I broke down and let the landscape guys do my lawn care today. 😭I had every intention to do it myself but I'm trying to focus on my creative projects this week. But they better not mess my grass up. 😆

Rest in Power to Mother Viola Ford Fletcher. 111 years, the oldest survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. She never got the justice she deserved www.fox23.com/news/mother-...

Hi again garden friends! I also came home to a nice little potato harvest after my trip. I don't know the last time I've purchased these babies at the market. Now if I can just master sweet potatoes I will be so happy. I'm gonna purchase slips next year for the sweet potatoes and try again. 🥹

Happy Monday garden friends! I'm back from my cross continent trip to Uganda and of course one of the first things I did was attend to my ferments. 😆 I bottled up my fig vinegar Sunday and it's just gorgeous! Also brought home Ugandan vanilla beans to start some vanilla extract mixes. 😍 #gardensky

Every time I fly Southwest Airlines, I wonder why so many of you love Southwest. Hate it. 😂😂😂😂

Happy Monday garden friends! I have a long trip this week so I decided to start a ferment of course while I'm away. 😆 This batch is strawberry vinegar. I "backslopped" it with a bit of my finished batch and was surprised to find a small vinegar mother forming in it. Let's see how it goes. 🤞🏾

Fermentation mothers/scobys tend to look quite gnarly but isn't she lovely?!!?! Lolol I was really pushing it because I washed this one under warm water to remove fig sediment and pulp but she surprised me and came back even stronger! There's a lesson in that I think. 🤔

Good morning garden friends! This one is for the curious fermenters only because it's kind of gnarly. 😩😆 my fig vinegar is doing very well. I strained it of the pulp, picked out the mother, washed the mother gently, and added to a clean jar. Thought I killed it, but a few days later? She's back! 🌱

Finished the last of S3 of #thediplomat last night just in time to jump into Welcome to Derry and Talamasca. These two should help me fill up my queue through the holidays!

Gahhhh! As much as I'm not a fan of Meta three of their platforms have me hooked. Marketplace has become a favorite place to buy and sell stuff, love scrolling through IG, and Threads is...wild. 😩😆 It's as unhinged as the old Twitter, and the closest to it in many ways. Still not a Meta fan tho

Oh I almost forgot I've been fermenting peppers since late July/August. Will let those batches sit in my basement until the first of December and then make them into hot sauces to add to the gift batch trio of vinegars.

POV: The new singer of the Reading Rainbow theme song and the new host of Reading Rainbow meet for the first time in Canada 🥹📚🌈 Video Description: Mychal and Bukola meet for the first time! They joyfully dance to the Reading Rainbow theme song, sung by Bukola ✨ youtube.com/@kidzuko?feature=shared

The richest man on earth owns X. The second richest man on earth is about to acquire TikTok and his family could soon own both Paramount and Warner Bros. The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post. See the problem here?

Since I'm garden stir crazy I may start a new batch or two or preserved lemons as well from the excess overflowing in my garden. I'll definitely have to gift these since I have two large jars already fermenting for months now in my basement.

Happy Saturday garden friends! My fig vinegar batch is doing very well and actively bubbling so it's time to start something new. I'm planning to start a strawberry vinegar batch with a fig syrup today. All three should be "done" by Christmas and I'll be gifting this trio for sure! 💚

Let me just drop this note right here...when my book Ascending is released in Spring 2027? The FIRST stop on my West Coast book tour (prayerfully) will be THE @marcusbooks.bsky.social 🖤 #OaklandForever

I think the constant news cycle of our nation literally spiraling into darkness is taking a toll on me. Been waking up every morning for the past week with an upset stomach. Could be my diet but I really haven't changed much with that. 😞

My last concoction for the weekend is starting my fig vinegar batch. That floating blob in the jar is the vinegar mother from my first batch. I'm hopeful it grows a bit more so I can do multiple batches at the same time soon. 💚

Alright garden friends this is the physical manifestation of "I'm leaving here with something"! 😩😆😂 Since I'm fighting for my life with these fig trees, I decided to harvest/clip some of the leaves today to dry for tea, make syrup, and ice cream. Using my rose hips to infuse into oil. 💚

I've got to find another solution to protect the fruit on my trees. I been putting mesh bags on the fruit as it ripens but something (most likely an opossum, tried to eat a fig right through the darn bag this time. Smh 🤦🏾‍♀️ I'm assuming it was an opossum.

