It started bouncing between 60F and 20F here, weather whiplash! But some shrubs are starting to bud which is such a mood booster. I’m hoping to get brambles or hopniss plants this spring.

The North Carolina Extension has a writeup on it here. From what I’ve read organic is best, but either way the bananas should be scrubbed with soap, soaked in either a vinegar or baking soda bath prior to using them in a recipe.

Thanks 🤗 And that is awesome! I rarely see mantises where I am, but it’s such a treat. I love the way they eye people up lol.

Right? I found out from this video. The recipe in the post body was one I riffed, but search for banana peel curries or banana peel carnitas as well. There’s this playlist by Chef Jana, but I haven’t tried any of them yet.

I just finished making some! About to share in !homecooks@vegantheoryclub.org

Been using banana peels as a vegetable, shredding them into strips with a fork then simmering in broth. Kinda like a crunchy string bean texture after 20 minutes of cooking, no detectable banana flavor (for me at least). I’m on the lookout for more recipes if anyone else uses them.

As for hobbies, desperately waiting for spring to start gardening again. I miss all the cool bugs and being chased inside by carpenter bees 🐝 lol!

I made it plain, so very much like split peas. Definitely not a neutral flavor.

See, now I wish I had some edible flowers 😂

Tasty and cheap! Here, it works out to about 50 cents per batch.

Do you grow jasmine or gardenia? I’d have my nose in those flowers every day!

Buttonbush and rattlesnake master both have spherical white flower clusters that look moonlike. Elderberry too having huge white clustered blooms. Mountain mint is another favorite of mine with fragrant, silvery leaves and white flowers.

Just witnessing tactical urbanism and guerrilla gardening projects were my gateway 😈

Farm worker Jovani Martinez Tells his Experience Working in the Dairy Industry (English/Español)

No, just a fan! I found out about them recently through another channel I follow, Black Liberation Media. One of the hosts of the main Red Nation podcast, Nick Estes, has been on Democracy Now! quite a few times.

The same! Though this conversation is focused through the lens of settler colonialism and discussed by Indigenous leftists.

The newest episode in the series covers the Heaven’s Gate cult from a similar perspective.

I don’t think so, unfortunately.

Behind the term Black Butterfly: Two Baltimores: The White L vs. the Black Butterfly

The main argument of the video is that they are human beings who should be allowed to exist in their own right, outside of the mythologies propagated by polluting corporations and western countercultural movements. It is possible to deconstruct dehumanizing stereotypes while celebrating and advocating for the adoption of traditional ecological practices, but promoting these practices while conceptualizing indigenous people as supernatural fauna is big yuck.

The latter half of the video discusses how they were forced into the market economy to survive, how murderous westward expansion destroyed their cultures, with a major conclusion being:

The United States government is the most ecologically catastrophic force on planet Earth since the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

I love these update videos! Most of the stuff I planted two years ago finally started to look like something this summer 😆 but seeing all the monarchs, sootywings, fritillaries, skippers, and so many different bees made the growing pains worth it.

Only half as much as I observe 😅 I’m not confident enough to ID outside of the Mid-Atlantic, sticking mostly to Erigeron sp, pokeberry, some trees, and a handful of bugs.

I wholeheartedly agree, the community there is awesome! It’s so exciting when an expert or specialist IDs an observation of mine, or dis/agrees with my ID. Such a fun way to learn.

The link in the post body has some tips on how to do so responsibly. Might be worth sharing with your neighbors!