#pests of wheat

[farmerstrend]

Comprehensive Guide to Pests and Diseases Affecting Wheat Farming in Kenya

Wheat farming is one of the main agricultural activities in Kenya, providing income and employment opportunities to many farmers and stakeholders throughout the value chain. The crop is mainly grown in the Rift Valley, with Nakuru and Narok counties being the major wheat-producing regions. Other areas engaging in wheat production include Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, and West Pokot. Wheat is an…

[barksbog]

everyone look at my cool horses

[vincentblackbearmediallc]

The grain weevil, also commonly referred to as the wheat weevil, is quite a little pest.  As disgusting as it sounds, it is very likely that you have eaten them and their eggs.  Most people are not aware of this information and you probably have not eaten an adult but rather their larvae, exoskeleton or even a shed leg.  Unless you don’t eat any prepackaged food with grain such as pasta, crackers, cookies, cereal, etc., they are pretty difficult to avoid.

[lacystar]

been meaning to make this post for ages but something about cTommy choosing to love animals that either actively hurt him or just cannot love him back. in minecraft you can tame birds and dogs and cats and horses and lamas and what does cTommy choose? a spider that will jump him the moment the sun sets and a cow that doesn't know any better. do you think sam passes by his house with Fran and shakes his head when Tommy scolds shroud for trying to bite him? does he drag Fran away when her hackles raise despite agreeing with her? do you think ranboo ever silently thought how frustrating it was that Tommy couldn't have settled for a wolf or a cat that could teleport half the journey home when he tried to retrieve Henry from the vault with Tommy? do you think dream grumbled while trying to drag Henry to said vault with a lead and some wheat, muttering about what a waste of time this all was-- over a creature that wasn't of any worth alive? do you think all of those people who tried to destroy Tommy's house over and over got so close to killing shroud just because he was in the way and was a pest by design?

do you ever think Tommy ever felt like he wasn't of any worth alive? do you ever think Tommy ever felt like he was a pest by design?

[equallyshaw]

ᴅᴀʏ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ: ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ʟᴏꜱᴛ - ᴊᴀᴄᴋ ʜᴜɢʜᴇꜱ

part of holidays with equallyshaw

warnings: some swearing. not double proofed for spelling errors.

word count: 3.2k+

ᴋᴀʏᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴊᴀᴄᴋ ᴡᴇʀᴇ each other's first love, and had been for 7 years by the time jack had broken up with her. they were highschool sweethearts, how couldn't they make it? kaya did not want to believe it, she didn't want to believe that jack had fallen out of love with her. so she went home, in disbelief. she thought she'd never hear or see from him again, but if jack hughes is one thing. okay scratch that- two things.

he's persistent and a pest.

❅

it was only two before christmas now, as kaya found herself with a romance novel in her family's home back in michigan. since she'd gotten back to michigan two months prior, she'd been hiding away. debating on where she wanted to go, what she wanted to do, and who she wanted to be. jack had been a constant in her life since freshman year of high school, and they had a shared identity if that makes sense. so now that she was on her own, it seemed as if she had all the pressure in the world because she had a sense of freedom she hadn't had before. she didn't want to make a mistake in figuring things out, but kept reminding herself that she needed to stop putting so much added pressure on herself.

she was knocked from her thoughts with a knock on the mall living room doorframe, and she looked up to see her dad. "hey kiddo, im heading to the store...wanna come with?" he questioned and she nodded, sliding her bookmark in the spine and set it down on the nook. her dad and her headed out quickly, letting her mom know that they'd be back soon. "kroger?" she questioned as they got in the car, and he nodded. "starbucks first?" he questioned, and she grinned before they drove off.

they headed inside with their coffees in had, with kaya fetching a cart on the way in. "ok, you're mom sent me with a list...lets see if we can get everything." he mused and she giggled. "thankgod you've got me. i can help ya out." she hummed, taking a small sip of her latte. he smiled, "you figuring out why i asked you now?" he joked and she rolled her eyes playfully, taking the list from him. "you go get the wheat bread, ill go over to the bakery." she said pointing him in the direction and he playfully saluted her before walking off.

she strolled over, humming to the christmas music that was playing. she stopped in front of the pies searching for the pumpkin pie her mom asked for.

"kaya?" she heard to the right of her, and she looked over seeing the last person she wanted to see. ellen. her smile radiated warmth and comfort, as she strolled over with her cart. "hi mrs.hughes." kaya said a bit reserved, and ellen picked it up. "hi sweetie, how are you? how are your parents?" she questioned and kaya nodded, "they are good! how are you and jim?" she questioned respectively. ellen smiled, "were doing really well. thankyou for asking!" ellen smiled, cursing jack in the process.

his parents did nor his brothers took the breakup well. they could not come up with any plausible reason why he'd break up with kaya so abruptly. everything had been going well for years, they even figured that an engagement would be coming in the new year.

"well it was good to see you ellen, i have to go find my dad. but tell him i say hello and a happy holidays, to the both of you." kaya said respectively, after she picked up the pumpkin pie. "your dads here?" she questioned, and kaya nodded. "yes! we both know him nor jim would be able to get exactly, everything you and my mom would need." kaya mused and ellen laughed. "you're right about that!" ellen said before kaya needed. kaya nodded before turning the cart around. "oh kaya!" ellen said and kaya froze, before turning back a bit. "don't be a stranger! i - i know that you guys aren't together anymore but you are apart of family regardless. were always in the neighborhood if you need or want anything." ellen offered and kaya smile softly. "thankyou ellen." she responded before walking off.

kaya could feel the tears pricking at her brown eyes, and cursed herself for feeling so vulnerable. she hated feeling like this. her dad found her from across the bread aisle and met her in the middle. "you ok?" he questioned as she would not meet his gaze. she nodded enthusiastically trying to convince him. but if there was one thing, she could never lie to her father. "lets finish this list and we'll head out." he said taking the list from her, and she nodded following him.

❅

they re-entered the house and she quickly headed up to her room. she passed her sister and brother's rooms, on the way there and they picked up on the movement. it was about 5 minutes later when they knocked on the door, ready to speak to their younger sister. "go away, i don't wanna talk." she said from her bed, not budging. they did not care in the slightest. they walked in and shut the door behind them, "you good?" her sister asked sitting on the bed in front of her while their brother took her window seat that overlooked the front yard. kaya shook her head, "no. but - but i will be." she said sniffling while wiping tears off of her cheeks. "what happened?" her sister harper questioned, and kaya shook her head. then her brother finnigan spoke, "come on. you wouldn't be crying if it wasn't nothing." he said and she sighed. "i saw ellen, and god- it fucking startled me. im so angry and upset that i feel this way. im so angry that i allowed myself to be so vulnerable, and im pissed that i didn't have the guts to just walk away!" she said sitting up now. harper shook her head, "come on! you loved ellen and i know that it would of wrecked you if you did walk away." harper explained and kaya shrugged. she wiped more tears and sniffled. "is it bad that i still love her and jim? is it wrong that im not mad at them?" she questioned and finnigan nodded. "you were apart of their family damn near 7 years k. obviously its gonna be hard to move on let alone stop loving them like they were an add on to mom and dad." he offered. she sighed, "a part of me feels like being back here is suffocating." she said softly. "i love mom and dad, but i don't want to be here. its hard driving by places that j- jack and frequented during highschool and the offseasons. and now this?" she said pulling her knees up to her chest.

"how about you go see nana in chicago?" harper offered up and finnigan second that. "wait what?" kaya said looking up from her knees, "take the train out tomorrow or christmas day. you know nana would love to see you." finnigan explained, "we can drive you to the train in ann arbor." he said as if it was simple. "listen, while you harbor on this ill call nana, and which you know she's already got the amtrak app on her phone so we know she'll purchase. all you need to do is get on that damn train and don't come back till you know what you want to do." harper stated as a matter of fact. "and ill go talk to mom and dad while you pack up a bag or two." finnigan hopped up and exited the room, leaving his two sisters. "mom and dad want you to be happy, they want you to no feel suffocated. they want you to move on in due time ofcourse. they love you and just want the best for you, k." harper said pulling her younger sister in for a hug. "i guess." kaya mumbled.

