This rally is about more than turnout, it’s about building a Worcester where people protect each other. We’re raising funds for No Kings III to cover: 🎤 sound 🪧 signs + printing 🦺 safety + volunteer supplies If you can chip in, we’d be grateful. 💛 Donate: secure.actblue.com/donate/indiv...

This is a story of #community and #resistance from #Minnesota. The guests (@lindablackelk.bsky.social) are heroes of my heroes. None better to talk herbalism and community. Right, @samthayer.bsky.social (Sam Thayer) @foragerchef.bsky.social (Alan Bergo) @blackforager.bsky.social (Alexis Nicole)?

Our third episode is out! Genus Sambucus: Elder/Elderberry. Elder is a gateway to foraging, to permaculture, to herbalism, to the Fey. Please step through! www.iheart.com/podcast/269-... #podcast #plantpodcast #newpodcast #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #grownative #permaculture #herbalism

#Assabet National Wildlife Refuge: I like to step off the trail when the snow is deep. With a floating step that never pierces the snowpack, no plants are harmed. Plus, walk on H2O! I took hundreds of pictures of White Pines (Pinus strobus)! #winter #adventures #nativePlants #wetland #ecoregion59

A velvet anchor breaks the winter light. #Monostich #Poetry #Micropoetry #WildlifePhotography #Birds #Birding #MourningDove #Nature #ImageAndVerse #Haiga #Winter #EastCoastKin #BirdOfTheDay

Time to get serious about leaving Google AWA Meta. Proton.me for email Ecosia as a search engine/browser www.ecosia.org They are no longer the leading edge of tech. They are now a surveillance and data company that works with a fascist regime. #boycott #google #boycottFascism #boycottOligarchy

Oat milk for coffee, soy for overnight oats, coconut for stew. Hickory milk is a treat for a forager. Make it the indigenous way; smash and boil the hulled nuts. #foraging #nativeplants #eco #🌱 What lighter touch could one have on the land than to grow a native nut tree, and milk it yourself? 🌳🐿️🥛

I'll be there. I'll bring a vegan casserole, some homemade baked beans, and a loaf of bread if I'm feeling ambitious. My wife is leaving on a trip early in the morning on the 14th so I guess I'll just have to celebrate my love of freedom and democracy instead of spending the day with her.

Hey, sorry for the long absence. I (Eli) had to sell our house and wildlife habitat. Since then, I have been immersing myself in political activism on my other account. I'm going to keep this account focused on the pod, and use the other to take on the fascism as well as the 6th global extinction.

Winter life in waiting (Cherry Birch seeds), waiting underground (Common Milkweed), bursting forth from the snow (Skunk Cabbage), Breaking down and flowing back into the soil (Red and Scarlett Oak leaves, water) #winter #nature #forest #meadow #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #ecoregion58

Please call the Senate they will vote very soon on whether to allow dangerous sulfide-ore copper mining on the edges of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Tell them to vote NO on House Joint Resolution 140 (H.J. Res. 140).

I went to the White Pine Cathedral today, up on the hill over my grandparents' house. I missed mass: the Cardinals were gone and all of the White-tailed Deer had left their pews. A spiritual experience doesn't require an organized religion, or mysticism. What is sacred to you? #nature #pantheism

October Farm Riverfront, Concord MA: a winter hike, with river views, and wildlife. Dog friendly. This is a great place for seeing Hemlocks, from seedlings to big stately trees. I hope we get a fierce cold snap, to kill the invasive Hemlocks Adelgids on them. #Hemlocks #nativeplants #ecoregion59

After storms and high wind, I look for fallen pine limbs for making pine needle tea. I'm happy when I find a clump of Usnea attached to a fallen chunk of bark or a limb. This find will make a year supply of tincture. unrulygardening.com/forage-use-u... #foraging #herbalism

The American lotus is a bane of fishermen and a boon to foragers. The seeds make a tasty, healthy cereal, or a phenomenal flour. And it hosts lots of life in the Eastern States where it is native. feralforaging.com/american-lot... #GreatMeadows #waterplants #nativeplants #foraging

Happy New Year! Here's the hawk who hunts rabbits at our old house, perching for a picture in November, as we finished moving out. Red-tailed? For me, it seemed a sign that we left this little patch of the planet better than we found it. Lawn became habitat where a hawk can hunt.

