Alder Burns
@adiantum.bsky.social
Permaculturist, homesteader, pagan, plant lover...
This idea of a deity being cut up into pieces and scattered over the landscape, those spots where the pieces land becoming sacred sites....seems to happen in various places. Set in Egypt and Sita in India come to mind, I wonder if there are others elsewhere too....
December 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
This idea of a deity being cut up into pieces and scattered over the landscape, those spots where the pieces land becoming sacred sites....seems to happen in various places. Set in Egypt and Sita in India come to mind, I wonder if there are others elsewhere too....
The spread of various plants around the world, often with human assistance, is one of the most fascinating mysteries. Sweet potatoes, the best example, have been proof for years of contact between South America and the South Pacific long before white people and their "voyages of discovery".
November 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
The spread of various plants around the world, often with human assistance, is one of the most fascinating mysteries. Sweet potatoes, the best example, have been proof for years of contact between South America and the South Pacific long before white people and their "voyages of discovery".
You might enjoy following The Poison Garden if you aren't already. Sarah Anne has devoted much of her life to working with poisonous, mind-altering nightshade plants. Now she focuses on their pain-relieving properties, and makes and sells salves to this end, but she used to make "flying ointments".
November 30, 2025 at 12:41 AM
You might enjoy following The Poison Garden if you aren't already. Sarah Anne has devoted much of her life to working with poisonous, mind-altering nightshade plants. Now she focuses on their pain-relieving properties, and makes and sells salves to this end, but she used to make "flying ointments".
You find the best articles! I knew this about some fire-prone climate things, like white sage...but wow...corn? veggies? I wonder if that stuff is in the ash too....it would be a lot easier to dust on some ash than try to make smoke water..
November 29, 2025 at 6:59 PM
You find the best articles! I knew this about some fire-prone climate things, like white sage...but wow...corn? veggies? I wonder if that stuff is in the ash too....it would be a lot easier to dust on some ash than try to make smoke water..
Surface sowing always seems impossible and surprising to me, my background is in vegetables. More than once I've tried and then later given up, planting something else in the pot or flinging the whole mess out somewhere, only to have the strange exotics in question appear months or years later.
November 28, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Surface sowing always seems impossible and surprising to me, my background is in vegetables. More than once I've tried and then later given up, planting something else in the pot or flinging the whole mess out somewhere, only to have the strange exotics in question appear months or years later.
I wonder if herons and other water birds might sometimes dabble around in the ocean when it's lit up with phosphorescence, and it gets in their plumage and goes on glowing for a while? I've heard of frogs eating so many fireflies that their bellies glow!
November 26, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I wonder if herons and other water birds might sometimes dabble around in the ocean when it's lit up with phosphorescence, and it gets in their plumage and goes on glowing for a while? I've heard of frogs eating so many fireflies that their bellies glow!
Mulberry is some tough stuff! It grows wild around here and sometimes we cut it up for firewood. I've seen logs of it, cut to firewood length, sitting around trying to sprout out the sides months later.
November 25, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Mulberry is some tough stuff! It grows wild around here and sometimes we cut it up for firewood. I've seen logs of it, cut to firewood length, sitting around trying to sprout out the sides months later.
Reminds me of a quote from Zen stuff I read years ago: "Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water." And another, from New Agey stuff : "Everybody wants to do ayahuasca but nobody wants to do the dishes!"
November 23, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reminds me of a quote from Zen stuff I read years ago: "Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water." And another, from New Agey stuff : "Everybody wants to do ayahuasca but nobody wants to do the dishes!"
Ah, redwoods! I will always consider myself privileged to have walked among them those few times I got to while living out there! Oaks and pines will have to do for the rest of my days I think....
November 23, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Ah, redwoods! I will always consider myself privileged to have walked among them those few times I got to while living out there! Oaks and pines will have to do for the rest of my days I think....
Stir-fry them with curry spices. Or just cook them well, much as one would collard or mustard greens. Radish is a major crop in much of East and South Asia, as much for the greens as the roots. I often grow them as "cut and come again" greens and ignore the roots!
November 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Stir-fry them with curry spices. Or just cook them well, much as one would collard or mustard greens. Radish is a major crop in much of East and South Asia, as much for the greens as the roots. I often grow them as "cut and come again" greens and ignore the roots!
I've been familiar with this sort of stuff for years now as a forager, particularly with mushrooms. It's easy to die with a lot of the online info out there now. When doing a new ID with a view to eating, I always confirm from 3 sources, one of which must be a printed book from before 2000.
November 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I've been familiar with this sort of stuff for years now as a forager, particularly with mushrooms. It's easy to die with a lot of the online info out there now. When doing a new ID with a view to eating, I always confirm from 3 sources, one of which must be a printed book from before 2000.
How is it at eye-level? I thought this grew low on the ground, parasitic off of roots?
November 20, 2025 at 1:08 PM
How is it at eye-level? I thought this grew low on the ground, parasitic off of roots?
That article actually mentions my old friend Joe Hollis. I used to go visit him just about every year and talk plants at his amazing garden all down the side of a mountain. I hope those people got whatever plants from there....a lot of it washed away in the Helene flood.
November 19, 2025 at 7:16 PM
That article actually mentions my old friend Joe Hollis. I used to go visit him just about every year and talk plants at his amazing garden all down the side of a mountain. I hope those people got whatever plants from there....a lot of it washed away in the Helene flood.
Makes me feel old...had to go look up that acronym!
November 19, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Makes me feel old...had to go look up that acronym!
AND two bald eagles a couple days before!!
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 PM
AND two bald eagles a couple days before!!
Not a whole solution, but for years and years (since about 1995) I have subsidized my own diet, plus that of my friends and my animals, through the art and science of dumpster diving. Right now I'm watching a canner pot as it preserves a recent large "score" of sausage and pork!
November 12, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Not a whole solution, but for years and years (since about 1995) I have subsidized my own diet, plus that of my friends and my animals, through the art and science of dumpster diving. Right now I'm watching a canner pot as it preserves a recent large "score" of sausage and pork!
Not left in a pot for sure. Put it somewhere above freezing so the soil in the pot doesn't freeze. In the spring plant it in the ground. Planted in the ground they are very hardy.
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Not left in a pot for sure. Put it somewhere above freezing so the soil in the pot doesn't freeze. In the spring plant it in the ground. Planted in the ground they are very hardy.
There is another mushroom, Panellus stipticus, in North America that glows. One time years ago in Georgia I found a clump bright enough to read by! And it's poisonous and medicinal, too.
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
There is another mushroom, Panellus stipticus, in North America that glows. One time years ago in Georgia I found a clump bright enough to read by! And it's poisonous and medicinal, too.
Why is bsky not showing me your stuff in my feed! Somehow I missed this till coming to your page just now. These things are my absolute favorites (as evidenced by my profile photo) And all things that glow in the dark!
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Why is bsky not showing me your stuff in my feed! Somehow I missed this till coming to your page just now. These things are my absolute favorites (as evidenced by my profile photo) And all things that glow in the dark!
Do you know Sarah Anne Lawless at [email protected]? She posted about hellebore today too!
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Do you know Sarah Anne Lawless at [email protected]? She posted about hellebore today too!
Makes me want to plant some....just to have it around. Plus winter flowers are a rare thing!
November 10, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Makes me want to plant some....just to have it around. Plus winter flowers are a rare thing!
I've always read that when it comes to medicinal properties, the "wild types" of most herbs is the best, as compared to any variety bred for different flowers, etc.
November 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I've always read that when it comes to medicinal properties, the "wild types" of most herbs is the best, as compared to any variety bred for different flowers, etc.