❅

back at the hughes house, ellen walked into the house and spotted her middle child at the kitchen counter talking to luke and quinn. " hey m-" luke was cut off when ellen took the newspaper that was just delivered and hit jack on the arm. "ow!" jack said with his hand finding the spot that was hit. "oh don't 'ow' me boy." ellen said setting some grocery bags on the counter. "you two, bags. now." ellen demanded the two other boys and they nodded, flooding out of the kitchen. ellen took another swing, "mom!" jack said frustrated. "what is going on?!" he demanded. she chuckled, "you little minx!" was all ellen offered up before the other two came back in. "why are you hitting me? what did i do?" jack questioned and ellen scoffed. she turned towards him, placing a hand on her hip. "how could you break that girls poor heart, huh?! how could you do that to kaya? I've waited to ask you and have bitten my tongue for almost three months but come on jack! seriously?! she couldn't even look at me in the eye!" ellen spat at him. she rarely raised her voice anymore, but this had her heated. quinn and luke tried stifling their chuckles, as they began to unload the groceries. jack stood there, staring at his mom.

it would be a lie if jack said he hadn't thought about kaya since the breakup. every second that wasn't spent on hockey, it was spent on her. what she was doing, how she was doing, and what she wanted to do. he hadn't thought about how it would be if ellen or jim had seen her in the neighborhood, and here he now had his answer. jack sighed, "mom listen-" ellen cut her son off. "did you take gratification in breaking up with her? did you feel good about yourself or do you now?" ellen demanded staring down her son. he shrugged, "i - i don't feel like talking about this right now." and ellen scoffed. "no! i demand to know so that if i see kaya or anyone from her family, that i know how to act, let alone what to say to them." she said shaking her head. "she looked as if she had seen a ghost, jack! she didn't want anything to do with me, and you know. you know just how much she was a part of this family. was it because she somehow isn't supposed to be with somebody like you? did somebody say something to you? or comment on an instagram post?" she questioned, referring to her ethnicity. "god no mom! you know that had nothing to do with it, that would never be it. you know that, you know you raised me better than that." jack defended himself.

"then what was it jack, huh?" quinn butted in and jack gave him a glare before sighing. "i was scared, nervous more than anything." he paused to swallow, while his gaze shifted to the floor. "i was nervous about next year. i feel like she was expecting an eng-engagement and im not quite there yet. i mean i know i want to spend the rest of my life with her but i didn't want to get engaged, just yet. and i just did not want to let her down." he confessed. quinn chuckled, "you do realize that you said it in the present and not past tense." he pointed out and jack glared at him again. "jack you know i raised you better than to assume something for a woman. christ jack, are you really that daft?" jim said walking into the kitchen as ellen shook her head. "you're acting like a dummy, bro." luke butted in now and jack felt overwhelmed not only by the confession, but his family. "thanks guys, appreciate the heart to heart talk." he said grabbing his keys off the counter and walking out the back door.

he needed to take a drive.

❅

kaya kissed her dog jackie, that she and jack had gotten two years ago this christmas. the two had gone into a shelter in the hoboken area and came out with their jackie girl, a pure beagle. "come on!" she grinned, pulling the beagle in a light jog. she jogged for about 20 minutes before settling into the dog park, and thanked the universe no body else was there. she let jackie off the leash, and let her start to run around. she sat down on the bench and watched her girl pick up a stick and run towards her. "here you go girlie." she mused, before throwing it a ways a way. she sat back watching her have the time of her life.

back at the house, her family heard the doorbell go off. "who the hell uses that thing anymore?" finnigan mused, as harper went to go answer. she didn't think she'd see the very person that was there. "what the fuck do you want?!" she demanded, and jack felt uneasy. "i was seeing if kaya was home." jack said holding out hope that she was, but it was squashed. "no. she wont be back for a bit. she took out jackie." harper explained, and jack nodded. "can you let her know that i stopped by?" and harper sighed, "you seriously think i want to tell her?" harper bit. jack frowned softly before nodding, "i know, i just i hate how i ended things and wanted to make peace. that's all." and harper sighed again. "alright, ill tell her." she said and jack nodded before the door was shut in his face. he walked back down the pathway and hopped back into the car. he waited a few minutes to see if he could spot kaya or jackie, but drove off after a few.

kaya ended up back at the house about 30 minutes later, and could tell something was off. "hey guys, who died?" she said trying to ease the tension. her mom looked up from her book. she shook her head, and finnigan spoke up. "jack came by." he explained, and kaya's eyebrows furrowed. "wait what?" she said barely above a whisper. "said he wanted to speak to you, make peace or some shit." harper further explained. kaya set jackie's leash on the counter, as she bit her cheek. "did nana say what day im leaving?" she questioned and her mom nodded, "christmas morning at 7 am." and kaya nodded, before heading up stairs.

❅

jack came around the very next day, which was christmas eve. maya was not there, as she had went out to get the family some coffee. he headed back down the steps and got into the car where his brothers had been waiting. "just text her." luke said once he shut the door. "no, if he texts her she wont respond. hell, she may have him blocked." quinn said pulling away. jack stared down at her contact, unsure if he should say something or not.

❅

he got a text around 5:15 am the very next morning from finnigan, letting him know that harper and him were dropping kaya at the train station. and that if he wanted to speak to her, he better get his ass over to the house. jack had taken defeat after she hand't responded to his 5 messages, which was a lot he knew but he had so much to say.

_

kaya hugged her sibilings and promised to let them know when she had made it to chicago. "tell nana we love her." harper said and kaya nodded, "of course. now take care of my baby, please." kaya demanded and the two nodded. "ofcourse. jackie girl will be be absolutely spoiled." finnigan teased and kaya smiled. "alrightly, we'll leave you be. have fun and be safe." harper said before pulling her hand around from her sister's upper arm. kaya nodded before rolling her two suitcases towards train departures. she pulled out her phone from her pocket, and heard the slamming of a car door.

jack was panicking, hoping he hadn't missed kaya yet. hadn't missed his window of opportunity. he made his way over towards the tracks and saw her dark brown curls, pinned behind her ears. he saw her two suitcases and her carry on bag. he made his way over towards her and she looked up once she sensed somebody walking over.

her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "jack?" she questioned before he slammed his lips on hers. she was taken back for a few seconds, before returning the kiss. he wrapped his pale and cold hands on her warm skin, a perfect product of her parents. she pulled away, pressing her forehead into his. she was unsure of what to say and didn't dare look into his eyes, as she shut them. "kay.." he whispered, and she didn't open her eyes. "kaya...look at me." and she hated herself, as she did so. her brown eyes met his dark blue ones, and she felt a deep feeling of despair in the pit of her stomach. or nausea, she couldn't decipher. "what do you want jack?" she whispered, and he smiled briefly. "i needed to see you before you left, i needed to speak to you." he began as he waited for a response.

foreheads still pressed together, "i was an utter fool for breaking up with you. i was a coward, god such a coward." he started, "why a coward jack, huh?" she questioned. "i was a coward because i was afraid about what you may have expected next year and i was a fool thinking things for you." he confessed, "expect what next year?" she questioned. he swallowed before continuing, "i thought you were expecting an engagement next year. and its not that i don't want to not be engaged or get married, i just didn't want it next year. were still so young, and you just graduated college! i didn't want to rush us, at all. but i know, i know that you are it for me kaya nicole. i know that i want grow old with you and have a kid or two. and ofcourse adopt another cat or dog. but i don't want to rush us, that wouldn't be beneficial to either of us." he said hesitantly and she shook her head and pulled away.

"you were a coward and a fool jack. i never expected that from you. and i appreciate you wanting to wait, and i wanted to wait as well. but i'd never expect that from you jack, despite knowing that it would come eventually. i believed and trusted you last christmas when you said that you planned to do it at some point in the next two or so years. but i wasn't gonna hold you to that, just because of how chaotic your life is." she paused, sniffling.

