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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 25

PSA: Arsenic, which occurs naturally in soil, is building up in rice fields around the world due to global warming.

This is heavily not good for anyone as millions survive on rice as a staple, and many underprivileged people may eat rice as their only food.

www.earth.com/news/king-of...

Study finds that the 'king of poisons' is building up in rice fields around the world

Rice feeds billions, thriving in warm, wet fields. Those flooded fields can also make arsenic available to rice plants, poisoning the grains.

www.earth.com

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 7

Ahem.

We’ll have our #NPR and #PBS back, or we’ll set loose the vengeful spirits of #BobRoss #WayneDyer #BarbaraSher and #MrRogers on your sorry meatsacks

What they leave undone, #BigBird #OscarTheGrouch & #MrTeeth will finish

Pray they leave the Skexis in the vault.

www.npr.org/2025/08/07/n...

Federal judge rules cuts to humanities grants were 'unlawful'

The ruling deems the government's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities "unlawful" and allows a lawsuit brought by humanities groups to move forward.

www.npr.org

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 1

Graphic by the always-awesome “Dead Of Night” atmospheric music & nature YT channel.

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 1

Best book evar!! Have you seen the film? True to the text. Also, plan to visit Guedelon castle in France to see the book come alive! They’re building a Carcassonne level castle & church for real, using techniques described by Follet. Stellar read!

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 1

A Happy #Lughnasadh / #Lammas / Loaf-Mass / First Fruits of Harvest to you!

#pagan #witchcore #harvest #festival

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Aug 1

#Herbalist folk, 11 min MUST HEAR tut on forgotten female who saved ancient herbals from obscurity.

Her “Scented Garden” which I’ve found again (yay!) was required reading in the Saffron Walden School of Medical Herbalism & Aromatherapy I attended in the 80’s.

worldherblibrary.org/episode/elea...

Frontispiece of the book: “The Scented Garden” by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde.

The SCENTED GARDEN
By ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE

Author of ' A Garden of Herbs,' 'Garden-craft", 'in the Bible,' "The Old World Pleasaunce”, etc.

LONDON
THE MEDICI SOCIETY
7 GRAFTON STREET

Contents listing of the book: “The Scented Garden” by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde.

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION
I
Chapter One

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY IN THE SCENTED GARDEN 17
Chapter Two

VIOLETS, PRIMROSES AND WALLFLOWERS
3I
Chapter Three

SPRING FLOWERING BULBS AND SHRUBS
54
Chapter Four

THE SCENTS OF EARLY SUMMER

Chapter Five

THE OLD ROSES
105
Chapter Six

THE AROMATIC HERBS
138
Chapter Seven

THE AFTERNOON OF THE YEAR
ІбІ
Chapter Eight

SWEET BAG, POT-POURRI AND OTHER RECIPES I91
Plant Lists

A. TREES, SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS
260
B, HERBACEQUS PLANTS, ANNUALS, ETC.
290
C. BULBS, RHIZOMES, ETC.
299
D. AQUATICS
304

Page 218 of the book: “The Scented Garden” by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, listing recipes for lavender water by distillation and the quick method using essential oil and ambergris. A partial recipe from the 1834 work “A Book of Simples” heads the page.

Page text:

The Scented Garden V2

…of wild tansie, as much of fumitary, the weight of 2 pence in camphere: put all these together in an earthen pot, set the pot in warm aishes all night, then in the morning strain it through a piece of white cotton clean wash'd and put it into a narrow mouth glass: sit the glass in the sun 3 or 4 days in the heat of the sun.

Wash your face with this water evening and morning. If you wash your hands with any of this water put thereto 3 or 4 bruised almonds, this is the most excellent water that ever was made to clear hands and face withall.
Probatum est.

The Book of Simples (circa 1650).

Lavender Water.
Take a pint of highly rectified spirit of wine, essential oil of lavender one ounce, essence of ambergris drachms; put all into a quart bottle, and shake it tremely well.

From: Domestic Cookery (1834).

Lavender Water without Distillation.
If you would have speedily, without the trouble of distillation, a water impregnated with the flavour of Lavender, put two or three drops of Oil of Spike, and a lump of Sugar, into a pint of clear Water, or Spirit of Wine, and shake them well together in a glass phial, with a narrow neck. This Water, though not distilled, is very fragrant.

Page bottom subtitle:
The Toilet of Flora.

Page 219 of the book: “The Scented Garden” by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, listing pomander recipes including the familiar clove stuffed orange, plus exotic “A Pomander Against Pestilentiall Aire” from the book “The Charitable Physitian” written in 1639 by PHILBERT GUIBERT
Esq and Physician Regent in Paris

Page text:

Sweet Bag, Pot-pourri and other Recipes

POMANDERS, ETc.

