Satsuma @Satsuma@cat.family

Have not been up on #DecRecs this year (I keep meaning to, & even thinking of things to rec and then forgetting 😅) but I do want to take a moment to rec subscribing to things via RSS! I just use dreamwidth.org’s built in reader which is Extremely Minimalist but there are many nice fuller featured rss readers out there (eg. https://netnewswire.com )

@platypus nice!!

@lookitmychicken mystery illnesses suck :( i hope the meds work quickly!

@Lady wasnt clear because the journalists had provided too many relevant examples of such presumably

@netkitty hello kitten!

@twistylittlepassages on the one hand, there’s so much stuff in the world that i don’t really want to add to it by giving someone something they’ll never use or appreciate—like that’s not a gift, that’s just creating work for them since now they have to figure out what to do with this thing thats creating clutter in their living space

on the other hand, there’s a pleasure in giving someone a little luxury they wouldn’t necessarily justify buying for themselves—a really nice knit hat or an expensive brand of olive oil. Though those can in turn be fraught if you say, try to buy tea for someone whose normal tea budget is higher than your gift budget or whatever.

So it’s definitely a bit complicated! My family does a shared wishlist (literally just a shared page in the notes app) which imo has improved both the gift buying and gift receiving experience. And also it turns out we all just want nice socks 😆

@rowyn that pasta sounds delicious! and also makes me wonder if cassie would classify a tomato as a fruit or vegetable

@trixter i’m also in a rowhouse! and something of a beginner gardener—the nice thing about natives is they usually don’t take too much work once they’re established

inaturalist is great for IDing whatever might already be growing there btw, i tried to leave as many of the native volunteers as i could while pulling out all the non-natives (there was a bunch of invasive thistle, hence the need for gardening gloves asap lol) and then just kinda planting around that. So it’s kinda messy but good!

btw if you get any leaves on your property (from a neighbors yard or a street tree or whatever) you can just leave em in place as much as possible—lots of pollinators live in leaf litter over the winter, and then the leaves will help fertilize your soil as they break down

@trixter cleaning supplies were something we had to stock up on after moving and are best to get asap bc moving is inevitably kinda messy—a big jug of distilled vinegar, sponges for scrubbing things, toilet brushes, a broom (or a vacuum if you’ve got carpet), a mop for the kitchen, etc.

@trixter its probably a good time of year to throw down seeds for your native wildflowers and grasses! most of them need at least a few weeks of cold weather (whatever that means around you) to propagate properly so its good to get them down before spring, but late enough that there aren’t going to be any warm spells that trick em into sprouting early

i’d also recommend picking up a pair of gardening gloves, if you’re caring for even a small yard they’ll almost certainly come in handy at some point (i’ve also got a trowel, bc we also put in some landscaping plugs of goldenrods and asters)

@rowyn that book seems so cool!

and glad umbral is having a good time being cute <3