"why didnt you just tell me?" she begged through tears. "i would have told you what i just said. it didn't have to get to this jack, it didn't have to." she said on the verge of crying, as she frowned. his hands found her cheeks, wiping a few tears that fell out. "i would have made sure that you knew that." she whispered. "i know and i realized that too late." he said pulled back just a bit. "please, let me make it up to you. let me show you, please." he pleaded, and she was unsure.

sure, she loved this boy with all her heart and more but wasn't sure if she should get back with him.

"dont get on that train kaya, please. don't leave michigan. come home with me." he pleaded softly brushing his thumbs back and fourth. god she hated her self, as she grabbed his wrists and nodded.

"prove to me how much i mean to you. show me, jack. take me home." she said before he reconnected their lips together again. his hand found her lower back and dipped her just a bit. she giggled softly and broke the kiss, and he then took ahold of her suitcases and they began to walk off hand in hand.

"y'know nana might be upset with her ticket go to waste." kaya giggled as they got into the front seats. he scoffed playfully, "ill buy her a ticket to and from jersey next year." he mused and she smiled. "she'd love that." she grinned, connecting their hands in the middle console.

"where to?" she hummed, and he looked over towards her and smiled. "what if i told you your brother somehow coerced your family to come over for an early breakfast?" he said pulling out of the parking lot. "i would say that you weren't kidding." she shook her head playfully.

the two drove along for a bit before jack spoke up, "you wanna know what i wished for? and what i was gonna put as my resolution?" he began and she shook her head. "i-" he passed to chuckle, "i wished for you to take me back...i was gonna make it resolution to get you back, somehow someway." he said embarrassed.

she thought it was the sweetest thing ever.

"i love you jack." she said as they stopped at a light. he turned to look at her, "i love you too kaya." he hummed before bringing her hand to kiss it.

he left it there for the rest of the drive, which warmed her heart.

❅

the two of them walked hand in hand as they entered the hughes house, and ellen quickly froze with kayas mom in the kitchen. "jack?" she called out, and then the two entered the kitchen and ellen cheered. kayas mom smiled widely, as her daughter and ellen hugged one another. jack came up to kaya's mom and she pulled him in for a hug. "welcome back, sweetie." she said softly to jack who smiled widely in response. "good to be back." he hummed while ellen and kaya pulled apart.

kaya looked over towards the living room and saw their dads and siblings.

god, how she missed her blended family.

hope you all enjoyed! please like and reblog if you did :)

@toasttt11 @jayda12 @jackhues @dancerbailey3 @cuttergauthier

[antiquewhim]

I want to make information on Lithuanian folklore in English more public so I am uploading the threads that until now were only on my Twitter. I present to you a comprehensive thread on aitvarai, the ancient Lithuanian deities of the skies

(art credits: Neringa Meškauskaitė, Agroshka )

Aitvarai (etymologically "ones to appease" or "irrepressible force") are domestic creatures associated with all 4 elements: a comet of fire which harnesses wind for chaos, helping Earth and its people while being chased and punished by Perkūnas for stealing water.

Most commonly a black rooster, they can appear as a variety of creatures: different kinds of black birds, grass snakes, whirlwinds, comets and even men if they fall in love with a woman that they want to marry.

Though very powerful ancient beings, Aitvarai choose to associate themselves with people, with villagers being able to either hatch them from an egg of a 7 year old rooster or attract them by leaving out hot, untouched meals like porridge and scrambled eggs.

When part of a household, the duties of an aitvaras were to bring riches to his caretakers, either as money (money carrying aitvarai were golden, deep red or silver in coloration) or as wheat (grey and black colors). Note that aitvarai only served the poor, tricking the wealthy people who tried to use them.

Aitvarai were both a blessing and a curse: while they did bring wealth, they did it by stealing from the neighbors of their master, making them most hated in the local village. They were also clingy and dangerous to keep, burning down the houses of those who mishandled them by feeding them manure, tampering with their meals or disobeying the rules they set for the person.

It is said however that their thieving, evil nature was a characteristic given to them by the Catholic church, which wanted to demonize every pagan creature in Baltic mythology.

In fact, aitvarai were considered genuine problems by those who believed that they would steal from them: from warding off statuettes in granaries to court cases from 1700's accusing people of harboring an aitvaras (I found only one source claiming this, so take it with a grain of salt).

However, the desire to have an aitvaras was apparent as well, shown by modifications peasants would make to their homes: holes in the doors of granaries would be made so an aitvaras could enter the home easily.

Some rituals for stealing back from a flying aitvaras exist as well, ranging from simply showing it your bottom, to cutting oneself with a rusty knife, pinning the corner of your jacket to the ground, ripping or otherwise ruining clothing.

Even if the reaction of people to them was mixed, aitvarai were considered pests by the gods due to their tendency to drink/hoard water, for which they were struck dead by Perkūnas, exploding into sparks that caused forest fires, the thunder god's lightning forming ponds, holes and swamps, terraforming the earth.

[cakedpie-pathologic]

I had a dream where I was Artemy Burakh and I went into the polyhedron (it was P2 btw). After walking around for a while, I saw Daniil Dankovsky that went something like "you're stupid" or something. I went into the water to investigate something, and then I saw a random well? So I went to investigate it and i kind of forgot what happened, but I remember I had to pour wheat into a bowl and drop it into the well? I turned around and saw that bachelor standing there so I quick saved and went to talk with him, and he said something along the lines of "you have to leave the polyhedron, go to the town and solve the sand pest" and then he KICKED ME OUT OF THE POLYHEDRON AND I WAS BEING INFECTED BY ALL THOSE PLAGUE CLOUDS!!!

I reopened the last save and I tip-toed around Daniil to not trigger the dialogue and ran away. Can't remember anything else.

[keshetchai]

Okay listen to me very closely (again): the Jewish biblical prohibition against seed mixtures is not simply a poorly thought out banning of all companion crop planting. [My sefaria sheet: The Halakha of...Gardening?]

Basically the quick summary is this:

The prohibition against the planting of diverse seeds (any kind) in a field is maybe limited to Eretz Yisrael (Kiddushin 39a:10)

— unless you are specifically referring to intermixing wheat, barley, and grape seed in a vineyard (Kiddushin 39a:12-13) which is definitely prohibited everywhere.

Sufficiently similar plants of a kind may be planted together and not be considered a mixing of diverse seeds in a field/garden (Pesachim 39b:4)

Even companion planting requires appropriate spacing between plants to maximize efficacy, and minimize your crops strangling each other. Which, incidentally, is what is recommended!:

With regard to a garden bed that is six by six handbreadths in area, one may plant in it five different types of seeds, four types on the four sides of the bed and one type in the middle. This mishna teaches that it is permitted to plant different types of seeds in one garden bed, provided that one maintains the appropriate distance between them.

Pesachim 39b:1, but also

Mishnah Shabbat 9:2

From where is it derived that in a garden bed that is six by six handbreadths, that one may plant five different types of seeds in it? He may do so without violating the prohibition of sowing a mixture of diverse kinds of seeds in the following manner. One sows four types of plants on each of the four sides of the garden bed and one in the middle.

There is an allusion to this in the text, as it is stated: “For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden causes its seeds to grow, so will the Lord God cause justice and praise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61:11). Its seed, in the singular, is not stated; rather, its seeds, written in the plural.

Apparently, it is possible that several seeds may be planted in a small garden.

And

Mishnah Kilayim 3:1

A furrow of vegetables measuring six handbreadths by six handbreadths: it is permitted to sow in it five [different] types of seeds--four [species], one on [each of] the four sides of the bed, and one in the middle. If it had a border one handbreadth high, one may sow in it thirteen [different species] three on every border, and one in the middle. It is prohibited to plant a turnip head in the border since that would fill it [completely]. Rabbi Judah said: [it is permitted to sow] six [species] in the middle.

In the Talmud the relevant section is Shabbat 84b:4 — 86a:1. A handsbreadth is the measurement of 4 fingers breadthwise. Roughly 2.5-4 inches long (my own hand is about 2.5 wide above the knuckle.)

If we assume the wider end of what Google told me is the average range, then 6 handbreadths (6 * 4 inches) by 6 handbreadths is 24 inches by 24 inches, or only 2 cubic feet.

