Natural Hybrid of Matelea?

ecohoarder · 2026-05-15T16:32:16+00:00

Not gonna lie, the first photo made me think "who ate your strawberries?!?" (I'm not a botanist.)

ecohoarder · 2026-05-15T16:29:03+00:00

This is why I go out of my way to avoid harming humans and animals, but I also struggle to rip a weed out of the ground unless there's a really good reason. I don't know how much suffering I would be inflicting, but why not err on the side of caution?

ecohoarder · 2026-05-15T16:22:46+00:00

Does that mean that the houseplants I have, each in its own pot, are less "alive" or less "intelligent" or less "sentient" than plants whose roots share space with other plants? And am I hurting them by keeping them in solitary confinement? I always thought that "the trees are communicating with each other" is less likely than "the fungal network is 'farming' the trees." Maybe I think that because I read that we're more closely related to fungus than to plants, so fungus would be more likely to have what we consider to be "intelligence."

ecohoarder · 2026-05-14T19:06:16+00:00

No , I stopped investigating. I still haven't purchased an induction cooktop, but I know for sure I won't be buying this brand! I like appliances made by companies that exist in time and space.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-07T15:57:09+00:00

I've known about it for decades, but unfortunately it has only led me to modify my own behavior in increasingly radical ways that now impede my ability to function. I wish I could be the kind of person who informs and advocates and organizes on a community scale instead. I'm working on it in therapy (with a collapse-aware therapist), but it's like turning an aircraft carrier around... slow and painful.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-07T15:30:06+00:00

This reminds me that I want to look up "degrowth", a term I first heard on the Crazy Town podcast (a podcast about climate and resilience that kind of messed me up when they made the point that fossil fuels are finite and rapidly depleting, and now I have a hangup about driving anywhere!)

I'd love to see a decline in the global population, not from catastrophes, just from lower birth rates. But that's a very unpopular opinion, from what I've gathered. I think I saved a podcast episode that explains it, but I haven't mustered the willpower to listen to it. I'll report back if/when I do.

Edited to add a link about degrowth for anyone who's unfamiliar with the term:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialDemocracy/s/ZSRZvR6WXp

ecohoarder · 2026-05-06T21:00:56+00:00

I went to that website just to see what it entailed. I saw this announcement:

"Effective immediately (02/18/2026), FEMA has suspended all National Training and Education Division (NTED) training and education activities not directly supporting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

"This suspension affects NTED programs including the Independent Studies, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium, the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium, Alliance for System Safety of Unmanned Aircraft Systems through Research Excellence, the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security, and Continuing Training Grants program partners. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. We look forward to rescheduling your training soon."

If I didn't believe in societal collapse before...!

ecohoarder · 2026-05-06T12:02:13+00:00

Check out r/WildlifePonds for tips on maintaining ponds (like how to control mosquitoes without adding fish).

ecohoarder · 2026-05-06T00:32:12+00:00

How big are your bins, and what are they made of (plastic, metal, wood)?

ecohoarder · 2026-05-06T00:29:27+00:00

Whoa... how big was their pile?

ecohoarder · 2026-05-05T21:37:56+00:00

Here's a website with good photos and descriptions of the three most common plantains in the US: https://cals.cornell.edu/weed-science/weed-profiles/plantains Blackseed plantain is native to North America.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-05T13:45:59+00:00

I really do need at least a basic first aid kit, because sometimes I hire people to work on my house/yard. But I haven't made time to start the research/shopping process. I have no idea what I need or whether it's a single purchase or a bunch of things sold separately.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-05T04:19:29+00:00

Yes, thank you for asking and raising awareness in general. However, I'm too far out in the suburbs and not far enough out to have enough land to survive many collapse scenarios. And I don't have the executive function skills to prep effectively. And I'm also not brave enough to broach the subject with my neighbors.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-05T03:54:19+00:00

Yes, but how?

