on top of it all like lounge lizards claiming their domains.

Toni Genberg admires a bumblebee on false indigo flowers. (Photos above and below: Nancy Lawson)

These are just a few of the animals who have made a home in Genberg’s quarter-acre humane garden in Falls Church, Virginia, where dead plants take center stage among the living. Even in a habitat filled with lushly blooming native species in every layer of the canopy—silky dogwoods, persimmons, elderberries, milkweeds, asters, sweetspires, coneflowers, columbines, coral honeysuckles, false indigos—decaying organic matter takes on a life of its own. “Planting the plants is one thing,” says Genberg. “Equally important is leaving the leaf litter and branches and logs. I have on many occasions dragged branches home from nearby curbs.”

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n this magical space, it’s not hard to imagine a hobbit joining the animals peeking out from beneath the logs lining the stone  pathways. From behind a moss-covered stump topped by an Easter Island Maoi carved by a friend out of a declining oak tree, a squirrel surveys his surroundings. Into a brush pile covered by Virginia creeper vines, a chipmunk dives for cover. Next to the patio, a newer pile of stems and small branches that Genberg had intended to distribute elsewhere already shows signs of occupancy. “That wasn’t supposed to be there,” she says. “But someone’s living in there now, so I have to leave it.”

Brush piles give Carolina wrens and other animals places to take cover and feed even during the cold days of winter. (Photo by Toni Genberg)

In front of the jewelweed patch Genberg leaves for hummingbirds and deer, a carving made by a friend gives clues about some of her interests, depicting her native Hawaiian islands, a video camera, a flower, and skulls. (Photo by Nancy Lawson)

She didn’t intend to have so much jewelweed under the dogwoods either, but now she has to leave that, too, because deer eat it and hummingbirds sip from the blooms. But though these sound like laments, they are really more of a celebration, representing to Genberg all the life that a small yard near a major thoroughfare in the middle of mowed-down suburbia can support. The hummingbirds who catch gnats in midair and the bird who once landed on Genberg’s head are favorite visitors, but everyone else is welcome here, too. “From aphids to leafhoppers to milkweed bugs, we embrace them all,” Genberg says. “I understand that ‘pests’ have a place in our habitat, too.”

A hummingbird sipping sap from a tree will also find plentiful flowers in this habitat, including coral honeysuckle, red columbine, and cardinal flower. (Photos by Toni Genberg)

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] lifelong nature lover, Genberg doesn’t just rescue discarded decaying matter destined for the county compost pile. She also helps save plants, volunteering at Earth Sangha, a nursery that propagates species from wild-collected seeds for use in restoration projects and sale to gardeners. In her role as a transporter for Wildlife Rescue League, she has picked up and delivered opossums, barred owls, crows, ducklings and other injured and orphaned animals to area rehabilitators.

Closer to home, she has been so incensed and heartbroken by the effects of rodenticides that she now conducts a mini-campaign against them. After finding a rat bleeding from his nose, she hand-delivered 50 copies of an educational letter to neighbors. As a Virginia master naturalist, she created a display for the City of Falls Church Farmers Market that shows images of the victims of secondary poisoning—the hawks, owls, foxes, and pets who eat smaller animals killed by rodenticides. Children are especially moved and bring their parents to take a look. “People are attracted to the photos and then they end up reading what the message really is. … I had one person say after checking it out, ‘Well, I’m not ever doing that again.’ ”

As a volunteer for the Wildlife Rescue League, Genberg recently helped save this young opossum. (Photo by Toni Genberg)

Respect for all creatures started young. One of Genberg’s earliest memories is of her mom throwing the tin cans she used for growing plants at the side of a neighbor’s house during a drenching rainstorm. “She finally got them to come out because they had left their dog out in the rain. She was so angry and so upset,” Genberg recalls. “It’s stuff like that that kind of gets ingrained in you.”

Even the typically less appreciated animals did not fall outside her mom’s purview. Once when Genberg and her sister commented that they’d heard stories of putting salt on slugs, “my mom was like, if you put salt on that slug, you’re going to have to eat it. So that made us think, ‘Oh, OK, maybe we won’t do that!’ ”

The caterpillars of spicebush swallowtail, monarch, and black swallowtail butterflies munch away at their native host plants. (Photos, left and center: Toni Genberg; right: Nancy Lawson)

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ecades later in Virginia, Genberg applied the same ethic to her garden, shunning pesticides and delighting in the sight of deer and foxes who meander along her backyard creek. After she and her husband, Marc, purchased their home in 2005, they even added a few native plants. But it wasn’t until Genberg heard University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy speak three years ago that the true transformation began. Like many gardeners, she was astounded by Tallamy’s research showing that most baby birds subsist primarily on a diet of caterpillars, who in turn rely mostly on native plants they’ve evolved to digest.