Now if you've ever gardened you will learn that seeds NEED spacing in order to grow, obtain proper air circulation, and avoid a host of problems (disease, mildew, pest infestation going unchecked, sunlight competition, etc).

If you've ever gardened in the US specifically you may have seen things like this:

A square foot seeding planter template (above is an image of a green template laid over garden soil. The template has holes placed to guide ideal seed plant spacing, which someone is demonstrating by placing seeds into a color coded hole.)

or this square foot gardening foundation spacing recommendation image for a "typical 4 x 4 square foot garden."

This image shows a garden that is 4 feet by 4 feet square with suggested plants for each square foot.

The leftmost column is "extra large" plants that need at least a full square foot: broccoli, cabbage, pepper，tomato.

The next column (moving left to right), are Large plants (suggesting no more than 4 of each planted within a single square foot): leaf lettuce (listed twice for varied options), swiss chard, & marigold. Leaf lettuce is continually cut back for the leaves rather than allowed to grow a full sized head, hence the need for less space.

Column #3 is medium plants (9 to a square foot): bush beans, spinach (listed twice), and beets.

Column #4 is small plants (16 to a square foot): carrots, onions, and radish (listed twice).

This means that if I were to draw out a 2x2 foot garden over this chart, there would only be 4 different types of plants within that 2x2 area.

In this case, I drew a square around 2 mediums & 2 smalls, for a garden of bush beans, carrots, spinach, and radish (which is a recommended limit of 50 total individual plants within that space.)

The Talmud is stating that you are permitted to plant one type of seed on each of the borders and then another type in the center, which is 5 different types of plants in 2 cubic feet. To follow this guideline I would adjust the total numbers of each type of plant down so that I wasn't going above about 50 individual plants (which is already very crammed!)

(Image just shows the previous 2x2 feet garden with each side labeled 1-4m in the center I wrote 5, and then circled it.) This is a LOT of plants in a small plot.

People frequently see this prohibition and immediately say something like: "BUT THREE SISTERS INDIGENOUS COMPANION PLANTING IS GOOD!!"

And yes, it IS good!! Great, even!!

Native Seeds Search helpfully illustrates three separate 3 sisters garden layouts for us, actually.

The classic mound style plants corn spaced 6 inches apart in the center. Then from a corn plant, beans are planted at least 4 inches away. Then later, the squash is planted 24 inches away from the center (which is roughly halfway between the two corn stalks) Meaning if you have 2 corn stalks in the center (6 inches apart) and then add the distance of two squash from the center, we now have a generic diameter of 54 inches, or about FOUR AND A HALF feet for THREE kinds of plants.

If you made a square by using the 54 inches measurement (the Talmud really likes square gardens as opposed to circles or triangles), rather than a circular mound, it would be a space slightly bigger than the above referenced 4x4 foot garden with 13 different plant types suggested. The suggested spacing for 3 sisters gets much bigger in the other examples at the link because squash needs a LOT OF ROOM to grow!

TL;DR in Judaism, you can absolutely plant squash, beans, and corn in an appropriately sized garden plot without violating the prohibition of mixing seeds.

People like to explain this mitzvah as like, preserving the order of the world (meh) or preventing weird plant hybrids (which IS actually useful in gardening. Cross-pollination can be great but sometimes it can ALSO lead to worse, less tasty produce over time, or even compounding like, stuff that can make us sick to our stomach. I'm looking at you, cucurbits!!).

But in reality it seems to MOSTLY be like "don't plant wheat and barley together in your grape vineyard in Eretz Yisrael, and don't mix grapes with other stuff outside of Eretz Yisrael" and then like, "differing plant types need appropriate spacing in order to grow into something you can eat."

Which is extremely mundane, as far as gardening rules go.

[kid-az]

All Tomorrows: Vanga-Vangog’s Clicker Hc’s

Specifically, I’m talking about these guys.

They’re a fanmade All Tomorrow’s species made by Vanga-Vangog, and are essentially the descendants of the Blind Folk. They are described as an agoraphobic species who live in dense cities completely without light, as such a thing isn’t useful when you don’t have any eyes.

Anyways I found them to be a very interesting and adorable people, simple in concept but very interesting in execution, so I’m going to make up some headcanons about them.

-Due to their agoraphobic nature and how important crops are for civilization, Farmer’s are heavily respected and idolized in many of their cultures, as they are brave enough to venture into the open plains with little fear of the endless void above them or whatever predators are outside. Often these farmers wear iconic, low brimmed tin hats designed specifically to better focus their echolocation.

-Focusing on farming more, the clickers generally grow various fungi and yam-like staple foods as their primary, non-meat based food sources, as well as some tree fruits and a wheat-like plant. Unlike humans, their animal husbandry involves the domestication of large, herbivorous crabs, cockroaches descended from the Hissing cockroaches, various species of herbivorous salamander descendants for slime and eggs, and a few species of non-sapient posthumans.

-There dog and cat equivalent is a terrestrial species descended from Olm’s, who had entirely lost their eyes like them but more than make up for it through a powerful strong sense of smell, taste, and electro sensitivity. They of course have various different breeds, from larger, longer-legged breeds used by farmers to herd posthumans and salamanders, to smaller breeds who hunt pests inside the cities, to even more aquatic breeds who help with fishing.

-Due to their dense cities, preference to tight spaces, lack of lights and the need to keep settlements more quiet to not overwhelm people and make them deaf, their ecological impact on their world was much lesser than that of modern humans and many other posthuman species, and most of their megafauna and and ancient forests still existed when they first contacted their posthuman brethren.

-Continuing on ecological impact, their world was one terraformed by the Star People before getting Qu’d, so there was very little existing fossil fuels in their world. Instead, their civilizations were powered via nuclear fission and later, fusion. They utilized this energy for power far before they invented their first nuclear weapons.

-They never invented tv screens, instead relying entirely on advanced radios broadcasting talk shows, news, and music. And yes, these radios had separate channels, which were indicated by symbols which functioned similarly to braille. Videogames were only a very recent concept introduced by other species. (Idk how videogames would work for an entirely eyeless species?)

-Other forms of entertainment involved strolling around enclose cave and night parks, appreciating forms of artwork such as sculptures, hollow casts and bas-reliefs, and of course concerts and operas. Also stuff like swimming, children games such as hide and seek + tag, and sports.

-Their cultures were in general more accepting of physically disabled people, (Aka folks with paralyzed/nonexistent limbs and the deaf.) and a lot of their architecture involves heavy use of ramps, elevators, and escalators, with very few stairs in…… “sight.”

-Clicker’s have head hair, but it’s almost never in front as it’d heavily disrupt their echolocation. They are unfortunately beardless, but compensate with their whiskers. Some folks even grow their whiskers to be 1 feet from each end!

-They would not be happy about being compared to a walking fungus zombie. /s

[emerald194]

Misc. Bugbo Headcanons

Hoppo has a weekly girl's night with some of her friends outside the Bugbo gang. They summon demons together.

You know those "What Would Jesus Do" bracelets? Yeah Bugbo has a similar one except it says WWGJD.

Joe takes Bugbo to meet his family one day, & it's very awkward for 80% of everyone there.

Because in a sea of normal, somewhat quiet, business casual people, there stands one bigass magenta-colored murder-bug that doesn't blink.

Grasshoppers are known pests that destroy crops. Hoppo has destroyed several farms to ensure her ant farmer girlfriend has a monopoly on the wheat market. <3

[homesteadingqueer]

Homesteading Resources Master Post

So, I have been really into homesteading lately, you call it a hyperfixation, I call it free dopamine. This is my masterlist of sources for different aspects of homesteading life. I plan on making a life in the city homesteading masterlist too. Please be careful when canning a preserving food, I am not an expert, but these sources seemed credible so be sure to can with caution.

Happy Homesteading!