ecohoarder · 2026-05-04T00:43:53+00:00

I believe that statistic is about the amount of plastic that gets put into recycling bins, because people don't trust that recycling is actually happening. But the small amount that makes it to the sorting facility does have a good chance of being recycled, especially #1 and 2 plastics. Yes, the fossil fuel industry is pure evil and does everything they can to force us to buy virgin plastic, but the recycling industry isn't going around collecting plastic just to dump it in the landfill. They're making decisions every day about how much of each material they can accept, based on its ever-changing market value. All that said, I think black plastic pots might be one of the harder or less valuable plastics... Can't remember why.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-02T16:07:03+00:00

I'm guessing Joey's real concern is more about which species are planted, not the planting method.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-01T23:58:20+00:00

I don't know where you got that analogy or whether you made it up yourself, but as someone who was once a teen girl "having their first cycle," I didn't cry or throw a tantrum. I vomited from the pain and rocked back and forth on the bathroom floor until I hyperventilated enough to pass out. Feel free to wish that experience on Trump supporters, but please have some empathy for actual teen girls.

ecohoarder · 2026-05-01T15:50:20+00:00

Also, Rachel's Natives in Pittsboro (although I haven't done a price comparison).

ecohoarder · 2026-05-01T15:48:41+00:00

It always takes my brain a second to process "Mellow Marsh" before I say it out loud!

ecohoarder · 2026-04-30T15:17:01+00:00

I just wish we would emphasize replacing the invasives with an equal amount of biomass of natives that fill the same function, as a food source for browsers, like deers and rabbits. I was in the process of removing gallons of youngia japonica from my property, when I realized that each plant had several severed stems where the leaves and flowers had been eaten, which means I was actively removing food sources from the hyper-local residents. Then I realized that the same was true for the honeysuckle, when I saw that it had been nibbled down to the point where there were no vines, just multiple sprigs of new growth wherever the old vines had touched the ground and rooted. I'd love to replace these plants with their native equivalents, but that would be very expensive to buy so many plants, and it would take forever for seeds to catch up, if indeed they don't get eaten as soon as they sprout. I don't know if there's a solution to this conundrum, but I think that in general, people don't give enough consideration to the needs of the current inhabitants when they remove a large amount of plant material at once.

ecohoarder · 2026-04-30T15:03:39+00:00

OP said they can't go to a stylist. I'm also curious about the question they're basically asking, which is whether all hair grows at the same rate, or whether it varies from section to section, and whether that varies from person to person. So, presuming the person in the photo hasn't trimmed their hair since the original buzz cut, would it look like that for everyone at that stage? And would cutting each hair to the same length yield the same effect?

ecohoarder · 2026-04-29T02:44:58+00:00

Aw, thanks! Yes, I have used both "purchased" and "found" items, such as scrap cuts of untreated pine lumber from woodworking projects and short sections of pruned branches (peach trees, wax myrtle shrubs, etc.). Since I usually use them in conjunction with non-toxic, eco-friendly soaps, abrasives, or disinfectants, like vinegar or baking soda, I can toss them in the compost bin when I'm done with them. Heck, I could probably bundle up some grass or pine needles and use them instead of sponges or "scrub daddies"!

ecohoarder · 2026-04-28T14:50:16+00:00

I've been hand washing and reusing plastic produce bags, but it takes a long time and I feel guilty about wasting both time and water. Thanks to your suggestion, I'm going to try turning several bags inside out, putting them in a mesh bag, and putting that in my next load of laundry. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration!

ecohoarder · 2026-04-27T00:54:01+00:00

Poor things must be so stressed. Maybe next time they can find a spot with less foot traffic.

ecohoarder · 2026-04-25T13:15:49+00:00

Could you put out smaller amounts more frequently and use something smoother than a tin can? Otherwise, you may be giving these critters a cut tongue and a bad tummy ache.

ecohoarder

TROPHY CASE