Orange stuck with cloves.
Choose an orange that is (s) thin-skinned and (b) small.
Stick it all over with cloves as thickly as possible. When done no particle of skin should be visible. If the skin is rather tough use a bodkin to make each hole. Then roll the orange in a powder consisting of equal parts of orris root and powdered cinnamon.

Rub the powder well in all over the orange and leave it wrapped up in paper with this powder for about a week. The orange is then ready and will scent a drawer deliciously for well over a year.

In time it will shrink considerably. (We have one many years old which is about the size of a walnut now.)

Pomander

Take Storar an ounce, Cloves two drammes, Benjamin halfe an ounce, Ambergreece halfe a dram, Muske fifteen graines, powder of Violets a little, incorporate them all together with Rose water.

A Pomander against Pestilentiall Aire.

Take Labdanum, Storax of each a dram, Cloves halfe a dram, Camphor, Spikenard, Nutmeg, of each seven graines, beat them into fine powder and make them into bullets with gum Fragrant dissolved in Rose water.

The Charitable Physitian by PHILBERT GUIBERT
Esq and Physician Regent in Paris (1639).

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 29

Here’s your 3rd in this short trifecta of 1-minute #CozyCool bedtime stories, from the “Little House” books.

Listen for an extra shot of chill during this extreme heat. Let the words sink into your bones to keep you cool all night ❄️

Look for more #1Minute #bedtime stories soon & please share! 😊🌻

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 29

A 1-minute “Cozy Cool” bedtime story to remind my #Neurodiverse, #Autistic & #ADHD folx that winter’s cool can be a comfort, even in the midst of extreme heat.

Enjoy these #CozyCool stories from the classics, if you need an extra shot of chill in your day. From “Farmer Boy” by #LauraIngallsWilder

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 29

Here’s a 1 minute “Cozy Cool” bedtime story to remind my #Neurodiverse folx, how cool your mind & body can be, even in the midst of extreme heat.

I’ll be posting more of these #CozyCool stories from the classics, so if you need an extra shot of chill in your day, feel free to listen and share!

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 25

Door’s open & I’m lecturing on Zoom, freshly roasted pecans & pistachios cooling on the kitchen counter.

Cue a tell-tail noise & sudden yell at Luna: “Oh HELL no, you are NOT licking my nuts!”

Both audience & neighbors: “Whuut?!” 😳

We all lost it & died laughing. That kitkat! 🤣

#Caturday #Cats

a white cat is standing on a kitchen counter near a pot on the stove

ALT: a white cat is standing on a kitchen counter near a pot on the stove

media.tenor.com

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 25

This is the corker of all stoppers for us #AuDHD folk! Learning to take *all the time I need to answer a question* (even days, hours, weeks or months) has been a key #adulting lesson / skill I’ve acquired only through relentless #selfadvocacy

Turns “toxic trait” into
“I’m my best mate!” 🥰🌻

ADHD Jesse @adhdjesse.com · Jul 25

My toxic trait is saying yes to things I have the ability to do, without considering if I have the time, energy, or motivation.

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 25

New #NeuroTribe Vibe #podcast drop! This time: “How to Set a Durable Gratitude Anchor for Emotional Self-Regulation” A new twist!!

Takes 3 minutes to create & you’ll have it for life.

Worth a listen, especially for my fellow #autism #autistic #ADHD #AuDHD #LGBTQIA folx 💋🥰🌻

noomvibe.app/tl/riTj

Pic shows a New NeuroTribe Vibe podcast with me on the Noom Vibe app, “Setting a Durable Gratitude Anchor for Emotional Self-Regulation”. Link goes to the web-play version so all can listen.

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 22

Where. Are. The. Ninjas?

Seriously. We’re to the point.

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jul 22

Do it! I’m an academic and this was chewy even for me so didn’t finish, TL; DR

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Reposted by Maryam Webster

aslynn's tremendous 'tism horror show 👻 🎃 @audhd-psychnp.com · Jul 22

Such strong mixed feelings from so many of us in the Autistic community. What do y'all think of this study? #AutRes

Yeshes.Online 📎🌻🖖♾️ @yeshes.online · Jul 22

Paper here - www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Decomposition of phenotypic heterogeneity in autism reveals underlying genetic programs - Nature Genetics

Classes of autism are uncovered with a generative mixture modeling approach leveraging matched phenotypic and genetic data from a large cohort, revealing different genetic programs underlying their ph...

www.nature.com

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 27

A friend on Facebook posted the rooty yamforest on the right & got the #eldritchhorror response on the left.

I belly-laughed ‘til I cried. Plant that thing before it reaches the children!
🤣🤣🤣

In other news, it’s been a minute. Howya doing? Auntie M. loves yer gutz! 🥰

#bellylaugh
#laughter
#yams

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Reposted by Maryam Webster

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · Jun 19

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, but also a reminder: freedom delayed is freedom denied. #Juneteenth #BlackHistory #FreedomDay #NeverForget

66 2.3K 11K

Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 20

Oh wow. This is stunning work. Happy Juneteenth!

