ghostoffuturespast · 7 months ago
Text
22 March 2024 - Friday Field Notes
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Rabbitbrush (top), Spring Mountain Parsley (bottom left), Fringed Sage (bottom right)
The Spring Equinox was earlier this week and while the calendars might say it's spring, some days it doesn't necessarily feel like it. The prairie is beautiful, but it's a harsh place to live sometimes. There is limited water and the climate alternates frequently between extremes. So even though the calendars say spring, the prairie is slow to wake up. The patient sort, the prairie knows to wait.
Most people might think it's too early to start even thinking about gardening, but that depends on the types of plants you're planting. Many domesticated garden varieties of plants and agricultural crops have been selectively breed to reduce seed dormancy for human benefit. The seeds from domesticated plants germinate more readily and more consistently than their wild cousins. Which makes them easier to grow, harvest, and eat, but because of that they require a lot more babying and care. Wild plants are much tougher.
Seeds are living organisms, the offspring of plants, and they contain everything a seedling needs so it can germinate and grow. Wild seeds are incredibly patient, they will wait months, sometimes years, before they will even consider growing. Some have armor so thick that it has to be chipped away at by rocks and ice, freeze and thaw cycles, before water and air can even get to the seed. Others contain acids and hormones that have to be used up between specific temperature ranges before they'll even think about sprouting. While others, not fully developed, are knocked off the fronds and petals of their parents, children that brave the elements and just prefer to wait and see. Wild seeds do not rely on a calendar, because they know and can feel when it is truly spring. When it is safe for them to finally venture out into the world and grow.
I have no idea if this Rocky Mountain Bee Plant that I planted will grow this season. It's suggested to do fall plantings so it'll overwinter. It has a very thick and tough seed coat. I'm hoping the abrading I did and the snow might help it along a little. If not, it'll be a surprise for next year.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
A couple of Pronghorn lads enjoying the trail.
CW: dead animal, road kill below cut
Tumblr media
This Beaver was hit by a car trying to cross the road. Underneath the road there is a storm drain that connects a retention pond and feeds into the creek at the site that I work at. The storm drain is grated off, to help improve the flow of water and to make sure detritus doesn't get stuck in the channel, which increases the chances of flooding. Because this Beaver was trying to follow the water and because the drain was grated off, they had no choice but to cross the heavily trafficked road. It's unfortunate that urban infrastructure often does not consider the needs of all living things. Grating off that storm drain means no wildlife can use it as safe passage.
I salvaged the tail from this Beaver for educational purposes for work, the rest them was too far gone to keep, so my coworker and I moved them off the road and onto the shoulder a safe distance away from any cars.
Most likely this Beaver will first become food for scavengers, Coyotes and Corvids, before it starts to decompose. Insects will lay their eggs on its rotting flesh so their larvae will have something to eat, perhaps the fur will become a part of someones nest, and then the bones will bleach. Crumble to dust and return to the soil to feed the billions of microorganisms beneath. It will help the plants grow. Maybe some day, it might even help another Beaver live.
It's sad this Beaver died, but in nature nothing is wasted and nothing is forgotten. Life and death are so inextricably linked and one does not exist without the other.
And heck, maybe that Beaver tail I kept might inspire a future engineer. Help them build a better and more compassionate storm drain.
13 notes · View notes
jadeseadragon · 1 year ago
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Top (my own photos): Long-horned beetle [Cerambycidae family] (Megacyllene robiniae), a.k.a. locust borer beetle on rabbitbrush (chamisa) (Ericameria nauseosa). Mimicry (of wasp) or camouflage on rabbit brush - or both?
Bottom: Wasp on Rabbit brush
1 note · View note
c0ntr0lledchaos · 2 months ago
Text
Thought this scene from After Everything was Fixed (but you were still broken) by @bones-of-a-rabbit was really cute. had a lot of fun reading it and have a couple more artworks queued up for it.
Tumblr media
473 notes · View notes
lamemummy59 · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Sonic Gurls doodle page :~P
rbs very appreciated!!!
557 notes · View notes
rainy-arcade · 2 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Hug all your (boy)friends
261 notes · View notes
bones-of-a-rabbit · 4 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
do robots dream of electric sheep? do robots have nightmares of murders committed in their sleep?
Tumblr media
have you slept, or are you afraid of things that in the dark creep?
383 notes · View notes
venomgaia · 3 months ago
Note
Hey do u think any of the district 23 chefs have ever gotten 'ingredients' from R corp. All that meat has to go somewhere, unless R corp is pulling a soylent green
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'm sure there are plenty of places that could actually manage to use 'ingredients' from R corp seeing as there's absolutely a surplus! Although, anyone who's procuring fresh 'ingredients' for the sake of the culinary arts...may end up with more of a mess than they bargained for...
178 notes · View notes
justshipsandstuff · 20 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
Alice in Wonderland but with more crimes I guess (one of which is like, 0.1 second away)
142 notes · View notes
sariphantom · 6 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Sorry, not sorry, a moot of mine on Twitter gave me a dumb idea to do Aladdin Leosagi
280 notes · View notes
mararabbit · 17 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
Canonically annoying sexy goat oc
93 notes · View notes
ghostoffuturespast · 1 year ago
Text
22 September 2023 - Friday Field Notes
Tumblr media
Field work is not glamorous.