The new information was a revelation, inspiring Genberg to plant milkweed for the monarch caterpillars and golden alexanders for the black swallowtail caterpillars, goldenrods and asters for bees and butterflies, coral honeysuckles and cardinal flowers for the hummingbirds. She created a website, ChooseNatives.org, where her skills as a longtime video editor help her convey a big-picture view of the importance of wildlife-friendly plants and minimizing hazards to animals. Though she grew up with cats and her father fed the ferals in their Hawaiian community (“I fancied myself a cat,” she says), she’s now particularly concerned about the effect on wildlife and pleads with cat owners to keep their pets indoors.

Creating a safe space for all animals has meant learning to coexist with squirrels who once wreaked havoc on her raised vegetable beds. “I used to curse the squirrels,” she says, “but you learn to cage things.” She��even names her resident nut lovers, including the one with the worrisome hip problems whom she and Marc call “Hipster.”

The Genbergs, shown below on their patio, are on a first-name basis with their squirrelly visitors and keep a close eye on those with occasional threats to their well-being. (Photos, above: Nancy Lawson; below: Toni Genberg)

Deer are welcome to the wild strawberry, heuchera, asters, and suckering elderberries. “They can have as much as they want of the elderberry because that shrub is so huge, and their browsing is not going to kill it,” she says. “They have so much to eat that they just kind of nibble, nibble, nibble. Everybody complains that deer eat their hostas. I have two hostas and the deer don’t even go near them because there’s this huge native smorgasbord.”

They even help to prune some of her plants: “One of my friends came over and said, ‘Oh my god, your New England asters! How do you keep them looking so low and tidy?’ And I’m like, ‘The deer are doing that—they’re awesome! They come in and then they prune for me, and everything looks great.’ ”

Deer are welcome to nibble on many of the suckering plants, but Genberg cages hazelnuts and a few other trees. (Photo by Toni Genberg)

There’s plenty for the smallest of creatures to eat, too. Where once there was mostly lawn and invasive plants—privet, bush honeysuckle, English ivy, pachysandra, and vinca—Virginia creeper, white wood asters, wild strawberries, and wild basil fill the spaces instead. Native thistle and Joe Pye weed beckon goldfinches while woodland sunflowers and golden ragworts provide food for bees. After learning that many native bees are specialists, collecting pollen for their larvae only from certain species, Genberg began planting for them, too.

Genberg’s involvement with the master naturalist program “continues to open my eyes to things,” she says. “Every moment is a learning moment or a teaching moment. … It’s really this evolution you go through as you get older. You just see what’s a priority and what’s really important. We need to be supporting our wildlife because really, without them, what are we?”

By leaving fallen leaves and adding logs and other plant debris around the garden, the Genbergs have welcomed salamanders to their habitat. (Photo by Toni Genberg)

Resources for Northern Virginia and Beyond

Gardening for Wildlife: On her website, Choose Natives.org, Genberg provides thoughtful advice about native plants and humane cultivation practices, as well as links to local plant sales and events. Among the many resources offered by Plant NOVA Natives, a collaboration of public and private groups, is a free downloadable guide with profiles and colorful images of recommended plants for the region.

Native Plant Source: Earth Sangha is a unique nursery in Springfield, Va., that offers local ecotypes grown from seed collected with permission from natural areas—a method that helps preserve genetic diversity and resilience. The nursery participates in many public and private restoration projects and holds plant sales for gardeners.

Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education: The Wildlife Rescue League, where Genberg volunteers to transport injured and orphaned animals to rehabilitators, also operates a hotline to provide advice and resources to the public. The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy advocates for animals and the environment through educational programs, citizen science projects, and habitat restoration projects.

Gardening for Deer and Bees: The habitat needs of wild animals large and small are often misunderstood. To learn more about how to help some of the ones mentioned in this article, see “Gardening for Deer” and “How to Really Save the Bees.” For inspiration on using native plants to help bees, watch this beautiful video Genberg created in honor of National Pollinator Week:

*Featured images of chipmunk by Toni Genberg.

Find more profiles, tips, and inspiration in my new best-selling book, The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife. To learn more and tell me your own story, read about the Humane Gardening Heroes series.

The Humane Gardener: Virginia's Toni Genberg A visit to this suburban property outside Washington, D.C., feels like returning to a land time forgot, a place where salamanders, hummingbirds, chipmunks, caterpillars, and deer thrive among the humans welcoming them back to their long-lost home.