General

Homesteading 101

Skills to Develop

Farmers Market Directory

Ways to make a Profit

Farmer's Almanac

Livestock

Livestock Pros and Cons

Meat Rabbit Guide

Pigs Guide

Chicken Guide

Ducks Guide

Goat Guide

Sheep Guide

Meat Cow Guide

Milk Cow Guide

Gardening

Composting

USA Planting Zones

Europe Planting Zones

Homemade Pest Control

High Yield Garden

High Yield Vegetables

Pollinator Garden

Canning

Canning 101

Fruit

Vegetables

Kitchen

Veggie Recipes

Bone Broth

Wheat to Bread

Sustainability

Self Sufficiency

Reduce, Reuse, Recycling

Clothes Mending

Crafts

Cross Stitch

Embroidery

Whittling

Crochet

Quilting

Knitting

[balkanradfem]

On agriculture, sustainability of cities, and monocrops.

So if you've lived in the countryside, or even seen a rural village on a map, you know how it's set up. There's a road, the area around the road is peppered with houses, and then behind every house, there's several fields growing grains, beans and potatoes. Most often, there's also a little vegetable garden in the back yard, and sometimes a few chickens, goats, or a sheep. Around the fields, there are forests, and every clearing in the forest is growing something, even if it's just grass that is set to be cut into hay.

It's clear where these people's food comes from, and how big of an area it takes to grow it. It's visible just by monitoring, that for one family it takes a field of wheat, potatoes, smaller area for beans, a vegetable garden, and corn or a similar grain for their animals. It makes sense, these people have inherited the land that can feed them, and they do it. The forests are used for firewood, but also replanted, there are new trees constantly planted, and only old, dangerous and rotten trees are felled.

And then you look at a city, and it doesn't make sense. The area is more densely populated, but there are no fields, no grains, no vegetable gardens, no chickens. So how do they eat?

The answer is – the fields are elsewhere. They're planted far from view. And the food is brought to the people, instead of grown where they live. Isn't that a bit inconvenient? The people in the city don't think so. They make a lot of money, and they can have food delivered to them. But what does it take to produce the food for a densely populated city? That's where we meet agriculture.

In order to produce massive amounts of food, enough to feed an entire city, you'll need a big amount of agricultural land. And, you'll need that food produced cheaply enough, so that when people buy it, there is some profit for you as well. So, you'll want to own a big area of land that is yours to do with as you please, and you'll need big machines, so you don't have to pay for human labour, and all of the profits go to you.

Now, the big machines that harvest food do not work like human hands do – they do not differentiate one plant from another. If you want a machine to harvest your field, your field has to grow 1 single type of crop. Otherwise, your harvest will be a mess, and it will take additional, expensive work to separate usable crops from waste. So, you create massive fields with only one type of plant growing on them.

I remember looking at big fields of wheat or corn, and thinking, neat! That's so much food growing! And it looks so clean and well grown! I don't have those thoughts anymore, sadly. The reality of a whole field growing only one type of plant, is now upsetting to me.

The thing with natural, wild fields is, they feed the wildlife. They have flowers that open even in the winter and early spring, and then continue to produce different types of flowers throughout the entire season, making sure bees have food all year long. They house different insects and good bacteria, they lure in birds, worms, ants, ladybugs, grasshoppers, butterflies, bumblebees, and all kinds of beneficial, lovely bugs. If there's a presence of water, you'll find frogs, dragonflies, and much more birds, who are there to feed on the insects and pick off the caterpillars. You might find a hedgehog, a snake, a turtle in there. All are coming because there are sources of life for them in that field, plants they can eat, or plants that bugs can eat, and bugs are then delicious resource to the animals. Bugs we consider pests, are also a great food resource for the birds and the animals, and their population is monitored and controlled by all of the other animals. Plants rarely get destroyed by pests, or they evolve to defend themselves, or to attract a predator who fends off of the pests.

Now, a field of let's say, only corn, doesn't do that. The corn is pollinated by wind, and the flowers of corn do not attract the bees. They do not serve as a home to many insects, and they do not make a good resource for the wildlife – until of course, they make the corn itself, which is then attractive to the birds. But they cannot sustain life for the entire year. There's only a short window when these crops can serve as source of food.

The area where corn will be planted, has to be tilled early in the winter or spring, making sure every life-giving plant in that area, is dead. Then, corn is planted, and then often weeded or sprayed with herbicide, if any other plant manages to grow inbetween. And they will grow, because no matter how hard you try to kill every weed, seeds are carried by the wind, by the birds, buried deep into the ground, some are capable of growing back from just one single piece of root. You cannot exterminate them, except, by herbicide. And that is what happens in monocultures – in order to fight nature to the point where you establish a monoculture, you have to distribute poison for plants.

After the monocrop is harvested, the field is left barren and void of life. There are no flowers, no food for bees, no hiding places for the insects to hibernate in. Some may hibernate deep in the soil, if they have not yet gotten poisoned, but most will not even bother, as there are no food sources in the area.

Have you noticed how wild fields do not get their soil depleted and  poor at any time? Year after year, the wild plants are growing anew, never losing nutrients, never lacking food. And there's a reason for this – the wild plants are left to wither, dry, lay flat on the ground, and then decompose. The bugs, worms, bacteria and insects in the ground use them as a food source, and after going thru their digestive systems, it decomposes and becomes soil again. This way, all of the nutrients, minerals and food they took from the soil while growing, comes back around, creating fertile ground for a new season.

But monocrops do not do that. Once harvested, the soil remains depleted, the waste products of grains are usually extremely low in nutrients, there are no bugs to aid composting, the space remains empty of minerals and nutrition the plants have absorbed. So what do you do to keep growing? You have to buy the nutrients and physically distribute them all over the field, in order for the next year's crop to grow again. This almost ensures that you will have to do this again and again, and that your crops will only be able to feed on whatever you put there, and will only have the minerals you yourself have put in the soil. The soil itself becomes void of life, because it's those worms and insects and bacteria that are keeping the soil alive and healthy, they're creating an ecosystem where plants love to grow, where a healthy balance of nutrients and air and water and compost and roots is kept. Your field cannot do it. You have given the soil nothing to live off of. There is only a single crop, and it doesn't support any life in the soil. It doesn't feed the beneficial bacteria, bugs, or animals.

But you know what it does feed? The pests. There will always be some types of bugs evolved specifically to feed on your crop, and once you plant your crop over several kilometers, you have given them a perfect food source, and they will not restrain from multiplying rapidly, enjoying what you provided. Your monocrop will start getting eaten at a rapid rate, unless, you spray it with pesticide. So you do, you have to, there are no birds, predatory bugs, animals, or any other kind of natural pest control that would do the work for you or stop the pests from multiplying uncontrollably. You have to poison your monocrop in order to protect it from getting eaten away.

Wild plants are usually good at fending off diseases, because they will cross-pollinate, and some will contain disease-resistant genes that ensure that the next generation of plants will grow stronger. Your monocrop, is carefully planted so only ever one type of plant is growing, same type of seed, protected from cross-pollination, same dna. So when a disease hits, there will be no resistance. Your plants will all get infected. If it's a bit too hot, or too cold, or a disaster hits, or a new type of bacteria attacks, your plants have no way of defending themselves, or evolving into a stronger, more disease-resistant versions of themselves. You'll have to develop a different type of plant on your own, and rely on chemicals again, to stop the disease, to save your plants. This is actually the reason why bananas as we know them, are soon to be extinct, and a new variety is being developed to replace them – they've all grown sick, and there's nothing that can be done to save them, except developing a different variety that will hopefully, be resistant to that disease (but not to a new one, repeating the cycle again and again.)

So, once you've secured your giant fields of monocrops, convenient for your big machines to work and harvest, you've started to notice that you have to spray the chemicals on your fields to fertilize the soil, then to kill of weeds, then to kill off pests, then to fend off disease, and you're in fact, spending a lot of money on all these chemicals that you are now completely dependent upon. And what happens next is, these chemicals start getting more and more expensive. Maybe the seeds prices are getting higher too. And now, you're in a situation where you don't have many options. You cannot grow the same volume of food without monocrops, and you can't sustain your practice with ever-higher prices it takes to grow in this unnatural, diversity-eliminating way. In the older times, people learned to rotate their crops, allowing the land to grow some wild plants and recover from the intense use of agriculture, but now you can't afford to own land that you are not actively using for profit.