Flagg Hill Nature Preserve, in Boxborough, MA These popular trails are easy to walk in sneakers, even after recent snow. They take you through White Pine dominated forest, with some oaks and birches. Openings to marshes are bordered by alder and Highbush Blueberry. #winterwoods #ecoregion59

PSA: You can scatter native plant seeds any time, all winter. Hello from the Helderberg hills, West of Albany, NY. I was visiting my grandparents in Berne, and I brought seeds of our native Hibiscus to scatter around their pond. #nativeplants #seedsowing #winterplanting

Merry Christmas, from the Terry Land, in Harvard, MA. I was raised Catholic (an altar boy) but this is my true place of worship: somewhere with clean air and water, and a diversity of life. #nature #pantheism

Joining the Ash Graveyard. A brittle White Ash (Fraxinus americana) that shattered in the wind shattered again as it hit the trail. I cleared the debris from the tail, in #BoxboroughMA, in Beaver Brook Meadow / Steele Farm, but there is some chainsaw work needed.

Hey #BoxboroughMA, Beaver Brook Meadow / Steele Farm has tree lines completely given over to Asiatic Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). It spreads from the highway (I495) and destroys advancing forest and edges faster than overpopulated deer, then works that edge back. #invasivespecies #parks

Our house will be listed today. I'm going to miss the gardens that I poured my heart and soul into for the past three years. I will definitely consider who will keep the birds and the bees safe and fed when considering offers. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #actonMA #houseforsale

Marcescence: The leaves that intend to #fall have fallen. Some trees, like White and Red oak, retain leaves throughout the winter, especially when they are young. Is it to protect buds from frost or deer? To shelter the soil? It seems that we have more to learn. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

We got our first Aronia berries this year. I learned that each Common Milkweed seed pod comes from one of the 120-200 flowers in an inflorescence. Our lonely northern mallow species, Hibiscus moscheutos proliferated, as did H. sawflies, Elderberry sawflies, and birds. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

Witchhazel is blooming! Hamamelis virginiana is easy to miss. Look up and you might look right past these arching understory trees, but look closely and you may be rewarded with our latest bloom of the fall. #nativeplants #forests #newengland #ecoregion59 #bloomscrolling #flowers #trees

Oaks are in full fall regalia, here in Acton, MA. They took their time, then changed fast over this rainy Tuesday-Wednesday. They are just in time to join the maples and birches before the maples go bare. Look at the colors on these three saplings! #quercus #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #fall

Aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) have two useful names. One for oblong leaves which seem to make geometric shapes of the rosettes. One for the aromatic foliage, like balsam. Here they are with Licorice Goldenrod (Solidago odora) in our native herb garden. #nativeplants #herbalism

Happy Vernal Equinox, folks! Virginia Creeper is looking lovely today, at the South Acton Train Station (MA). It's slowly filling in a fence in dense shade. I need to talk to the town about letting me hop that fence and cut some Asiatic Bittersweet and Norway Maple. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

This little guy was feasting on the Goldenrods (Solidago) sticking out of our Allegheny Blackberry (Rubus allegheniesis) patch. He is a male Monarch (Danaus plexippus): note the thin stripes with the thick spot on his hind wings. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #butterflies #lepidoptera #insects

It is still summer. On our morning walk, Ezra and I were very cross with this Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) for indicating otherwise. But rather than call her (dioecious -> berries on females only) out I realized that I was wearing a hoodie l, so I couldn't talk. #nativeplants #ecoregion59

I wish we had yarrow powder when I was a wrestler in HS. It is better for stopping bleeding than the q-tips of silver nitrate coach used to cauterize my nose so I could finish wrestling matches. Instead of having me sneeze blood for weeks, it would have helped me to heal. #nativeplants #herbalism

Found a little friend eating the parsley this morning. This beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillar is my first sighting of the year, despite us growing Lovage, parsley dill, and a native host: Angelica atropurpurea. #hostplants #lepidoptera #butterflies #insects #bugs

Birdwatching from our kitchen: a Goldfinch eating the aphids and a Hummingbird, too sus of me to eat. Our Common Evening Primroses are our bird feeders. They provide seed in October, but are a sturdy buggy perch from August on. #nativeplants #ecogarden #wildlife #birdwatching #nature #ecoregion59

