Good morning, everybody! Sending love to you all today! ❤️

Almost a year later (took my first weaving class the 4 weeks of Feb) and my loom is almost totally setup. It just took a few hours! We are turning the apartment into a craft room. BEST DECISION EVER. #weaving #loom

Perfectly timed pause! 🫢😆🤣 Finally started watching #Hacks We just watched 5 episodes? I think we like it. 😉

Guess who’s Red Cap Mushroom spawn was delivered yesterday!!!!!! #mushrooms #soilrejuvenation #killyourlawn #gardening northspore.com/pages/mushro...

Yummmm #beer Prairie Artisan Ales #Lifesource Co-Op in Salem, OR has the BEST brew selection.

Yr 3. I think it’s going to bloom for the first time!The deer better stay away. 🙏🏼 I’m pretty sure this is slender leaf milkweed. I sowed a LOT of seeds in fall ‘23. The majority did not mature successfully. Or, honestly…I may have weeded them. Watching these plants grow this year has been exciting.

I’m SO EXCITED! I ordered wine cap mushroom spawn (and a blue oyster mushroom bucket) to grow in my garden!!! With killing the lawn and smothering it with arborist chips, this will hopefully really rejuvenate the soil and improve the clay structure. #gardening #mushrooms

I’ve decided that part of why I am so taken by cedar waxwings is because they are so apart of the background. They’re not eager to show off their beauty. I can hear them. They’re hanging out, often in our neighbor’s madrone. But I rarely ever see them, maybe once a year. #birds #nature

I just took our uvBeast flashlight outside at night…SO COOL. You’ve got to do it!!! #gardening #nature I bought the light after we bought a house that had prior dogs…best/worst purchase ever. But to see nature like that? A spider’s legs and belly glowed. Weird bright dots on petals…just do it.

1 month ago. 4-23-25. A glorious collection of mostly native plants. Like, 98% native. #plantnatives #gardening

Got rid of the front lawn last fall—with 3 #chipdrop deliveries and a lot of sweat. Just got 2 espalier apple trees in the ground with our new garden beds. This is a dream fulfilled at age 45, kids. 🥹🥰#getridofyourlawn #gardening

I took a couple weeks off from work and from…all the crap out there. I recently found collections of videos that depict non-mainstream ways of thriving. I now start each day watching them. I love their thoughtfulness. #mentalhealth #staycation #joy #reset www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7f...

Look at this adorable bee!!! What is it? We saw it last week on penstemon—lost it before we could get a picture. Saw it again today!!! Then saw 3 of them in the cascara.

The #deer are here. It got my checker mallow on its first year’s bloom, and nibbled on my Pacific Waterleaf and Swamp Rose, too. Just…be patient!!! I #plantnatives for everyone, but just let them get established so we can share, buddy. One just walked by. I said, nooooo. Not yet!

Beaver tracks, monkey flower, lupine, red osier dogwood, snowberry, slough sedge, rushes. None of this creekside flora was here 3 years ago. Just bare rock. I over-seeded the existing lawn with a native mix.

This is a tiny shoot of a red elderberry I planted last year after we cut down 2 burning bushes. I thought this was dead, after succumbing to the slugs. I am THRILLED to see it’s hanging on!Everyone says elderberries are easy to grow…I argue easier for slugs to eat. 😢 #plantnatives #gardening

"But denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works, and proves a popular temptation. Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."—The Supreme Conquest and Other Sermons Preached in America. New York, F. H. Revell company [1907].

Garden box for apple trees is done. 2nd box almost done. First time trying out Shui Sugi Ban method. #gardening #gardenbox

First year of mason bee keeping. Mason bees are way better pollinators than honey bees, FYI. Just a couple more weeks before we bring them in to protect the cocoons from predators. I planted so many new plants for them!!! It’s almost a full house! #bees #pollinators 🐝 #nativeplants

I’m on a roll killing the English Ivy on our hillside. I’m unearthing a ton of soil erosion the ivy hid. My husband and mom think I should just leave the ivy because “it’s serving a purpose.” It’s SO FRUSTRATING. It’s 1) causing and 2) hiding the problem. Just GO LOOK. Lift up a rock. Or just 🤐!

I did an oops. Planted my Pacific Willows on the dry upper creekside. And the Scouler’s Willow in the creekside muck. Last night in bed, a bad feeling crept into my head. I checked this morning and my fears were confirmed. Life…is…full of so many emotions. #nativeplants

I saw a #beaver this morning! I startled it as I did a quick walk around to check my newly planted #nativesplants. It slid down the bank and swam away. First sighting this year! 🤗 I love the #PNW It’s the best if you ignore the risk of a life ending earthquake.