This is why agriculture is getting less and less productive, and why we keep needing new agricultural land to grow on, the soil is getting depleted, and land unusable. This also caused by the wind erosion and sun erosion. While the crops are not growing, the land is barren, tilled, and left exposed to the sun, which dries the top layer, since there are no plants covering it, and then the wind dries it even more, dissipates it into tiny particles, and turns it into dust. Without constant and consistent rain – which is rarely available, the soil gets turned into dust. This is a hard lesson learned by the 'dust bowl' example, where the agriculture combined with drought created soil erosion so intense, the people couldn't see in the times of storms due to the dust, and would often get lost in their own fields.

Soil erosion and wind erosion can be mitigated by growing 'cover crops', meaning plants are allowed to grow, or are specifically sown in the times of year where the main crop isn't growing, so the sun and the wind could not deplete the top layer of soil. The plants also help keep the soil alive with insects, worms and bacteria, and keep moisture in, more effectively than the barren land could. Another solution for gardeners is mulching, covering the soil with a layer of organic matter, it can be leaves, hay, straw, pine needles, wood bark, wood chips, anything that will decompose and create food for insects, generate a protective layers from the sun and the wind, and keeps moisture inside. In combination with this, it's important to not till the soil. Tilling exposes several layers of soil to the elements and disrupts or completely destroys the established ecosystem inside. No-till and no-dig methods are protective of the health in soil, specifically for smaller areas.

For large areas, what helps the soil stay safe and properly structured is allowing wild plants to grow, which have deep, resilient roots. You know when you grow a plant in a pot, and you pull it out, it holds the entirety of the soil together, just with the roots? That is what the wild plants are doing as well. The deeper their roots, the better structure and stability of the soil will be. Deep roots can draw the water from deep inside of the soil and keep the moisture level even in a drought. Big trees are also a factor in keeping the soil structured and safe, for example, if you keep trees on the riverbank, their roots will protect the soil from being carried away and depleted by the water. If you were to remove the trees, the water would erode the soil of the riverbanks. They also protect the soil from getting blown away by the wind.

There is a problem of decreased availability of water. We have now extracted so much water from our planet, it's getting harder to find water sources for our crops. And there are thousands of kilometers of these monocrops, making sure that no wild life species can live in that huge area that was once wilderness. This resulted in many species being threatened into extinction, if not already extinct. Bees cannot live on agricultural land, because there is no food. And all of these areas are not being used to feed the people in the cities, no. The majority of agricultural land isn't even used to grow the crops for human consumption. The plant products that the people eat is about 20-30% of all of the crops we grow. The rest is growing crops that feed the animals meant for human consumption. And these fields need to grow crops sometimes for years, until the animal is heavy enough to be used as a source of food. Reducing animal products could easily reduce the amount of monocrops we need to sustain our food sources, by big percentages. But, we're not trying to do that. Instead, the demand is steadily rising up.

Thinking of this makes me wonder if big cities are ultimately, unsustainable. Growing food to be harvested by human hands enables incredible diversity, fertilizing with compost, manure, bone powder, fish meal, and rich organic fertilizers that can be distributed over smaller areas easily. No till gardens can preserve all of the healthy bacteria, insects, worms and ecosystems in the soil. Using mulch and cover crops to protect the land from sun and wind erosion, and to keep the moisture in, can stop soil depletion in those areas, and feed and protect the wildlife and life in the soil. Animals can be used as pest control and as a method of fertilizing – if you leave chickens, pigs, or cows to graze an area and leave manure behind, they will bring fertility to the land. But, you would not be able to grow the amount of food that would feed an entire city, not without it requiring a vast amount of human labour, which would make the food expensive, and unavailable to the poorest citizens.

But, we can't get rid of cities, so we have to keep developing healthier and more soil-protecting ways to grow big amounts of food, in order to create sustainable, resilient and secure sources of food for people living in all kinds of areas. Encouraging people to change their habits and eat less beef, lamb, poultry and animal products would help significantly, since the amount of food that needs to be grown would reduce by a lot. Encouraging people to grow their own food, in rich and diversity-preserving ways, also helps cut carbon emissions by a lot, since this food no longer needs to be shipped and transported. Having people understand how their food is grown, what it takes to produce, and what is lost in the process, might inspire them to change their habits, and put more effort into reducing waste. Because even after destroying all that wildlife and diverse ecosystems – 20 to 30% of that food is simply thrown away. Food that people grow themselves is most often, never thrown away, because then it is a prized produce, something they worked hard on, something they treasure. In case of a spoiled produce, it gets composted right back into the soil, making the waste non-existent.

Home grown food is often at least somewhat affected by bugs and pests, and that is normal. It's a sign of the food being healthy, unpoisoned, and obviously a great food source, since the bugs are all for it. I've noticed home-gardeners, who understand how pests work, feel skeptical about the store-bought food, just because it being so pest free is in fact, unnatural. 'What did you do to it, so the bugs didn't want it?' opens up the answers of how far one needs to go to make the produce undesirable and uninteresting to bugs. You need to go as far as convince them that this is not a good food source anymore. And the bugs acknowledge it, and go find food elsewhere. And we often have no choice, but to buy that exact same food.

Food grown for selling in stores has proved to be less nutritious, grown merely for the visual appeal, storage and transportation, rather than taste. This is why, after eating store-bought produce, homegrown will taste infinitely better, sweeter, with more intense flavour and noticeably better nutrition.

What we'll need to do is spread awareness, learn about the cost of our food, and change our habits to make it less damaging on the planet. We can also try growing food. Make barren areas into wildlife again. Build ponds to attract birds, animals and bugs. We can try making diverse no-till gardens where all of the different varieties grow on top of each other, together with flowers and weeds and mushrooms. Make it a place for birds, ladybugs and bees to gather. Make it friendly to little mice, frogs, lizards and butterflies. We might just help save some of the dying species on this planet.

[naturalrights-retard]

(The Organic Prepper)—In every relationship, there comes a time when you have to sit down and take a serious look at the future.  Where do you want to go?  Are your goals compatible?  Are things working as they stand right now, or do some changes need to be made? Creating the ultimate prepper food stockpile is no different.

People create prepper food stockpiles for many different reasons, and because of this, there is no “one-size-fits-all” formula for doing so. You must figure out what your goals are and develop a road map towards achieving them.

Having a food supply just makes sense.  Every time there is a disaster, the masses become hysterical, and chaos ensues because there is no food available because of our “just-in-time” food delivery system. (Remember March of 2020?) Your stockpile can also mean the difference between continued freedom or forced compliance to get food.

There are three basic types of food supplies.  Let’s look at these food storage ideologies. Then take the most applicable strategies and combine them to create your own version of the ultimate pantry.

The Bunker Pantry

This is the most “hardcore” of the prepper food stockpile types.  A Bunker Pantry is the type of food supply that could keep you going for the next ten years without a single trip to the store.  Sure, it might be a little bit boring and lacking in variety, but it is a supply that will see you through any disaster and allow you to remain in your shelter.  This type of pantry focuses on huge quantities of long-term foods, repackaged carefully to resist spoilage due to pests or the elements.

If this is the type of pantry you’d like to build, focus on staples that last a long, long time, such as wheat, rice, dried beans, salt, and sugar. These foods can be purchased in bulk and repackaged by the user, or you can purchase them already packaged up through vendors like the LDS warehouse or online food storage websites.

[pagan-stitches]

June — Josef Lada

🍒 JUNE or ČERVEN in Czech is a month of beautiful weather, high temperatures and, above all, end of the school year, if you're a kid! 🍒

🔥 Some years, June is the month of the Czech Pentecost called Letnice to which we connect some interesting folkloric rituals: https://www.czechology.com/letnice/

✝️ June 13 is the day of St. Anthony of Padua (sv. Antonín Paduánský) and the name day of every man and boy called Antonín.

✨ The night before June 24 is believed to be magical, so prepare your herb basket: https://www.czechology.com/st-johns-eve/

🌽 It is the beginning of the crop yield season (žně in Czech), although it will be in full swing a little later. Our forefathers had special rituals and especially songs that helped them pass the day raking the straw and arranging it into piles.

