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Map of Everything I'm growing as of 2025.

Imgur link:

Big Changes from last year:

A pergola that grows hops and kiwi vines. and Keeps us cool in the Summer.

A 55gallon Mushroom Cultivation Barrel On the Runoff from the greenhouse.

A line of blueberries and flowers to keep the city from peeking in.

More Berries Like Currents Pineberries Gooseberries, Pink Blueberries and Elderberries. Some of which make a living fence.

Loads of Perennial Crops like: Mountain Spinach, Good King Henry, Hopniss Vine, Egyptian Walking Onions, Sunchokes, Scarlet Runner Beans, Watercress, Docks, Turkish Rocket.

And a Free Box to Give away some of my excess seeds, keychains, books and produce.

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Have a guide on my youtube channel on building a cheap greenhouses. There's abit of a learning curve. But it's very doable.

Underground greenhouses are helping people to take back control of their nutrition and ease farming amid the climate crisis

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maybe you could put something about indoor/apartment gardening?

Yes I think that's a good idea. Espically focusing on high yeild, small space plants, low effort plants and what grows well without alot of light.

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Hello! You said you're writing on gardening. I'm trying to get into food gardening this spring and a few things I'm trying to figure out are

What are good high yield food plants?

Container gardening - I am eternally renting :(

Lower light foods - we can't all have full sun and as a result, we can't all have a lot of popular foods

Apartment gardening?

What grows well in small spaces?

Is plastic okay to grow food in? Does it leech?

Are heat treated pallets okay to grow food in?

What soil is safe? Or how to get soil Safe for growing ? The cheapest is often sketchy. I know fruiting plants are best on what plants dont end up pulling heavy metals into the food and root vegetables are the worst with leafy greens being in the middle, but beyond that?

What are some cheap or Eco Friendly fertilizers?

What requires the least energy/work? I've got chronic fatigue and growing food is known for being hard work. I know raised beds or containers are great, but beyond that, what foods are low maintenance?

I can't wait to read it! 💚

Good points will try to add and address all of them over time. Allready have around half of them written down in there.

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Writing a guide on zero bidget gardening atm . Let me know what people want to know about.

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It's that time of year to plug one of my favorite resources https://www.freeheirloomseeds.org/ You can get 8 packs of seeds for free, or for a $10/15 pack donation (so pay a $10 donation for every 15 packs of seeds) you can get as many seeds as you would like These seeds are all heirloom seeds, some of them are very rare, and it's a good way to broaden your garden varieties!

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civic duty

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Found this massive grafitti mural in stl titled the battle of st louis. It depicts a comical war between canada and the usa. The whole thing went on for like 70ft. Ignore the tags, wish I found it sooner.

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If you see a thing that says "no user servicable parts" on it. Try not to get it.

Something that I think should be an important part of solarpunk aesthetics is screws.

Look at your smartphone. No screws. You've got to have specialized tools to get inside your phone to repair something. There are certain pieces of tech that are glued in place and glue can't be undone without permanently breaking the bond.

But screws!

You can take apart a broken old radio, repair what's broken, and, if you were careful in taking it apart, you can put it back together and have a fully functioning radio and all you need is a common screwdriver!

It's hard to build screws and other mechanical fasteners because it requires more planning than clamps and glues, but isn't that what solarpunk is all about‽ It's about care and sustainability and and a radio or a computer built carefully with repair in mind is a sustainable computer that stays out of landfills and in use.

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Sustainable fashion for the Solar Punk

If you enjoyed this, consider checking out my Ko-Fi for a printable zine version (or just to support my art :))

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How to begin a sustainable way of life

This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.

Do not tell people what to do—help them do it! 

Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life. 

“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts. 

“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes. 

“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes

“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own. 

“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden. 

“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial. 

“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?” 

You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled. 

If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it? 

Do not act alone—act with others! 

Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?” 

“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”

You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors  

            Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel. 

           ��Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other. 

Simply spending time with someone influences them for good 

Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media. 

            Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful. 

A garden is the source of many gifts 

If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects. 

More on gift-giving

            Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them. 

            It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else. 

When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you. 

When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press. 

If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade. 

Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things 

Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits. 

Use the front yard for gardening

Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community. 

Grow staple foods 

Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.

Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew 

Be sure to send them home with leftovers.  

Grow plants for baskets 

Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets. 

If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves  

If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree. 

Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line 

In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space. 

Give others the freedom to wander 

Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.  

The power of the hand-made sign 

If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?  

Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you? 

So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you? 

Someone has to do it for society to change  

Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you. 

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Click through to see story links

Xinhua story source

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Looks good would love to see more.

Rust and moss

I'm still experiencing with the vegetation, it's quite the challange to not make it so very plasticky. I will upload other variations of this artwork.

I thank my beloved mutual @merlinsniece for filling my notifications with lovely messages in the tags. Gave me a great push to draw in my freetime.

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Found open source plans for a recumbant bike people might be interested in. It has ikea like instructions.

https://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/SPACEFRAMEVEHICLES/DIY.pdf

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How to turn your Neighborhood into a Village

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New Solarpunk illustration, yay! The full thing was made for a thing, but also each half was also drawn for the Solarpunk (writing) Prompts podcast.

This one features a maker/hackerspace. It's a thing that has existed for a while but that few people seem to know about? I myself learned about the idea from a friend relatively recently. While I've never been to one myself, plenty of references were provided and I hope I've captured the feeling well enough.

Saw the "Free shrugs" t-shirt in a 3D render over here, I believe, and fell in love with it at first sight lol. Also a locker that was plastered with stickers warning that's it's explosive, radioactive, a bio- and fire hazard and may electrocute you was too funny not to adopt. I wonder what they kept in there.

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Those wild crabapples can also be pressed into cider with quite a bite, if you feel up for it.

Crabapples are kind of an extreme fruit. Sour and sometimes a bit bitter, they take a lot of sugar to be edible. Wild rosehips are nicer; you can eat them as-is if you like intense sweet-tart flavor. This fall I decided to make a small batch of crabapple-rosehip jelly.

The thing with crabapple jelly is that you don't need to add pectin (such as Surejel or Pomona's). I simmered the crabapples and rosehips in a 50/50 mix of apple cider and water, strained it twice, then cooked the resulting juice with an equal measure of sugar. I can't quite describe the very old-fashioned 'jelly test' I used, except to say that my mother taught it to me and it involves pouring a few drops of the mixture off the side of a large spoon until it drips "correctly."

Crabapples produce a jelly with a very different consistency. It's honestly more like pine tar. My uncle, who loved foraged foods and unusual jellies, called it "the La Brea jelly." I'd have been mad about that, but . . he wasn't wrong.

I ended up with a small quantity of extremely sticky, rosy-amber jelly with tons of sweet-tart flavor.

[ID: A small dish of jelly held up to the light to show its color. Also the same dish of jelly sitting beside a plate with a piece of bread and jelly.]