Busy day: coltsfoot, monkey flower, asters, lupine, giant fawn lily, blue & red elderberry, thimbleberry, manzanita, showy milkweed, yarrow. And 4 different blueberries, onion starts, Spanish lavender. The mason bees are nesting. #nativeplants #pollinators I’m content.

Do our local actions make any difference? While actions we take in our yards & communities may seem insignificant, there are millions of homeowners & communities, & together, we are a powerful force. "It's Time to Think Globally, but Act Locally": greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2024/12/its-...

It’s a tool…learn how to use it. Make playlists. For myself, the best thing is to listen to #KEXP streaming and get mind blown over their #music. Add those songs to my playlists and then Spotify suggests new songs based on real DJs. Big net with a fine weave. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

1/2) I planted 2 scarlet monkey flower, 3 pacific wax myrtle, evergreen huckleberry, & salal today. Put out beer traps to slow the slugs damage. Ate my first asparagus I planted from seed 3 years ago. 🥳 tomorrow am visiting my inspiration garden and then will finish planting my blueberries, …

I’ve listened to Epic Gardening which is now #thebeet for a few years and while other podcasts have “withered”, this remains strong. Just started Jacques’s videos and they’re SO GOOD!!! Short and sweet and no rambling. 👍❤️ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnW7...

Oh, hello there, mister mason bee! 🥳🤗 #nativeplants #pollinators #bees

I hate slugs.

Isn’t this funny? I cancelled my Amazon Prime membership to consistently support small businesses. I have supported Palouse Brand for my bulk lentils and beans since 2020. They announced a short 3-day 25% off sale…but it’s only offered on Amazon & IF YOU HAVE A PRIME MEMBERSHIP. WTF?! 🤪

Indian food and Batman movies is my day today.

Bath time! I bought some #nativeplants this weekend from www.willamettegardens.com#Anchor-TREES... Did some weeding and put out the first batch of mason bees. No activity yet. 😢🤞🏼

Let’s go, Zags!!! ❤️#zagnation

😂 hmmm…my worms are going to get a speedball today. I cleaned out my tea drawer. They’re going to get coffee grounds, bedtime herbal tea, black tea, and some veggies. #vermiculture #compost

Plant #nativeplants and don’t spray! Leave your leaves! Connect with your local Soil & Water Conservation Department #SWCD! Our youth deserve to know the joys of #butterflies!

1/2) I did it again, kids. i killed my front lawn last fall. I weed whacked it short and smothered it with an insanely thick layer of arborist chips. As always, I never label any seeds i sow because I’m perpetually rushing before fall rains. Yesterday, I was frustrated because grass was coming up.

Every time. 😂 every single time I get my oil changed…”This thing’s a manual? That’s sweet.” Okay. Not sure why it’s that spectacular, but i’m not a car person. I did have to special order it, though.

We finally pulled the trigger! We bought mason bee cocoons. Bought a whole set up…then WON another in the raffle!!! #bees #pollinators #nativeplants I already decided that since I will be focusing on creating my forever native garden, I’m gonna just buy starts for my edibles. And blueberry plants.

Let’s go Zags!!!

If technology/AI summed up my worth by compiling my internet searches, interactions, and presence…I’m feeling 9/10 confident i’d get chosen to populate the New Earth. Likewise, if the crows made that decision, also 9/10 confident. I say hi, smile, wave. I plant food/shelter for them and their kin.

Next book! Trying out my new tea from the small tea shop The Velvet Monkey. #books #tea #selfcare

There’s 30 #nativeplants in that bundle. Bareroot is the way to go. Cheaper, insanely easy/fast to plant, and a much higher success rate in my experience.

I canceled Amazon Prime. Now I am supporting small businesses more often. Walking around McMinnville today, found a fun tea shop down some stairs. They gifted me with a free measuring spoon as a thanks for switching from Amazon. #shoplocal #tea

It’s super fun buying new brews for my hubby. Because I really do love the helles out of him, 😝. I bought NA for me. #beer

Don’t ever doubt it. People have the power. The people in “positions of power” try to tell you otherwise. Get up. Stand up. #resist

Sometimes you just have to let nature take its course. It’s baaaack!!! Last year it succumbed quickly to some kind of disease. #nativeplants

“There are seeds that need fire. Seeds that need freezing. Seeds that need to be swallowed, etched in digestive acid, expelled as waste. Seeds that must be smashed open before they’ll germinate.” Richard Powers-The Overstory. #resist

Digit is waiting at the door for my hubby. ❤️ #catsofbluesky #cats

In the topic of alcohol increasing cancer risk: is it the EtOH causing cellular damage? Or is it the increased magnesium secretion (plus the ubiquitous lack of leafy greens in the standard diet) that depletes the ability to REPAIR damage? Or a combination of both? #health #nutrition #diet