🚜 Children helped with small tasks like bringing food and drinks and their reward was a barn full of fresh straw that they could play and even sleep in.

🌱 There is a lot of field work going on. Cold-sensitive plants have been in the earth since mid May and now it's time to take care of them - fertilize, get rid of the weed and protect from all the pests. Some plants have already given their fruit, such as strawberries or spinach.

🥗 Children used to help their parents with everything when it came to laboring the field. This was the time families invested all their effort into filling their pantries for winter. And let's not forget that during feudalism, people had to spend up to several days a week laboring the field of their landlord.

🍽️ Acquiring at least a small field was an aspiration of everyone in the countryside.

Having a field meant being able to feed the family. Some people made extra income by collecting forest fruit and selling it on the markets.

🦞 Children also used to catch crayfish in the river. This animal is now protected by law.

- - - - -

🌈 June weather sayings:

- Chladný květen, červen vlažný – je pro sýpky, sudy blažný. (If May is cold and june tibid, barns and barrels will be full.)

- Červen stálý – prosinec dokonalý. (Constant June - perfect December)

- Hřímá-li v červnu, zvede se obilí. (If there are thunders in June, the wheat will be good.)

- Jestli červen mokrý bývá, obilí pak málo rodívá. (Wet June makes the wheat crops small.)

- Červen mokrý a studený – bývají žně vždy zkaženy. (If June is wet and cold, the harvest is always ruined.)

- Jaká parna se v červnu dostaví, tak se i prosincové mraky postaví. (There will be as many clouds in December as there is heat in June.)

- Medardova kápě, čtyřicet dní kape. (If it rains on Medard's Day - June 8 - it will rain for 40 more days).

From: https://www.czechology.com

[raid3r-r4bbit]

I cant tag you for some reason @acesatyr but I have typed all this up. I will get to fishing and foraging at some point, But this was already really long, lol.

I had originally written this in another word doc and realized I had typed over six paragraphs about seeds and germination alone. I really like farming.

Overall, this is mostly the generic info; I can detail or explain anything in depth, but I’m summarizing the important stuff, and the details are easily researchable. :)

A Revised and Bullet-Pointed Essay about Organic Apocalyptic Farming

Seeds, the basics:

-Stock up on seeds, they come in packets and are usually cheap depending on where you get them from. I like to store seeds in a mason jar, with a tightly sealed lid. It’s important they’re dry, and if possible, refrigerated. if not, any cold, dark, dry place will do.

-Germination is an easy process, DAMP (not sopping wet. DAMP) peice of thin cloth or paper towel, seeds laid out evenly, and put into either a ziplock baggie or something like a pyrex container. Again, air tight, low-mid light, warm (not hot, not direct sunlight) enviroment.

-if you see a lil mold it’s okay, as long as the root sprouts they’re still viable.

Plants I would Reccomend:

-Peppers are great because they grow quickly, can be canned or stuffed and add a lot to you meals and food. They also don't really take up as much room as some of the other plants i'm about to list. They aren’t the most filling and you cant live off of them but if you want to improve your quality of life or make a lot of money at the end of the world I guarantee you anyone who can actually cook or has the spices and foods to do it is set for life. I would legitimately kill a man for my mom’s pepperoni stuffed pickled peppers. I stabbed my brother over a jar once I am not kidding.

-Pretty much any kind of spice or herb really, I would HIGHLY recommend growing lavender, mint, thyme, and anything lemony or citrus scented, as I mentioned on a previous post, they’re good for pest control. lavender is a very temperamental plant, but most herbs, once ou get them going can be pretty hardy for lil leafs. Also, depending on the amount you’re growing of each most of them don’t take up too much space. Also basil cause it smells nice and I told you to.

-Corn, wheat, and any kind of grain is obviously a good idea if you want bread, but all of them are pretty difficult and require a lot of space. Potatoes are great because they can be used to make bread and alcohol as well.

-Zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes, and summer squash, and pretty much any gourd/melon/squash plant are easy to grow, but keep in mind many of these are expanding and/or vine plants and require a lot of space. They make a lot of food, but tomatoes and cucumbers in particular will actively choke other plants. Like vines wrapping around and leaves growing over top and roots entangling level of choking. Keep apart. but they’re good for you. eggplant, tomato and cucumeber are the highlight here.

-For leafy greens kale and chard are super easy to grow and grow pretty fast. Like any leafy green, too much sunlight will scorch them so be careful. I like to grow chard in an old (was some kinda biohazard barrel my dad stole from some pharmaceutical company, and cleaned out) cause it’s more than deep enough for the roots, but also wide enough to grow plenty. Also kale is high in vit c so if you don't live somewhere tropical you won't die of scurvy :)

-If you plan on raising animals or having a crop FIELD and not a PLOT, then grow long grass into hay, because it is good feed, but can also be used to cover ground to protect from birds. If you sow seeds by yeeting them into the dirt, birds will eat them if you don't cover them and you will die hungry.

-If possible, Alfalfa is also good for animals ( in small quantities) because they like it, or sunflowers. you can eat sunflowers, they produce a lot of seeds adn the seeds can be used as feed. ( same with corn.)

-Mushrooms. can be dried, easy to grow, grow really fast, and can be used as filler for meat dishes. (you can also grow the drug kind because it’s the end of the world and no one is going to stop you)

-tobacco for tabacco

AMNIMALS:

-unless you have a lot of very protected land you’re going to want animals that are small and potentially multipurpose.

-chickens are great because they dont need an exorbitant amount of space, can be used for eggs and meat, their feathers can be used for a number of things, if you dont like eating chicken guts (whats wrong with you) then they can be used as fertilizer, bait or as part of stock, and the bones can also be used for broth or to make small simple tools like needles or pen nibs. However, they actually need a more varied diet then you’d think. if you dont have calcium powder, their own unfertilized crushed up eggs, or scrambled with the shell is good for them once in a while, or chopped up leaves from your plants. Otherwise, a mix of corn and seeds is pretty good. DO NOT feed chickens wheat, oats or bread. Once in a while maybe, as like a super special treat, but too much can be harmful. Also, they eat bugs so they can just be outside if you’re okay with that.

-Goats produce milk, fur/wool (not all breeds do both, most don't do both, actually) and they’re more portable than cows. they also take up less space. A big downside is that goats are not only social animals, but they also need a good bit of stimulation and activity and they can be pretty noisy. My uncle built a jungle gym pyramid for his goats, but be warned, Joe Bob chewed his way out of the barn and needed rescuing from the top of the tower in the middle of a hurricane once. Goats will pretty much eat anything, and their poop is good for compost, Joe Bob and his siblings pretty much live off scraps and they’re happy lil dudes ( ladies actually, Joe Bob is the only boy)

-Rabbits! (the rabbit in raider rabbit is actually because i used to raise rabbits and am fond of them as a farm animal and because nobody can pronouce my name so they just call me Bun but we dont talk about that) probably one of the quietest animals you can keep on a farm, they can be kept in cages, breed quickly, can be used for fur, leather (rabbit and goat leather is great for making paper and cloth, not really good for protective leather) meat, and bones. The biggest issue I can see in the event of a wasteland survival situation is rabbits need a lot of clean water, salt and if you get angouras they pretty much need constant brushing. Be warned, if you dont know how to properly care for and breed them the females will castrate the males or eat her babies :) it is just a traumatizing as it sounds :) I speak from experience :) A good and cheap meat rabbit is the california white rabbit, they're about small to med size, and really simple to look after. Angouras are not great for meat, but their fur makes amazing wool. They eat veggies ( not carrots, too much sugar) oats, hay, their babies, and other leafy greens.

-Quail are something im not super familiar with that was my sibling’s thing, but from what i understand they need less space then chickens, and they’re good meat birds. eggs can be good for feeding other animals, but they’re not really good for much else. Also they’re really fucking loud and will fight each other so maybe not?

-Ducks are a lot like chickens, again, all of them can be eaten or used, and also eggs. eat more leafy greens and stuff and really like having somewhere to swim, better for more open environments. Ducks like to eat a lot and will get really fat really quick ( not a good thing) so be careful. however, if they imprint on you, they will follow you everywhere which makes rounding them up easy.