Happy Saturday garden friends! I decided to bottle up the remainder of my berry vinegar blend in smaller bottles for gifting this holiday season. I think they came out very cute! 😆 Now to start my fig blend. I was waiting to harvest a few more figs but I'm fighting the critters for them. lol

I think next I'm going to try a fig vinegar with the figs I've been harvesting from my trees this year. Only one fig tree is really producing fully and I'm fighting the opossums for those. Lolol

This was a nice size batch. I think I can get at least two more bottles out of the jar once I find something to bottle them up in. I'm also heavy on recycling bottles and only using new caps/tops. 👍🏾

Hello garden friends! I finally bottled up the last ferment I learned how to make in my fermentation class a few months ago. This is a berry vinegar I made with raspberries and blackberries from my garden and a Concord grape wild starter. I'll be putting this bottle in my basement to finish up. 🌱

I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Ok y'all...I've only been peeking my head in on here off and on for the past few weeks. Can someone shoot me a DM and give me the rundown on what the hell is going on with the migration to #Blacksky? ATP I'm about to tap out of most SM. 😑

Happy Monday garden friends it's officially spooky season so I guess it's not surprising that I "found" this squash (that is as big as a pumpkin), while doing some pruning and garden cleanup today. I was ripping out this overgrown squash vine and wondered why it was so heavy. 🌱 Surprise surprise 😮

Hello garden friends! It's been awhile and I don't have any pics to share beyond this fig from my tree that first dropped all its new sprouts and is now doing well with deep watering. Also my first vinegar ferment FINALLY developed a vinegar mother and I'm hella excited about that! 🙌🏾💚

Assata. 🖤

There is something about the repeated attacks and escalating violence that seems...calculated.

I love this! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Coates op-ed in Vanity Fair is so good! Whew!

Finally!!! Months ago I was searching for this pic I took a few years ago in Jo'burg, South Africa. Black dandyism 😍 I found it!!!

Most of the time, the thing isn’t the thing. The thing is just the cover story. There’s almost always another thing—that fuels the egregious action. The “thing” is just the excuse, the prop, the justification. Pay attention to the other thing. That’s where the real story lives.

There are no quiet parts. Everything is out loud now.

My new thing to do when the world is falling apart? Throw some stuff in a jar to ferment. 😩😭 Tonight I started a large jar of fermented okra that I won't open until Dec and a jar of dilly beans. Added this to this bottles of kombucha and wild Concord grape soda I started on Sunday. 💚

A federal appeals court has rejected Trump’s attempt to remove Lisa Cook, the first and only Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The Fed begins a two-day meeting on Tuesday to set interest rates.

Most of the time, the thing isn’t the thing. The thing is just the cover story. There’s almost always another thing—that fuels the egregious action. The “thing” is just the excuse, the prop, the justification. Pay attention to the other thing. That’s where the real story lives.

Happy Sunday garden friends! It's been awhile since I did a garden post and even this one only happened because I missed church today. 😩 I spent my Sunday in the cathedral of the garden instead. 🙏🏾💚 My plans were just to do a bit more cleaning up and turn my compost bin but a harvest was calling.

Really wish AppleTV would release all of the God of War episodes at one time so I can just binge watch 😩😭

Oh she's the little one btw 😆😂 Lil Kim-iko 😂

A few pics of the pup living her best life on the pack walk today. I gotta admit I'm slightly jealous. 😆💜

Good morning garden friends! It's been awhile since I shared a garden update. The rain woke me up this morning and marked the start of my fall gardening season. I still have a few things growing from the summer but still some planting left to do.

I am dragging today after this long weekend! 😩😂😭

#Katrina: Come Hell and High Water #Film #Review – #SpikeLee gets straight to the defiant, joyous soul of #NewOrleans The finale of the Lee’s 3-part #documentary about the biggest tragedy in 21st-century Black American history is a must-watch On #Netflix www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

While I absolutely disliked Spike's new movie #Highest2Lowest, his docuseries on Netflix about #Katrina is excellent! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

It's important to understand that he singles out Black women because there are few negative consequences for him when he does. It's his most frictionless lane for bullying. The broader public has shown him few, if any, will step up to defend us, and it's only ramped up since his first term.

I honestly could see racial tropes embedded all throughout #Highest2Lowest. 😑 Also the casting was terrible and a waste of talent. Jeffrey Wright should have been the dad OR the police detective. Denzel could have played a strong lead as the detective as well. They could've done move w/ Asap too. 🙄

Ok #Highest2Lowest upset my soul so much I had to go back and watch the original (High and Low). And even more adamant that this screenplay was straight up the weakest link. Original movie spent entire second half finding the criminal. This dude wrote it like Jeffrey could just text and do the same.

Good morning garden friends! Finally decided to dig up a few random grow bags I was using for potatoes over the summer. Not a lot but enough to make a meal. Also first time picking the squash blossoms to cook all season. My fav! 🌱 #gardensky