It doesn’t matter what field you work in. Often times you’re outside for hours on end, the weather doesn’t cooperate when you need it too, you’re covered in sweat, in dirt, you’re overworked, you’re underpaid, your organization is understaffed, you don’t have the resources or the equipment you need to do the work, and trying to get people to give a shit and effect the change that needs to happen is a perpetual uphill battle that rivals Sisyphus’s eternal punishment. But you adapt, you improvise, and you do the work anyway.
Because it’s important. Because it matters. To me. To you. And to every living thing on this planet. You do it so things can grow and thrive.
Tumblr media
Part of my job doing restoration work is removal and management of invasive species, like this Mullein pictured above. Now, Mullein is a plant that originated in Europe and Asia and was brought over to North America for cultivation purposes.
However, it didn't originate in the ecosystems in N. America, didn't evolve along with the local flora and fauna, it has no biological checks in the Great Plains to keep it from overrunning an area like it would in Europe or Asia. Not having any biological checks allows species to create monocultures, which isn't great because it reduces the overall biodiversity of an ecosystem, making it less robust and unable to support the vast array of wildlife you should find in a given area. Some species in the Great Plains do utilize the Mullein as a resource, but again, since it didn't evolve here many species are essentially losing food and habitat because of this plant.
Monocultures also reduce the effectiveness of a habitat's ecosystem services that help support life for all living organisms. Including us. Clean air, clean water, nutrient rich soil to support the growth of food, capturing carbon to sequester to reduce climate change... All reliant on biodiversity. All reliant on populations of native plants.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
It's not enough to just remove invasive species though. You can't take something out, without putting something back in. Good land management and stewardship practices should also restore ecosystems. Rabbitbrush and Rocky Mountain Bee Plant are both species that are native to my local area, and are a resource for all manner of species.
And that Bee Plant, we planted that last season. It was the only one that grew, but look at all the seed pods on that thing! Hopefully those seeds will go on to make even more Bee Plants and support even more wildlife!
I watched this documentary series last week for work and I'd highly recommend it. It's about the native seed supply chain in the western United States for restoration efforts. A really large area, that needs as much helps as it can get.
https://ser-insr.org/native-seed-film - You can watch it in sections, or they have a couple of different lengths depending on the time you have. But if you only have 12 minutes to give, for sure watch the introduction.
Now, I'd like to point out, these large scale efforts are important, but restoration efforts don't have to be big or elaborate. If you have a spare planting pot or a backyard, you have the ability to restore native habitat. You can bring those ecosystems to you. And it doesn't necessarily require you tearing out your whole yard or sacrificing the plants you do grow.
It may require a bit more homework (you're gonna have to research what plants are native to where you live), and some trial and error, but there are a lot of gorgeous native plants out there that require very little work once they're established compared to "traditional" garden plants.
Humans have carved out huge swathes of land for our own purposes, often to the detriment of other living things and ourselves. We've destroyed entire habitats and ecosystems due to human vanity and simply walked away. Cut our losses. Those habitats and ecosystems are lost. But the land is not gone. And who's to say all those things that are lost can't be found.
It's not easy work, but with some compassion, and a little bit of knowledge, and the willingness to be patient, perhaps we can weave the land back together. Not the way it was, but rather better.
A ghost can dream, right? And perhaps this Pronghorn does too.
Tumblr media
It's hard to appreciate the subtle beauty of the prairie. It's not a forest. Not the ocean. Most people might only see grass and not see the richness. The diversity. But I've done a shit-ton of digging this week to try and install a native plant garden.
Field work, manual labor and sweating outside with a shovel, is not glamorous.
But I'm doing this so people can hopefully see the beauty of the prairie, so they can see the beauty in the land around them and perhaps consider planting some native plants of their own. So every living thing out here, big or small, can have a home.
Tumblr media
And here's a Megacyllene (sp?), probably a Locust Borer Beetle. It has wasp stripes to dissuade predators from trying to eat it.
27 notes · View notes
kedreeva · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Anyone keeping rodents or rabbits or parrots in the market for some mulberry chews?
We had to take down two mulberry trees in the bird pens today in order to allow for redoing the overhead netting and repair of a support post, so I have a TON of fresh, organic, pesticide-and-fertilizer-free mulberry wood I can dry and bake for chews right now. The wood is sweet-smelling and on the softer side, and it tends to shred instead of chipping like apple wood. My mice and rats loved shredding out pieces and putting it into their nests. Wood will be cut, air-dried in the house, and baked.
Safe wood for at least rats, mice, rabbits, chinchillas, and guinea pigs to chew and safe for parrots EXCEPT possibly neophema species (diuretic effects were noted in just this species when consuming leaves, but play it safe).
211 notes · View notes
rockhousejai · 7 months ago
Text
Somewhere on the other side…
Tumblr media Tumblr media
151 notes · View notes
wobblywilby · 8 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
I know some may take this out of context so I'll blur it lol
Pure pure miku!
154 notes · View notes
johnrandbearartist · 19 days ago
Text
Tumblr media
yoke
56 notes · View notes
tomaturtles · 1 year ago
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Flower field! 🌺 🌻
559 notes · View notes