-Fish are great because their water can be cycled and the yuck water can go to the plants, which is great cause all that fish poop and algae is really good fertilizer. Fish are good for you and I love them. An while they’re not easy to port around, if you feed them micro worms or lil shrimps you can grow their food mostly indefinity and freeze it even. Also ive never heard any fish ( other than that one pufferfish) make noise. keep in mind, you will still have to maintain the water levels and the ph and all that, and they can take up a lot of space.

WHAT METHOD? HOW DO THE FARM? OTHER?

-this is pretty much up to you, I’m a really big fan of hydroponics, but i typically stick to “recycle farming” which is basically using whatever I have on hand and getting creative.

-if you’re going to use a plot of land, its a good idea to make sure you have a fence that goes around, over and under. Pests like groundhogs, rabbits, deer, ghouls, and myself will do more then just walk up and take you plants and animals.

-I recommend quiet animals that can be stored in cages and indoors to avoid larger predators, but any animals will attract them. Bears will break into pens, so if possible either store them INSIDE INSIDE, (like concrete building) or outside in a pen so you dont die.

-Living in the wasteland, or growing up with parents that think it basically is will teach you to utilize anything and everything. bottles and cans are great pots, old trashcans can be used if your dad wont steal chemical barrels from your local pharm plant for you, tires can be shredded into mulch, old rebar is my favorite thing for climbing plants ( sturdy, easy to stick into the ground and remove, pretty source able) Animal parts can be used for fishing bait or fertilizer, corn husks and other dry leaf litter can make good ground cover is hay isn't an option, ect.

-Plastic sheets and table cloths with holes cut in them for the plants are great for vine plants to grow through.

-scarecrows ain’t shit. Most birds are too stupid to notice and the ones that will are smart enough to figure out it’s not real pretty quick so all you’re doing is wasting good clothes and materials and scaring the shit out of yourself when you forget and look out the window and see a giant man in your field. Get a cat.

-it’s the apocalypse. grow weed.

How source plant food?

-poop and leafy plant scraps. animal poop, your own poop, your neighbors poop, poop. plant scraps, leafy greens, peels, rotten material.

-Get a big plastic tub or my favorite stolen barrels and shovel in some dead soil, layer in some plant scrap, dry leaf litter or corn husks, poop, leaf litter, and add creepy crawlies if you can. give a stir or shake every so often.

-avoid flies. as gross as it is, it’s a good idea to keep it warm, moist and humid, so very closed to avoid them.

-you can also add egg shells to give some calcium to your bug buddies.

-corpses.

What do I keep? how do I use it? (animals)

-egg shells are useful for a number of things, dried and nicely crushed they can be used for calcium for other animals. Or protection spells.

-bones for the same thing just don't feed the animals to themselves. I joked about this with the rabbits a bit ( a little cannibalism with them is inevitable and wont hurt them, but still) but cannibalism can lead to a lot of really bad neurological conditions that can harm you as well if you consume their products. Same with chickens, you feeding them scrambled eggs and shells once in a while is good for them, but if they start consistently eating their eggs you need to seperate them for a bit.

-fur and skin are great, esp for tanning, hides can make all kinds of things from paper, to water pouches and other bags, and fabric in general. being able to make cloth and leather is something a lot of people really overlook.

-Bones but for tools. Having a good needle and thread is really underestimated.

-Intestines can be used to make sausage, and other things.

-i will eat the chicken liver if you don't want it but it’s your anemia.

-make jerky/salted meat. both wont last forever, but you dont need to freeze it if you dont have power and will last longer then raw or cooked meat. salt cured meat lasts about 2-3 weeks, so if you’re solo or a small group and you did what i said and got small animals you wont be wasting food, and you dont have to butcher something every day.

-jerky can last a lil longer if stored properly, say it with me now! *air tight containers* you might get a solid month or so out of jerky, and it can mostly be rehydrated, or eaten as is.

-rendered animal fat or tallow makes good cooking oil, and while a little time consuming is not super difficult.

-make butter and cheese, not for survival, but quality of life.

Help I grew to many plants!

-can them, dumbass.

-fr though, canned foods can last a decent amount of time and can be really useful if you live somewhere with a winter, or can farm constantly. I mentioned already, but canned stuffed peppers are a favorite of mine, along with pickled eggs, which I make pretty regularly because a world without pickled eggs is the darkest thing i can imagine.

-feed them to your animals or back to your plants.

-throw them at your friends. (you haven't lived until you’ve hocked a rotten pumpkin at your little brother)

-dry them, fruit leather and veggie chips can be rehydrated and stored even longer than certain canned or preserved foods.

What else?

-learn how to purify water. there’s a million non tech versions, but in a sinch, the boil method is good if you just need to water plants. just dont pour boiling water on your crop.

-do use boiling water for weeds though. you can also feed weeds to your animals, but boiling water is just water, it’s not going to kill the soil or poison you.

-learn to fish and forage, theres a whole lot of things that aren't easy to grow or raise that can be tasty and good for you.

-learn to make fire. be prepared to put out fire. Dry crops will burn for days, so keep them watered, but you need to be able to burn exccess compost and cook.

-farming smells so bad. I love farming but animal poop, rotten veggies, innards, decay and compost, burning compost smells. if you cant stomach it and want the easy way out, thats called starvation or you better be beefy and prepped enough to raid others. or both, gorw your shit and steal from others, i dont care.

-forgot to mention earlier, but fermented foods like kimchi, kombucham etc are really good for you so yea. I might also teach you how to make kombucha cause my mom made me drink it so by god ill make you drink it too. ( i actually love it and it's good for making vinegar.)

-And forgot, legumes, like beans, peanuts, letils etc are really good plant protein. just not fun to grow, (ecept for beans. beans are actually very fun to to grow.)

[strixcattus]

The Kengliwa

This is probably the second-most certain I've been of a Bestiaryposting beast. Unlike with the Gligglae, however, where I intentionally designed a creature to be as at-an-angle to the real deal as I could, I had a very different picture for the first half of the entry (it was "black column" that tipped me off), so I used that as a jumping-off point, and then decided to go a little more... well, you'll see.

I took as a point the line "If the crop is barley, the Kengliwa goes to another ear... For barley is food for beasts." If they refuse to eat food for beasts, what else could they be?

The Kengliwa

The Kengliwa (Kengliwa infitior) is a small, sapient mammalian species native to most of Europe. They are similar in form to mice and walk on all fours, with hairless front paws that possess manual dexterity comparable to that of human hands. Most Kengliwa have black fur, pink skin, and blue, green, or brown eyes.

Kengliwa live in underground burrows and have what appear to be complex societies that extend beyond their family groups. Many Kengliwa are seen wearing capes or harnesses that appear to be made by individuals of their species; however, there is not currently any evidence that Kengliwa produce their own fabrics, or indeed that they have agriculture that extends beyond farming ground-covering plants such as edible mosses and lichen.

A Kengliwa's primary livelihood comes from thievery. They will creep as a party into a human field and all proceed in a line to seek out the choicest crops, each passing signals to those further in the line with such practiced ease they seem to be acting as a single being, formed for the sole purpose of robbing the farmer they have chosen as target.

Kengliwa will proceed through the field, sending individuals at intervals to climb to the tops of tomato plants, berry bushes, corn stalks, or whichever other crop they have opted to prey upon. They seem in fact to be picky in their taking, choosing the purest fruits undamaged by weather, heat, or other vermin and leaving those undesirable to humans still on the vine. So too do they have preferences in grain, for they will readily steal corn and wheat, but leave barley untouched, as though they are too good for it.

They also take scraps of cloth and other human-made items during their raids, to make into clothing to keep them warm and baskets and harnesses to enhance the capacity of their thievery. In addition to living off of humanity's fruits, Kengliwa also keep ants in their burrows to act as pest control.

The lifespan of the Kengliwa is not certain, but they seem to reach maturity within no more than four or five years, and few Kengliwa have been confirmed to surpass twenty years of age.

Editor's note: Your tone seems a little off in this one—I'm not sure we can call a sapient species "vermin" even by proxy. You okay, buddy?