#HarrietTubman is a chosen #ancestor of mine, and I love how this honors her spirit, and that of thousands who made the journey on the #UndergroundRailroad

Bright blessings, all around!

ProfKFH @profkfh.bsky.social · Jun 19

Harriet Tubman #quilt by my Mom, Vera P. Hall, who makes quilts celebrating Black people who fought for their own freedom. This seems to be the crowd favorite of the “We Didn’t Wait for Freedom” series. Happy #Juneteenth #quilting

Colorful quilt of a nighttime scene with Harriet Tubman in an orange jacket and purple dress carrying a rifle. She is leading other figures who walk behind her.

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 20

Teach your children well. Here’s a 1 minute coaching segment on *what* to teach them

One one point of this, #Nature and #Forest #schools can be found all over the world. They teach #kids to love animals & nature, and to be #environmental warriors in a #warmingworld

None where you live?
Start one.

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 19

Great recommend if you like rabbit-hole binges that lead you to #knowledge you didn’t have: the Arts & Culture app.

Brilliant presentation on #Juneteenth - go check it out!

Also, found the Webster fam - in the app. Mom did genealogy. This is Lady Elizabeth Webster, my 10 or 12x great-grandma!

The arts and culture apps intro card entitled “the historical legacy of Juneteenth“ depicting an 18th century lithograph of a black family gathering. Subtext reads: “Reckoning with our Racial Past“.

A display card from the Arts and Culture app, noting the English Heritage exhibition entitled “The Ancestors: Uncovering their Journey“. In this particular card, sculptures of Caribbean prisoners of war are pictured being held at Portchester Castle, in the 18th century.

Lady Elizabeth Webster’s portrait with description reading “the Webster family” and explaining their involvement with Battle Abbey. A “fascinating chapter in history” indeed. Lady Elizabeth would have been my 12th great grandmother, or something similar.

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Reposted by Maryam Webster

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · Jun 17

*Maine*, damn it. Am currently in Mexico and so am failing in two languages!

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · Jun 17

Good news! In the state of Mane it now against the law to use restraints on adults with intellectual disabilities and autism. Let's hope this is a precedent. Via A. Ne'eman.

www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

Mills signs bill eliminating planned use of restraints for adults with developmental disabilities

Advocates say the bill is a “civil rights victory” for people with disabilities in Maine.

www.mainepublic.org

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Reposted by Maryam Webster

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · Jun 17

YES we get to be mad that autistic people and our families don't get enough supports—But NO ONE gets to blame autistics for being autistic.

One way to be an autism ally is to calmly ask unkind or thoughtless autistic-shamers, "how would you feel if someone blamed you for the way your brain works?"

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 14

Making #LionsMane soup & LOVE this one perfectly gorgeous geometrically divided Shitake.

Beautiful! 😍

Also: Chantrelles, Straw Mushrooms, #Maitake, Bunashimeiji, #ginger & #turmeric root with herbs, spring onion, carrots & garlic in chicken bone broth.

Delicious!

Peep alt text for ingredients

The pretty, natural geometry of brown subdivisions on the top of a white Shitake mushroom, seen on a clump of Lions Mane mushroom the size of a baby’s head.

Lions Mane, Shitake, Golden Chantrelles, Straw Mushrooms, Maitake, Bunashimeiji, sliced ginger & turmeric root in 1 of 3 bowls of veggies going into the homemade chicken bone broth

Chantrelles, Straw Mushrooms, Maitake, Bunashimeiji, sliced ginger & turmeric root with herbs, onion, spring onion, carrots & garlic in homemade chicken bone broth.

Bouquet garni sachet of parsley, Thai basil stems (sooo much flavor!), celery stalks & leaves and other vegetable scraps saved for broth enriching.

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Reposted by Maryam Webster

Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · Jun 6

Shareholders of 22 of the largest corporations in the U.S. have voted to reject anti-DEI proposals in 2025. Shareholders of companies including Costco, Apple, Walmart, Google, others, have voted against anti-DEI proposals this year.

Scorecord at Impactivize: www.impactivize.org/2025-shareho...

Impactivize Shareholder Scorecard™ -

2025 Anti-DEI Proposals and Shareholder Voting Results

www.impactivize.org

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Maryam Webster @maryamwebster.bsky.social · Jun 10

PayPAAAAL FTW! ALL of our pal, and now my preferred choice bc of this. #DEI forever! 🌈

Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · Jun 6

💥 PayPal shareholders voted to reject an anti-DEI proposal at its annual meeting yesterday (tally TBA). Proposal asked PayPal to report on charitable giving, citing PayPal's relationship with the Human Rights Campaign where PayPal has a perfect score on LGBTQ+ initiatives.