On my way to Sulawesi, Indonesia for a few weeks of fieldwork! Fingers crossed there are no major travel hiccups. My first flight is delayed but that is why we always book flights with decently long layovers.

The Japanese Garden at @mobotgarden.bsky.social is looking absolutely magical today in the snow

It’s November 18 and I just picked a few last ripe yellow raspberries from my backyard berry patch 🌱

If a Democratic governor talks about punching people in the mouth, he is obviously filled with insatiable bloodlust. If a Republican president talks about punching people in the mouth, you’re the violent one for thinking he was being serious.

I sincerely think that universities should suspend their productivity standards for scientists and ask them instead to hold town halls in schools, public libraries, museums, shopping malls, and anywhere else and communicate what is being lost with the collapse of the research ecosystem.

It just occurred to me that we could have been drinking Dark and Stormys or even Hurricanes last night—what a missed opportunity. Is there a cocktail called a Tornado?? #stlwx

Posted at the Piedra Lisa South Trailhead in Albuquerque.

Saw someone say, "End your friendships with people who are going about life like nothing is wrong." I will never understand people who think that further isolating ourselves from everyday people who don't get it is going to save us. It's not. Your judgment and disdain will not save us.

So, given the *gestures vaguely at everything* I find myself wanting to watch movies in which Nazis get punched, literally or figuratively. Recommendations??

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

Happens every time.

hello! just putting this here. please share in your signal groups and slacks. www.propublica.org/tips/#signal

I just donated money to my local food bank. I feel so powerless these days and it is such a small action but I guess it’s something. It just makes me so angry that the government is implementing policies that will lead to more hunger in a nation that is full of abundance.

Just called my senators here in MO to tell them to take a stand against Trump’s authoritarian EOs. It feels like screaming into the void but at least it’s something. No actual humans answered the phone. I left a voicemail for Schmitt. Hawley’s voicemail box was full so I couldn’t even do that.

I used to work for an elected official as the person who answered their emails. I can tell you from personal experience, if even twenty or thirty people all call an official in a day, they start panicking. This stuff does help.

I’m getting really frustrated with people catastrophizing based on rumors and hearsay. Stay skeptical and check your sources. To effectively fight authoritarianism we need to target the real problems, not imagined or exaggerated ones.

Nearly two weeks after the big snow and my street is finally getting plowed… with a bulldozer. I don’t think they actually made anything easier to navigate. #stlwx

The thing is it hasn’t always been like this. There’s a long history of conservatives who have advocated for responsible use of nature & lots of US conservation orgs exist because of them. Remnants of that attitude still exist on the Right and may be a place to find allies or common ground

The Last Word is now in the running for my favorite cocktail

I’d really love to go for a hike today to get my mind off of that thing that’s happening in DC today, but it is currently 9 degrees and all the walking paths I can think of are ice sheets.

I am trying to adjust my reaction to someone stating opinions I disagree with from an immediate “no you’re wrong and here’s why” to an open-ended “why do you believe that and why is it important to you?”

Maple is “hiding” #cats #catsofbluesky

Good Saturday morning. If you are reading this, you are vulnerable to weaponized disinformation and the only one who can reliably protect you: you. Two weekend challenges: 1. Do one thing that builds your critical thinking skills 2. Engage with another human in a way other than social media

There is a perfectly nice cat fountain full of clean water about 5 steps away, but it is apparently not as nice as the forbidden human water glass

I’m conflicted about the impending TikTok ban. I never liked TikTok/short form video content anyway so I partly don’t mind seeing it go. But the way the gov’t has handled it has been super clumsy & highlights how out of touch they are with how lots of normal people interact with media & the world.

With all the ice and snow this week I forgot to post this earlier but… the 2025 gardening season has officially begun! This year I am trying to cold-stratify seeds for the first time 🌱

I’m hoping today’s sunshine and warmer temps help melt some of this ice. It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than a week since the big snow and people are STILL sliding around and getting cars stuck in my neighborhood #stlwx

Tonight a stranger rang my doorbell in need of help getting his car un-stuck from the snow. I recruited my boyfriend, who got our next-door neighbor, who got our across-the-street neighbor. Between the 4 of us we got the car un-stuck. I am glad I live in a place where people help one another out.

To everyone in St. Louis asking about when STL city will plow their street... Here's a map of city snow plow routes. They have no plans at all to plow residential streets unless they are on a hill. Yes it sucks and we deserve better. #stlwx www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/d...

Working from home today surrounded by sleeping cats and holiday lights with a gentle snowfall outside. I just want to take a moment to appreciate how cozy and aesthetic this is.

I have just signed up for St. Louis Master Gardener training, starting in January!

I’m getting really tired of all these “liberal elites are out of touch” op-eds in major newspapers. I’m worried the Dems are going to take the wrong message and conclude they need to throw minorities/LGBT+ folks under the bus for the next election

Oh hi, I’m back after not posting anything for like a year. Here is a picture of my new kitten Maple.

At the airport, on my way to Madagascar! I am going to be spending the next 3 1/2 weeks visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden’s community-based conservation projects.

My department is on a retreat for the day at Shaw Nature Reserve so I get to look at nice scenery

I hate the fact that part of my brain is telling me “don’t be a Karen” for wanting to make a fuss about some renovations to my office at work not being done the way I was originally told they would be.

I had planned to be out and about this morning but instead we are being cozy indoors while it thunderstorms outside

Hmm, I guess it's time for a first post. Hi all, I am Kate Farley, sociocultural anthropologist working at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I focus on the "ethno-" side of "ethnobotany." Am also a nerd who sews costumes for LARP and renaissance faire. Looking forward to finding a community here!