Announcing the release of our second episode, Genus Rubus, at noon today! What wild diversity with blackberries, raspberries, dewberries and more. Find us by searching Genus Bar on your podcast app. #podcast #plantpodcast #newpodcast #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #grownative #permaculture

Grow a native Solidago! Solidago odora is an excellent choice for tea or goldenrod soda. Use your local fieldy native species for goldenrod shoots in spring. They're all superlative hosts and nectar plants. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #wildlifehabitat #foodforest #invertebrates #lepidoptera #moths

Sunchokes, Jerusalem Artichokes, Topinambur, ... Why the European names for this indigenous plant? Samuel de Champlain found the native people of Nauset Harbor in modern day MA growing it. But it's not native to MA? Here are my thoughts. #nativeplants #wildfood #foodforest #ecologicalgardening

Hello, who is this, please? I think this wasp was the one who chewed a hole in this Oenothera biennis bud, but I only caught it visiting, not chewing. #insects #wasps #hymenoptera #mymecologists

Feral apples and crabapples, ready to be juiced. We used a juicer, strained it, cooked it down, and mixed it with lemon juice for a canned sour mix that will last through the fall. Large, sweet, crisp feral apples, and tart, tasty large crabapples deserve to have their seeds spread IMO. #foraging

We got together for a curry, some mixed drinks, and a fire last night. The curry had pokeweed stems from the freezer, and sumac powder in place of tamarind. Elderberry syrup, hemlock mugolio, and a feral apple, crabapple, and lemon sour mix were main ingredients in the drinks.

Opening up the path into our yard required harvesting some Blunt Mountain Mint. I plant mint by the path so I can watch a diversity of pollinators visit. This patch which I harvest is the most dense and productive patch of mint, and that's no coincidence. #grownative #herbalism #nativeplants

This won't stop until we ban the sale of locally invasive plants. The horticulture industry blames the consumer for wanting these plants; the average consumer has no idea they are planting something that is killing nature.

With edible roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, and seeds, it's wild to me that this once popular native vegetable is labeled overly aggressive by native plant folks. I think it's because they are disconnected with the wild world, and want low/no-maintenance, instead of a crop that feeds wildlife too.

Plant blindness is real. When I talk to people around my neighborhood, about how harmful and invasive Burning Bush (BB, Euonymus alatus) is in New England, they usually say theirs doesn't spread. Most also walk in this park, with trails lined by BB. #nativeplants #invasivespecies #ecoregion59

I made jelly, and I hardly even burned myself this time! The blisters are tiny; they hardly even count. Same method for saving seeds as usual: food processor, jelly bag/strainer, then cook, instead of cooking with the seeds as most recipes recommend. #homesteading #seedsaving #jelly

Giving thanks to the wild world for the harvest. Sambucus canadensis (Black Elderberry) and Vitus labrusca (Fox Grapes). Feral apples and a few blackberries to end that season. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #wildfood #berries #grapes #wildberries #elderberry

Apios americana (ground nut) growing wild in the meadows in a Conservation Area, in MA. The northern variety is an escaped native vegetable and it is sterile. It was used extensively by Indigenous peoples and early settlers, then largely forgotten. #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #wildfood #foraging

Some favorite local #Rubus spp. Purple-flowering #Raspberries (R. odoratus) smells lovely and looks like a delicate rose. Swamp #Dewberries (R. hispidus) cover wet ground and Northern #Dewberry (R. flagellaris) dry. R. allegheniesis is the powerhouse #Blackberry. #nativeplants #berries #ecoregion59

We recorded our second episode last night! It's on genus Rubus, AKA brambles: Blackberries, Raspberries, Dewberries, and Thimbleberries #PodcastLife #Podcaster #PodcastingCommunity #Podcasts #PlantPodcast #NativePlants #NativeFlora #Permaculture #GardenForWildlife #Rubus #Blackberry #Raspberry

The Midas Flies discussed in our first episode have been poking around through the mulch and feeding on Common Milkweed flowers. They mimic spider-hunting wasps, but are harmless. The larvae may help the milkweeds by eating the Red Milkweed Beetle grubs off roots. #ecologicalgardening #grownative