• 11 Posts
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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: March 18th, 2024

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  • The other really important part of this story that is not mentioned is in the MN state senate there is also a tie. The DFL and MN State Republicans parties have created a power sharing agreement there already. They have dual chairs of the committees, an agreement for how the parties will control the agenda and how bills will be introduced etc. So there is even a template to work off of that was already hammered out by the two parties.

    Everyone knows that no matter what there will be bipartisan agreement because of the split senate and state house. Our DFL governor, everyone’s favorite Midwestern dad Tim Walz released his budget which includes tax cuts and reduction in total spending knowing that this is something that will need to happen. Everyone else is acting like adults but the house republicans. It’s a disgrace and completely invalidates the MN reputation of good governance which was something that both parties used to brag about.


  • Wildflowers for pollinators can be super easy to grow if you got the space and patience for them. I get my seeds from Prairie Moon if you live in the USA. The website has seed kits of recommended plants that go together depending on your needs. Moreover you can sort by bloom time, color and native zone. Finally most native plants need cold stratification to grow so its actually a great time to directly plant native seeds in the areas you want them.

    We have had great success in getting bees and butterflies with just a few native plants over the last two years. Our neighbors have even mentioned it to us. I think we are seeing more birds as well from the natives. We did see a hummingbird last year visit our Cardinal Flower which was amazing. Good luck and it is totally worth while


  • Both Thyme and Sage are cold tolerant perennials so good to grow even on a balcony. We have thyme in a portion of our yard which grows like crazy. I made some infused vinegar and thyme tincture with it.

    Last summer we started buying basil plants from the grocery store instead of basil leaves because it’s the same price. We had two in rotation until we stripped one bare and then replaced it. We put the bare one in the ground in our garden which did regrow a little by fall. So I would do that for Basil because you really go through it for dishes.

    I did lemon verbena which grew great. I got tons of it by harvesting it every few weeks to dry. I did the same with catnip (which humans can also drink btw), mint and lemongrass. Really most of those should work in a pot. Really whatever you like to drink. We won’t ever grow enough mint to fulfill our needs so we buy dried in bulk but for the rest we got enough for the year I think






  • Yeah. The Facebook official method does not download photos or videos you are tagged in. They only allow you to download things you uploaded. So if you are like me and didn’t upload any photos but were tagged by others it downloads nothing.

    What is this yt-dlp? I have seen it mentioned without any links or information about how to use it. Quick searches shows it as some kind of CLI?


  • Of course I figured out an okay solution right after posting it.

    I had save all of the Facebook videos to find them on the mobile app. From the mobile app I had to open the video and find the share link. I then had to copy this link into my web browser and click on it. This lets me download the file onto my phone which I then had to upload to a cloud storage which I am now downloading back to my computer. What a pain in the ass.





  • One of my main goals which I have had for years now is to fill in the dirt patch in my lawns on my hill and on my dog running path. Each year it decreases slightly with my constant seeding of grasses and clover covered with straw. I hope this year I get more finished and the great plantain that I throw on it will break up the soil compaction to fill in any gaps that grasses and clover don’t get a hold of. I had some good luck with clover and grasses in the sun dried spot over the last years so hopefully all gaps are getting covered with a low maintenance bee lawn.

    I planted self heal and English daisies from Flawn over my already White Dutch Clover filled lawn in the late fall in the front and side lawns which have been neglected. So hopefully I can see some of those sprouting and possibly get some flowers.

    I want to try to harvest some more of my forage edibles from my yard and not miss the edible window. I have missed my window for ostrich fern fiddleheads two years now but this year I will grab some to eat. I did get some milkweed stems which I ate so hopefully I can get that again. I want to get my chokecherries in the fall but have missed that as well. I will try some of the other volunteers in my garden including the Mullein that came up.

    Hopefully my wildflower garden by my alley has some of the perennials I planted two falls ago start blooming instead of just the black-eyed susans. I love them but they are early pioneer species until the coneflowers, early sunflowers, bee balms, purple prairie clover, etc. come in their own this year. I want to try to harvest some of these for teas, tinctures and salves along with my chamomile, calendula, anise hyssop and yarrow in my tea garden along with my traditional garden herbs of mint, lemon balm and sage.

    The real goal is getting some cut flowers to grow by starting a lot of them by seed early spring. We have tried for two years to get marigolds, snap dragons, cosmos and zinnias to grow by direct seeding with little to no success. I want to get some started to they can self seed. We did some sheet composting in a previous overgrown weedy section for a Dahlia garden this year. So hopefully that comes along.

    I guess I have a lot of plans for the next year. I might be too ambitious seeing it all written out. But I want to try to keep a garden journal maybe with a garden pixelfeed account so I can better track what I do and what I see throughout the year. I think it will be fun and help with my planning and foraging for years to come.


  • I tried the three sisters two years ago and none of my gourds grew and my beans didn’t get very high but the popcorn did great. Last year I did just beans and popcorn which did a little better. The beans didn’t fully climb the corn as planned and racoons ate my popcorn but I got a good bean harvest. Make sure you get the spacing and timing right with the three sisters. Corn goes first and then beans climb it up. I think gourds go last but I can’t remember


  • You don’t have to replace it all at once. Do some winter sowing of clover, fine fescue and other flowers so they bloom in the spring. They will make your lawn less maintenance and pollinator friendly. Since you don’t invest as much you won’t feel bad as you chunk off portions for whatever you want.

    I planted self heal and English daisies from Flawn over my already White Dutch Clover filled lawn in the late fall. Hopefully I get some by the spring. I also had some good luck with their sweet alyssum under our roses last year.